WHAT Carwyn James achieved during successive seasons had never been achieved before, nor since. He coached three teams to celebrated victories over the All Blacks: the Lions in 1971, Llanelli in October 1972 and the Barbarians three months later.
Warren Gatland never won a Test against New Zealand despite many attempts on behalf of Ireland, then Wales. He did win one for the Lions, against 14 men on a day when Beauden Barrett missed a barrage of penalties and he did get away with a drawn series because French referee Romain Poite reversed a last-minute penalty.
Yet readers of a certain rugby magazine have voted Gatland the best coach in the history of the game. Stranger still, the scholarly Mr James barely rated a mention.
And what about Kitch Christie, the only coach in rugby history to create a World Cup-winning squad in barely six months?
