LYON: Rather than taking a revenge pot shot, Wales coach Warren Gatland was magnanimous towards Eddie Jones after the crushing 40-6 win that ended Australia's Rugby World Cup dream in France.
Jones infamously told Gatland to "make sure he enjoys the third v fourth place playoff" in 2019 after Gatland critiqued England's chances against South Africa in the World Cup final.
But Gatland was in mood to slip the boot in after the record win and drew some interesting parallels between the plight of Australian rugby and the recent turmoil in Wales.
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"Having been involved in the last three years in Super Rugby back in New Zealand (with the Chiefs), there's definitely a dominance with the New Zealand teams in that competition," Gatland said.
"Wales isn't really much different to Australia. We've got regional teams that need to step up and perform and get better.
"I think it's the same for Super Rugby sides in Australia as well. If you can get performances and results, get to semi-finals and finals, it has a huge impact on the national team in terms of players coming in with confidence. That's the first part. You need to focus on Super Rugby, with quality players and quality coaches doing a job…
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"They've got some quality players and a young squad. We had 400 more caps out there. They've got youthful players coming through. Eddie's taken enough stick this week and I suppose he'll get more in the next couple of days. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out."
Wales (3-0) are the first team to qualify for the World Cup quarter-finals and are likely to meet either Argentina or England.
Gatland's comments regarding Super Rugby came on the back of Stephen Hoiles again questioning whether Australia could support five competitive teams.
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Jones has also made similar comments in the past.
"We've got five Super Rugby sides… the Brumbies have been the most successful over the last five to eight years. The Tahs have had glimpses of success, eight or nine years ago," Hoiles said on Stan Sport.
"The Reds, 11 or 12 years ago. Besides that, we're in a failing Super Rugby system. We went through this five years ago and it was nothing but people thinking: 'oh you hate the Force, you hate the Rebels.' I played at the Brumbies, I played at the Waratahs. If it meant getting rid of one of them to make Australian rugby better, I'd be all for it."
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