“Only around 10 men in the world could do this job.”
So said then Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Roger Lewis after Warren Gatland’s appointment as Wales head coach in 2007. Fred Bloggs, from Aberflyflanker RFC, need not have applied, then.
Lewis wanted a super-coach to steer Wales and believed he had found one in Gatland, a man with a proven track record as a winner who could set agendas, control his players, pick the right teams, weather media storms and, most importantly, deliver results.
