Despite his overwhelming success in northern hemisphere rugby, Kiwi coach Warren Gatland won't be implementing a 10-man, kick oriented style in his new role at the Chiefs.
Widely regarded as one of, if not the best, Wales coaches of all-time, Gatland's success in the northern hemisphere was built on an emphasis on defence and physicality, dubbed 'Warrenball'.
However, after joining the Chiefs ahead of the 2020 Super Rugby season, Gatland says that his new side will look to play an attractive, expansive brand of rugby, a style synonymous with Chiefs teams of the past.
Gatland wasn't above having a bit of fun at his own expense when he was asked today about what style he'll look to implement with the Chiefs.
"I come from the northern hemisphere, so we're just going to play 10-man rugby and kick everything," Gatland joked.
All laughing aside though, Gatland made it clear that he'll look to get the best out of the talent now available to him with the Chiefs boasting the likes of All Blacks Damian McKenzie and Anton Lienert-Brown.
"You've got to look at make of the talent and the quality of players you've got," he said.
"I love rugby being played in a positive vein, and the Chiefs have tended to go out there, and play an expansive game."
"We want to encourage them, we also want them to be smart."
"Hopefully I can bring a balance, in terms of us being smart in the way that we approach games. That's wanting to be attacking in the way we play, we need to be a bit better at set piece, those aspects."
"The input that I've had in working with the other coaches, we can get what we think is a winning formula with the right balance of having a good set piece, being smart in terms of playing the right areas, but also having the confidence to be really expansive and take the advantages to play from anywhere in the field."
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