Rugby legend Warren Gatland has opened up on the heartbreaking loss of his baby daughter over three decades ago.
The former Ireland and Wales coach’s first child with his wife Trudi, a baby girl named Shauna, passed away at just four months old after being born with severe spina bifida in 1992.
Warren, who was coaching Galwegians when Shauna was born in Galway, spotted that something was wrong when he saw the midwives in tears shortly after her birth; with him being told that on a scale of one to 10 on her condition, Shauna was a ‘nine out of 10.’
‘We had a couple of scans and just did not know,’ Warren told the Dom Harvey podcast. ‘She was born in Ireland, in Galway — we’d been going backwards and forwards to Ireland for a few years — [and] when she was born in hospital, I didn’t realise but the midwife and nurses were crying, and all of a sudden everyone was running around and stuff.
‘We got specialists involved. I can remember talking to one of the specialists a few days later and saying, you know, “in terms of spina bifida, out of 10, how bad is she?” He said “probably a nine out of 10.”
While on a trip to Australia, Warren learned of his daughter’s death at just four months old, with him saying that it had an impact on how he coached, adding that he mentions in team talks that family is the most important thing to his players.
‘Any teams that I’ve been involved in, I’ve spoken about how lucky we are to be well-paid and get those opportunities, but the most important thing in your life is your family,’ Warren said. ‘If things are alright at home, if you’ve got support from your family, then as a coach you get a much better product on the field.’
The couple welcomed two more children, Gabby and Bryn, into the world — but haven’t forgotten about Shauna, lighting candles on her birthday every year.
‘I often talk to the kids about Shauna and tell them that they are probably here because of her,’ Warren said. ‘We wouldn’t have had Gabby quite as soon as we did after Shauna had passed away, and then obviously we had Bryn.’
Warren became a legendary international coach following his playing career, leading Wales to four Six Nations titles — three of which were Grand Slams — and winning the New Zealand test series when he coached the British and Irish Lions in 2017.
He departed Wales earlier this year after a string of defeats, and despite Ireland also having a Six Nations to forget earlier this year, Warren still ended up choosing a good number of Irish players in his ideal Lions lineup.
