Warren Gatland says that he will be ‘forever proud’ of his work with Wales despite the torrid run of results during his second tenure.

The New Zealander parted ways with Welsh rugby after the Six Nations round two defeat to Italy, a result which meant that Gatland had overseen a run of 14 successive losses.

That result meant that he finished his second spell in charge with a woeful 23% win rate, winning just six of the 20 Tests – this after Wales won 70 of his 125 games in charge during his first tenure.

‘Those things don’t bother me’

Still, Gatland remains incredibly proud of what he has achieved with Wales during his time with the team, including his second spell when he replaced Wayne Pivac and led the side to a World Cup quarter-final.

“I’ve been asked about legacy a lot of times. ‘Is there a chance you’re going to ruin your legacy?’ Those things don’t bother me,” he told the Telegraph in his first interview since his departure.

“What we achieved in the World Cup [2023] was above expectation. And what we’ve done now, we haven’t quite lived up to expectations.”

The 61-year-old believes that during his time with the team Wales “overachieved”, citing the Six Nations titles and Grand Slams won over the years and the “small nation’s” performances in Rugby World Cups.

“When you look back, there was the golden era of the 1970s. And hopefully people look back at my period, going back to when Wales won the Grand Slam in 2005 under Mike Ruddock to basically the World Cup quarter-final in 2023, as a golden era in terms of a generation of people sort of expecting success every few years,” he added.

“Whether that’s three Grand Slams or a championship or World Cup semi-finals. It’s been success every two or three years. We overachieved for such a small nation, massively. And I’ll be forever proud of that.”

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Successor

Matt Sherratt has taken over as head coach in the interim and will lead Wales through the remainder of the Six Nations campaign while the Welsh Rugby Union search for the long-term successor to their greatest-ever coach.

Franco Smith appears to be the clear frontrunner for the role, if the WRU can convince the former Springboks fly-half to leave the Glasgow Warriors after he openly expressed his desire to return to international rugby.

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With unparalleled experience of what it takes to coach Wales, Gatland identified what attributes his successor has to have.

“They need a thick skin for a start,” he joked. “There’s a lot of people who want you to succeed, but there’s also a lot of people who want you to fail as well. And I’ve experienced that.”

However, the appointment of director of rugby is the role that is more crucial in the ex-head coach’s opinion.

“It’s a tough role because you cannot be in that role and please everybody,” he said.

“I’ve tried to be consistent on a lot of my views. It doesn’t mean I’m right, but at least people respect you for having those views. And if you’re in that role, as a head of rugby, at times you have to be a b——, because you have to say no. And people aren’t going to be happy with the decisions.

“But what I found in Wales is they might not be happy with the decision, but at least they’ll respect you for making that decision.

“And if you try and please everybody, and you try and keep everyone happy, which you can’t do, people quickly lose respect for you because you don’t make decisions.”

READ MORE: Opinion: Warren Gatland’s sacking was overdue but he deserved a better farewell

Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/warren-gatland-is-not-bothered-by-ruining-his-legacy-after-massively-overachieving-as-wales-head-coach