Gatland’s tainted second spell with Wales should not define his legacy

Warren Gatland’s troubled second spell in charge of Wales ended in a whimper on Tuesday when he agreed to step aside following a record-extending 14th defeat in a row in their 22-15 Six Nations loss to Italy on Saturday.

It is said you should never go back and Gatland conceded early on in his second tenure that had he known the full extent of the challenges facing Welsh rugby on and off the pitch, he might not have.

His players threatened to strike ahead of a Six Nations fixture against England in 2023 following a stand-off with the Welsh Rugby Union over contracts, and the atmosphere around the team has not recovered since.

While Gatland's first spell coincided with the emergence of some of the greatest players to wear the jersey, his second did not, and he was hit by a raft of retirements, injury mishaps and the loss of wing Louis Rees-Zammit to American football.

Describing a difficult past 12 months on and off the pitch, Gatland recently revealed some advice from his wife: "‘Do you need to put yourself through this? Why don't you just come to the beach and just enjoy yourself?'"

He joked at the time he was a glutton for punishment, but the truth is that for a seasoned rugby man, it was hard to walk away, even when the going got tough.

After a successful 12 years in charge between 2007 and 2019 that brought four Six Nations titles, three of them Grand Slams, and two Rugby World Cup semi-finals, the lure to replace Wayne Pivac in December 2022 was too great.

There are few more experienced coaches in the global game, Gatland also has three tours as coach of the British & Irish Lions, but the rebuild job with Wales was too great and they are a side in need of fresh ideas.

They won six of his 26 games in charge (23 per cent)