"It would break my heart if Wales went back into the doldrums," Warren Gatland declared after his Wales reign ended three years ago.
That Gatland's worst fears were starting to be realised this autumn perhaps proved the overriding factor to make him jet back from New Zealand for a sensational second coming.
Just nine months from a World Cup, Wales' most successful coach has returned on a rescue mission, tasked with galvanising a nation once more and restoring the pride in a national team that slumped to new lows under previous incumbent Wayne Pivac.
