Guinness Premiership
Gatland slams quality of Premiership
Scrum.com
October 26, 2009
Wales coach Warren Gatland offers some instruction to his players, Wales training session, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales, March 17, 2009
Warren Gatland believes the Guinness Premiership is at its weakest since he arrived in the UK © Getty Images
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Players/Officials: Warren Gatland | Dwayne Peel
Tournaments/Tours: Guinness Premiership
Teams: Wales

Wales head coach Warren Gatland has slated the standard of play in this season's Guinness Premiership.

The New Zealander has included just one England-based player in his 29-strong squad for the autumn Tests, Sale's Dwayne Peel, and did not pull any punches when it came to explain exactly why.

"I think the Guinness Premiership, having watched the games, is the weakest Premiership I've seen since I have been up here (in the United Kingdom)," he said. "It is the weakest in terms of the quality of the teams involved.

"Look at Gloucester. When I was at Wasps you would go down there and know you were going to have a really tough, physical match up front. I couldn't believe they just weren't competitive against Wasps on Saturday (Gloucester were beaten 35-6 at Kingsholm).

"When the Premiership is strong, it's a good gauge of how players are likely to perform at international level."

Meanwhile, Gatland confirmed that Sale have taken advantage of their right not to release Peel for Wales' November 7 clash with New Zealand as it falls outside the International Rugby Board's (IRB) window for international fixtures.

"At this stage Dwayne is not available for the All Blacks game. I spoke to him yesterday (Sunday) and he is desperately keen to be involved against New Zealand. He is pretty frustrated by the situation," the Kiwi said.

"The sad thing about it is it's the player who is really being affected. I would go out of my way to make sure a player was released. Playing international rugby is the pinnacle of any player's career."

© Scrum.com

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