All Black-slayer Carwyn deserved better than this

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?