Kiwi to be unveiled today

9:47am Friday 9th November 2007

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FORMER All Black Warren Gatland will be unveiled as Wales coach this afternoon following weeks of speculation.

The ex-Ireland and Wasps coach is set to replace Gareth Jenkins, fired after Wales' calamitous World Cup defeat to Fiji in September.

The appointment has already been confirmed by Gatland's New Zealand NPC side Waikato.

The 44-year-old Gatland is highly respected by some eminent figures in the rugby world and his appointment is likely to cost the WRU a reported £1 million over the duration of a four year contract.

The weight of expectation for Gatland to deliver almost immediate success for desperate Welsh fans is huge, the Grand Slam of 2005 being one of the few highlights in 30 mostly desolate years.

He is regarded as a straight-talking, no-nonsense guy in the stereotypical New Zealand fashion.

The Springbok's World Cup winning coach Jake White, plus New Zealanders Robbie Deans and Steve Hansen are all understood to have been on the WRU's hit list but in Gatland they think they have got their man.

He is due to fly back to New Zealand on Sunday and it is not known if he will return until after Wales' friendly match against South Africa at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday, November 24.

Nigel Davies is acting as caretaker coach for that game.

One of Gatland's fans is former British and Irish Lions coach Ian McGeechan, director of rugby at London Wasps, where the Kiwi delivered Heineken Cup glory in 2004 after an epic 27-20 victory over Toulouse.

"He is a very good coach," said McGeechan. "He put some great structures in place here at Wasps.

"He's done the same going back to the Waikato NPC side so he's pretty switched on and clued up."

Gatland had the misfortune of being in his prime as a player at the same time as the legendary hooker Sean Fitzpatrick and he was never capped by New Zealand, although he played in 17 non-Test matches for the All Blacks between 1988 and 1991.

He toured Wales with New Zealand in 1989 and played at Rodney Parade when the All Blacks trounced Newport 54-9.

Gatland became the record-holder of the most games for Waikato with 140 appearances before announcing his retirement in 1994.

Never afraid of taking on a new challenge, Gatland has spent much of the last 20 years coaching outside his native New Zealand.

After a spell as player/coach of Irish club side Galwegians in 1989, he returned seven years later to take charge of regional side Connacht where he worked wonders.

In 1998 he became Ireland coach where his record reads 18 wins, 19 defeats and one draw before his contract was not renewed by the Irish Rugby Football Union in highly controversial circumstances.

His tenure as coach was a mixed one although he is credited by some as having laid the foundations for Ireland's success in recent seasons under his replacement and former deputy Eddie O'Sullivan.

There were the lows of Ireland's 28-24 defeat by Argentina in the 1999 World Cup quarter-final play-offs and a record 50-18 Five Nations defeat to England in 2000.

But there were good times too. In 2000 Ireland beat France in Paris for the first time in 28 years during a pulsating match and they almost claimed an historic win over the All Blacks in Dublin just weeks before Gatland's exit.