WARREN Gatland is a great coach, and assorted attempts to undermine his reputation this week were unworthy at best, and vindictive at worst.
While Gatland was on his way back to New Zealand to undertake a fortnight of quarantine his record as a head coach came under scrutiny, and saw him denigrated in some quarters following the 2021 Lions last-gasp penalty defeat in the Third Test of the Covid series against South Africa.
Attempts to saddle Gatland with the yoke of being a negative, defence-first-and-last coach appeared to be a reaction to premature suggestions from within the Lions admin...