Dirty dozen could finish off Gatland

WHEN the Gatland Gate clanked shut behind him last night on a year of endless misery, the man himself might have wondered whether he will be back to walk through it again.

- PETER JACKSON

In the next few days as the serial Grand Slammer considers his immediate future, the words of an old Rolling Stones song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, sound strikingly relevant:

This could be the last time,

Maybe the last time,

I don’t know

Gatland admits he doesn’t know what decision his employers will reach once they have completed their review into the worst year Welsh rugby has endured in living memory. No international coach can expect to preside over 12 defeats and keep his job.

His parting shot – “We’ll see what happens in the next few days’’ – points to the WRU deciding by the end of the coming week whether to sack him or back him to continue arguably the most painful salvage operation ever attempted by a founder member of the international game.

An autumn series which exposed Wales’ fall from their place as a serious player on the global stage leaves Gatland with time to consider a definitive answer to those humane enough to ask how many more defeats he can take.

The issue is not that simple. His contract, reportedly worth £600,000-a-year, has another three years to run which makes sacking him sound an expensive business for a Union more impoverished than most.