Warren Gatland should be remembered for the success he brought despite how it ended
Tuesday marked an end of an era for Welsh rugby after Warren Gatland stepped down from his post as head coach.
Gatland had been at the helm for 151 Test matches between 2008 and 2025 apart from a three-year hiatus when Wayne Pivac was coach. Unfortunately, his second stint in charge was far from successful, with 20 losses from 26 Test matches.
The blame for such a wretched run of form cannot be laid at Gatland's door alone. When former Welsh Rugby Union CEO Steve Phillips sent an urgent SOS to his old friend at the back end of 2022, Wales had just lost at home to Georgia which proved to be the final nail in Pivac's coffin.
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After briefly flirting with the England job, Gatland decided a return to his old stomping ground was the right option but he returned to a rugby nation torn apart by internal strife. Gatland would have been fully aware of Welsh rugby's propensity to self-implode, but this was something else.
In the lead up to Wales' Six Nations clash with England in Cardiff back in February 2023 the Welsh players were threatening strike action. Every professional player based in Wales was a victim of the vicious wranglings between the WRU and its four professional clubs - Cardiff, Dragons RFC, Ospreys and Scarlets.
In the end a compromise was agreed and the game went ahead but Gatland had clearly returned to a game which was on its knees. Years of underfunding in the professional game and the pathway had caught up with Welsh rugby.
Wales' golden generation of players was fizzling out with the likes of Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric, Dan Biggar, Ken Owens, Jonathan Davies and Leigh Halfpenny, among others, all calling it a day over the past couple of years. Gatland no longer had the same level of experience, with Welsh rugby lacking quality in key positions.
Gatland did succeed in dragging Wales into the quarter-finals of the 2023 Rugby World Cup which was no mean feat given the state they had been in just a few months previously, with the 40-6 thrashing of Australia the zenith. But since returning from the World Cup Gatland has failed to make a silk purse out of a cow's ear.
It is not all his fault but the statistics are irrefutable. Gatland has led Wales to 14 defeats in a row, while they failed to win a single Test match in 2024.
This is a professional sport and such a poor run of defeats should never be tolerated in any way, shape or form, even accounting for the external challenges. Some say Wales do not have the same quality of player as their Six Nations rivals but even so Gatland failed to get a tune out of them and the performances got progressively worse over the past year.
In the end it was the right thing for both Welsh rugby and Gatland himself that he should step aside. But how will he be remembered?
When Gatland returned to Wales he admitted he was putting his reputation and legacy on the line. And it was some legacy, with the Kiwi leading Wales to three Six Nations Grand Slams and two Rugby World Cup semi-finals.
When Gatland first arrived in Wales the game was on its knees after Gareth Jenkins' charges had been unceremoniously dumped out of the World Cup at the pool stages by Fiji. But within three months of arriving Gatland has led Wales to the unlikeliest of Grand Slams.
Between 2008-19 Gatland was among the best coaches on the planet and had deservedly led the British & Irish Lions on three tours. Wales' successes during this period were multi-faceted, much like the failures are now, with a golden generation of player not seen since the halcyon days of the 1970s at his disposal.
But Gatland created a tough, no-nonsense winning culture which allowed players to thrive. In the early days Welsh rugby had not seen a coach like Gatland before and it was a shock to the system the game in this country so desperately needed.
Gatland was pure x-factor on and off the pitch. Who can forget the against-the-odds victory at Twickenham in 2015 which dumped England out of their own World Cup, or the 25-7 thrashing of Ireland to seal the Grand Slam in 2019?
At one stage under Gatland Wales were even ranked number one in the world rankings. It could have been even better if some narrow defeats against southern hemisphere nations had been turned into victories, or if Alain Rolland had not given Sam Warburton his marching orders in that agonising World Cup semi-final defeat to France.
Gatland's overall record stands at 151 matches with 76 wins, 73 defeats and two draws. The two spells couldn't be more contrasting but the majority of Welsh rugby fans will remember Gatland for the remarkable success he brought the nation between 2008-19.
His impact on Welsh rugby will live long in the memory.
