Daily Mail

100 NOT OUT

But centurion Gatland still has his sights on World Cup glory

- by Will Kelleher

‘This has been the fourth golden era for Welsh rugby’

IF Warren Gatland’s 14-year- old daughter Gabby had got her way more than a decade ago, his years as Wales coach might never have been.

In a London hotel back in late 2007 New Zealander Gatland sat with pen hovering over the dotted line on his Welsh Rugby Union contract that — if signed — would tie him down for four years.

The telephone rang — it was his daughter. ‘My heart was pounding,’ Gatland recalls. ‘I was thinking, “Am I doing the right thing? Shall I just get up and walk out?”

‘Gabby said, “Dad, don’t do it”. Then she called back 20 minutes later, “Aw, nah, if you want to do it I will support you”. That was quite hard from a family perspectiv­e.’

He signed. And so began an age of success, and sacrifice. ‘When you are in camps and focused, like now in the Six Nations, it is intense and takes up a lot of time,’ Gatland says, candidly.

‘You don’t have really quality family time when you are doing that. I wouldn’t have been able to do this with my family, being away, at a club side.’

This has been a significan­t period of Gatland and his family’s life. He joined Wales as a 44-yearold and will leave after the 2019 World Cup aged 56.

Gabby is now 24, his son Bryn, a profession­al player himself, 22. Coaching a country rather than a club means Gatland has had time to nip home over the decade, to them and wife Trudi. ‘It has been tough but not unmanageab­le,’ he says. ‘ It has not been about quantity but quality time. That has made it a little bit easier.’

Gatland does not keep much memorabili­a. The walls of his Kiwi home in Hamilton, or beach hut in Waihi, do not heave with gold. His wife frames a few badges from the jackets he has worn and a couple of jerseys, but not much.

Many have marvelled at Gatland’s achievemen­ts, some have maligned him but after 10 years and 99 Test matches, Gatland is undoubtedl­y a rugby titan.

At Twickenham against England he became the most experience­d Test coach of all time, taking charge of his 143rd internatio­nal, passing fellow countryman Sir Graham Henry. In Dublin this Saturday he will celebrate a century of games with Wales.

We know the achievemen­ts — two Six Nations titles, in 2008 and 2012 (both Grand Slams), one more championsh­ip for his team in 2013 while he was away, an unexpected World Cup semi-final appearance in 2011, and two British and Irish Lions tours where his men left unbeaten in the Test series — but what of his legacy?

To coach one nation for 100 matches is a phenomenal feat. But for all the triumphs there are three criticisms that have dogged Gatland.

Wales are built ‘ to win the Six Nations and not a lot else’ it has been said and they annually fail against southern hemisphere opposition. For his detractors these can be tied together with one catch-all phrase — the third apparent fault that irks Gatland — ‘ Warrenball’. The expression, reflecting a tactic of using big men to smash over the gain line, has not yet made the dictionary, but it has come to define his era. Speak to his 2008 squad and most will say Gatland dragged them into profession­alism. But are his achievemen­ts under-appreciate­d in his adopted home?

‘No, there is a huge amount of respect for what we have achieved,’ he says. ‘I’ve got to be honest, our record against southern hemisphere opposition hasn’t been as good as we would’ve liked. But anyone who follows Wales now can go to the stadium and think their team have a good chance of winning.

‘When people look back over the 10 years it has been a golden period of Welsh rugby. This is the fourth one they’ve had. The first was in the early 1900s, next in the 1950s, then it was the 1970s and now probably this one.

‘We’ve got a generation now who expect Wales to compete against the best teams in the world. You change expectatio­ns and possibly create a bit of a rod for your own back. There is no doubt with the Welsh, when there’s agony they want the ecstasy and when you give them the ecstasy, they want the agony again!’

That comparison with the 1970s deities will vex thousands. Can Sam Warburton, Alun Wyn Jones, Taulupe Faletau and Leigh Halfpenny really be ranked alongside Sir Gareth Edwards, JPR Williams, Merv Davies and Barry John? Absolutely, says Gatland, especially if they cap it all at the World Cup in Japan next year.

‘Some of those 1970s guys won three Grand Slams,’ he says. ‘That’s as good as anyone in the history of the game. We want to finish well in 2019. A group of guys know it’s their last World Cup: Alun Wyn Jones, Jonathan Davies, Sam Warburton, Ken Owens, Dan Biggar, Leigh Halfpenny.

‘If they’re in the squad and stay fit they will be pretty motivated to finish on a high like me.’

This brings us back to why he has stayed. Gatland loves World Cups, where he has proper time with the squad to prepare.

So when captain Warburton was sent off in 2011 and Wales were dumped out by France in the semi-final which would have been Gatland’s last game before returning home, he had to stay on.

That is what has driven him these last seven years. He has unfinished business. That is why he will fly east in 2019 desperate for that final pot of gold. One he can stick on the mantelpiec­e, and one which may finally secure his status as a modern rugby great.

 ?? HUW EVANS ?? Still hungry: Warren Gatland has led Wales since 2007
HUW EVANS Still hungry: Warren Gatland has led Wales since 2007
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