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So that’s that. Warren Gatland’s time – and that of his lieutenants Shaun Edwards and Robin McBryde – as coaches to the national team has come to an end after 12 years.

This isn’t how it was meant to end, of course. For a year and more, Gatland and his players were happy to tell anybody within yelling range that they were aiming to win the Rugby World Cup in Japan this month. That dream died a week earlier than hoped in defeat to South Africa last week. The pain was etched across the faces of the players, the prize had slipped from their grasp. For some of these players, it was their last chance.

They had to drag battered, bruised and broken bodies through one more match on Friday against New Zealand. Injuries again denuded them of another four certain starters. The structure and shape which has been so typical of Gatland’s teams was missing, the blitz was crooked, the defence soft, kick chases were half-hearted. These lads were spent.

It was unsurprising. Where Jonathan Davies had to strap up his knee once more, Crotty and Williams for the All Blacks were fit and fresh. Where Josh Adams had to start his seventh consecutive game on one wing, and Owen Lane started on the other barely a week after arriving in Japan, New Zealand were able to roll out the rested Ioane and Ben Smith – two giants of the game in recent years but barely used here. It wasn’t just them. The whole squad had played one game fewer thanks to Typhoon Hagibis.

The game as a contest was over when Ben Smith crossed for his second, and his side’s fourth, after the half-time gong (and boy will we miss the half-time gong). Wales were brave and expansive, with Tomos Williams and Rhys Patchell challenging the line from half-back. It wasn’t enough, of course. They better protected possession and territory, and only lost the second half 12-7, but the damage had been done. A 40-17 defeat was disappointing, but expected.

So that’s that. Gatland and his deputies have gone, the new coaching team under Wayne Pivac is moving in to place. They will have their first run-out later this month. Gatland himself will coach the Barbarians in opposition. It’s bound to be a strange feeling for the Wales squad – Alun Wyn Jones is the only one of the current squad to have played for any coach other than Gatland with Wales and the Lions.

So, as we reach the end not only of the Rugby World Cup but of a significant era in Welsh rugby, the mind naturally starts to reflect (while looking forward, obvs…) on these last 12 years.

I’m (just) too young to remember the great teams of the 1970s (although I do vaguely remember pretending to be Gareth Edwards in the back garden, while my sister – for reasons known only to her – opted to be Allan Martin).

The next 20 years were grim.

The Five (and then Six) Nations wooden spoon was “won” for the first time ever by Wales in 1990, again in 1995 and yet again in 2003. Losses to Romania in 1984 and 1988, Canada in 1993, to Western and then the whole of Samoa in 1991, 1994 and 1999. Record thumpings to England (twice by 60, once more by 50), a half-century conceded to New Zealand several times, to France and Ireland once each, 60 shipped to Australia, 70 to a provincial Australian team for heaven’s sake, and the nadir. A Springbok mis-handle shy of conceding a century to the Boks in 1998.

Wales failed to escape the pool stages of the Rugby World Cups of 1991, 1995 and 2007. After the last of those, the call went out to Gatland.

His time with the national team has been, overall, a success.

The average supporter who, like me, suffered through that period, would scarcely have believed some of the triumphs to come. From that first win in 20 years in Twickenham in Gatland’s first match in charge, to clinching a Triple Crown there in 2012, to knocking England out of their own World Cup in 2015 at the same ground. From beating South Africa for only the second time ever in 2014 to winning four of the next five against those opponents. Three Grand Slams, a further championship title, two RWC semi-finals. Reaching the second of those by beating Australia and France, and starting it with realistic hopes of going all the way.

Between March 2018 and the morning of this year’s World Cup semi-final clash with South Africa, Wales had won 20 from 23, including two wins over South Africa, two over Australia, a series win in Argentina and a Grand Slam. Even allowing for the two defeats which finished the tournament, the win ratio over that period stands at 80%, only marginally behind New Zealand (who managed a solitary draw alongside their 20 wins). It is, by any measure, an extraordinary record.

Wales, at test level, is once more a respected rugby nation.

But there are still question marks about some aspects of his tenure.

There were signs that – after the failure to score against 13 Australians in 2015 – Gatland and co wanted to broaden the palette, to better arm their team. It seemed to work. The last two wins over South Africa in Cardiff came about thanks to lightning fast starts. In 2017, two tries in the first seven minutes and another before the half-hour saw Wales stretch out to a 21-3 lead which they just about held on to in a 24-22 win. A year later, two tries in the first 17 minutes sent them out to a 14-0 lead which paved the way for a 20-11 victory.

With Anscombe at 10, there was greater ambition, more intention to stretch the opposition from the off, less of a focus on wearing down teams and attempting to capitalise late in the game. Fitness was still key – they kept finding ways of winning games late on which seemed to be slipping away from them, in Paris and Murrayfield and Oita – but there was more on offer.

The injury to Anscombe in the first summer warm-up, and subsequent injuries to Jonathan Davies and Hadleigh “The Mummy” Parkes during the tournament, removed that option. Wales returned to the attritional, collision-based, defence-focused style which had so often failed to take them that one extra step.

There has been criticism of the style of play adopted by Gatland through much of his tenure. Not necessarily that it was often dull and uninspired – although it often was – but that there may have been another way which, building on undoubted improvements in conditioning, structure and defence, may have provided a more fruitful route to even greater heights.

Yes, the injuries didn’t help, but Gatland rarely gave the impression that he trusted his players to express themselves. Retaining possession was key to wearing down the opposition – risking turnovers was forbidden. Supporting players’ first instinct was to protect the ball at the tackle area, not to offer an offloading option. In the absence of big forwards, the emphasis switched to giant backs who would provide a scrapping forward pack with a target. When everybody else found giant backs, too, the focus switched to a kicking game, with Biggar, Liam Williams and Halfpenny to the fore.

It worked. In Europe, at least, and for the most part.

Organisation, structure and, above all, fitness. The conditioning team became expert at preparing a team which could perform at its physical limit for up to five games in a short period of time. The problem was that a Rugby World Cup finalist plays seven matches of increasing importance, with Wales also opting for four bruising warm-up matches before even getting to Japan. Quality of performance deteriorated as the tournament progressed, with Wales playing their best rugby in their first two matches. The knockout stages were about survival. They were heroic, and their spirit remained unbroken. The same could not be said for their bodies.

Fitness and physicality is not enough. Wales do not have the physical beasts available to some other nations – notably both finalists – and cannot bully their opponents. The physical, low-risk approach made Wales difficult to beat, but was it overly-physical? Is it a coincidence that Wales have finished the last two Rugby World Cups in pieces, bodies battered and energy spent before its end?

So did he get the most out of the players at his disposal?

It could be argued that Gatland got the most out of this current squad, at least when injuries are taken into consideration. There was more stardust sprinkled across the team of 2011-13 which won championships and formed the core of a successful Lions tour. Warburton and Faletau and Shane Williams and Adam Jones and Gethin Jenkins – all missing this time – alongside now-veterans such as Alun Wyn Jones, Jonathan Davies and George North. That squad peaked at the end of the 2011 World Cup. A Grand Slam of declining performances was secured, a whitewash of narrow defeats in Australia followed, home losses to Argentina and Samoa condemned Wales to the third tier of seeds for 2015. A dominant scrum was the basis of the 2013 championship win and then…well…that was pretty much it for five seasons.

In the 6 Nations, the period between 2014-18 saw two second place finishes, two third and one fifth.

The gap to New Zealand remained as unbridgeable as ever, no victories came against Australia between 2008-18. While England and Ireland and even Scotland were winning games against the big three on their own patch, Wales still haven’t won an away game against South Africa and New Zealand, and last beat Australia away in 1969. Indeed, despite a recent upturn, the record against the big three of the southern hemisphere remains poor at just eight wins in 44 attempts. In percentage terms, it is better than France and Italy and Argentina, but worse than every other “tier 1” nation.

There were sometimes concerns that Gatland’s focus could drift. Allowed sabbaticals ahead of his two Lions tours as head coach (eight months in 2013, a full year in 2017), performances generally deteriorated in his absence. Those were key years in the Rugby World Cup cycle, years in which the head coach was elsewhere.

The argument that Gatland has successfully taken this current squad as far as it can go has merit, but raises another question. If this is a less talented squad, why is that?

Many supporters of the professional game in Wales have argued for years that the relationship between the test and professional tiers was imbalanced. That the national team had everything it needed, from specialist coaches to regular training camps in far-flung places to cryotherapy chambers to as much player access as it could wish for.

The professional game, on the other hand, was starved. Much is made of the immediate impact made by Gatland in winning at Twickenham in his first game. It’s worth noting that he did so by picking 13 Ospreys. It worked because they were a very good team, among Europe’s best, full of quality players developed by their region. Furthermore, those 13 test standard Welsh players worked every day with the likes of Marshall, Tiatia, Holah and Collins. They were being pushed every day by some of the best players in the world.

Those days are long gone. World stars, for the most part, no longer come here, preferring the sunlit uplands of France and England. Leading Welsh players were allowed to leave and – unlike their peers in Ireland, England and New Zealand – still play for Wales. The professional sides here declined, interest waned. The WRU – through PRB – still hasn’t found a model which meets Wales’ very particular needs. We’re still waiting, and we’re running out of time.

But, yes, a success, on the whole. It’s easy to gripe, to point at failings, and easy to take for granted that Wales are now a tough side to beat. We shouldn’t underestimate the improvement at test level over the past 12 years. Wales is a small country, both in population and, more importantly, playing numbers (smaller, in fact, than any of the other seven RWC quarter-finalists). That we feel a bit disappointed about a World Cup campaign which saw wins over Australia and France before a late three-point defeat to South Africa in the last four is evidence of that profound shift in expectations.

So thank you to Gatland and his coaches for their work here. The last 12 years – again, at test level – have been a marked improvement on the previous 20. Whether the same solid foundations are in place in 2019 as in 2008 remains to be seen.

One plea. We will need to show patience. Alun Wyn Jones is the only member of the current squad to have ever worked with a national coach other than Gatland. Wayne Pivac will need time to develop his own ideas and hone his own style. If the style is a little more open and a little less physical, that could be an important first step. Even better would be to see a genuine partnership between all levels of the game to the betterment of all.