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Head coach Warren Gatland says he made a mistake by giving Cory Hill the Wales captaincy after the lock pulled out of the victory against Queensland Reds because of “personal reasons”.<\/b><\/p>\n
Gatland named Hill as captain on Wednesday for Friday’s game but the player’s withdrawal from the side was announced just minutes before kick-off.<\/p>\n
Asking Hill to be skipper was a controversial move because of an incident in 2021 when the lock was named among a group of individuals<\/a> who damaged a woman’s house.<\/p>\n He was not charged by police, but apologised at the time through a representative.<\/p>\n There was a negative reaction on social media to Gatland’s decision to make Hill captain.<\/p>\n “Cory came to me and said for personal reasons, he was pulling out of the match,” said Gatland.<\/p>\n “So I had to respect the decision he’d made to do that.<\/p>\n “I’ll put my hand up and say that I probably shouldn’t have put him in that position.<\/p>\n “I picked him on what he’s been doing out here. It was a rugby decision I made.<\/p>\n “It probably doesn’t help when you do get some negativity thrown at you, it makes things difficult.<\/p>\n “I could probably have negated that by not selecting him in that position. I need to hold my hand up in terms of that.<\/p>\n “I probably didn’t appreciate there was going to be some negativity about making that call. Like I said, I probably underestimated some of that.”<\/p>\n Gatland said Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Abi Tierney and executive director of rugby Nigel Walker had not been involved in any of the rugby decisions taken this week.<\/p>\n At a press conference after he was named captain, Hill said he regretted the 2021 incident and apologised publicly,<\/a> while Gatland explained at that point why he thought the lock should be his captain for this game.<\/p>\n Gatland reiterated his claim that forgiveness should be sought.<\/p>\n “There’s a lot of sportspeople who have had similar situations that, for whatever reason, are back in the fold,” said Gatland.<\/p>\n “I thought he was brilliant on Wednesday [at the press conference], I thought he was genuine in terms of his apology for something that happened three years ago.<\/p>\n “The facts are that he wasn’t arrested or charged. He’s put his hand up and said he’s made a mistake.<\/p>\n “How long do you have to wait before people stop throwing stuff at you?<\/p>\n “There’s lot of examples of sportspeople who have had misdemeanours and gone back into playing.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n