SIX Turn of century is humbling for Gatland

told anyone this, but my daughter Gabby rang me and said, ‘Dad, don’t do it’. Then she rang me back 20 minutes later and said, ‘If you want to do it, I will support you’.

“That was quite hard from a family perspective, but I signed the contract and that was the start.”

As for the upcoming landmark, Gatland says: “I knew 100 was coming up. Last year Graham Henry said to me, ‘How many caps do you have?’ I said, ‘Honestly, I don’t know’. He said he was on 140-something and, with Wales, Ireland and the Lions, I was over 100. I wasn’t quite sure, but reaching it with Wales is pretty cool and pretty humbling too.”

Wales’ trip to Dublin will be his 144th match in international rugby, which takes him past Henry as the most experienced Test coach. He has won nearly 51 per cent of his games in charge of Wales. In the Six Nations, that rises to 69 per cent.

Gatland will have ended up staying for nearly three times the length of his initial four-year Wales contract when he leaves after the 2019 World Cup in Japan. It has been a lengthy and successful period, one which has taken him away from his wife Trudi and children Gabby and Bryn for long spells.

“When I look back on it all, Wales came along and I thought it was a good opportunity to be away for a while then come back to New Zealand and do Super Rugby again,” said Gatland.

“The initial plan was to go to the 2011 World Cup. The New Zealand Rugby Union had contacted me in 2011 and offered me the Chiefs job. I was pretty close to accepting, but it was still a strong squad with Wales and we went on to win the Grand Slam in 2012 and then the Championship in 2013.”

Gatland has won two Six Nations Grand Slams and reached a World Cup semifinal. There have also been two sabbaticals with the Lions, with whom he remains unbeaten; a series win in Australia and a draw with the All Blacks. Still,