By fielding a Wales squad in Wellington last night that featured seven players aged 22 or under, Gatland was fulfilling a prime requirement of the four-year extension to his contract that he signed late last year, which is to oversee the development of the next generation.
The Springboks, of course, went the other way, fielding a team with more caps (815) than any test side in the sport's history.
Good performances in the coming weeks could gain Gatland a few approving nods from his countrymen. "There is a lot of mutual respect among the players and the people of New Zealand and Wales and we are two nations who love our rugby," he has said. "But you don't get respect in this country, collectively or individually, unless you perform on the pitch here."
He was already at a disadvantage as a coach, being from unfashionable Waikato. Gatland played a record 140 matches in the red, black and yellow and shared in the self-styled Mooloo Men's heyday of winning the Ranfurly Shield from Auckland and thrashing the Lions in 1993.
Still, he is aware that only two Waikato men - Dick Everest and John Mitchell - have coached the All Blacks. Even the stepping stone of looking after the Chiefs in Super rugby has been beyond Gatland; an apparent agreement to succeed Ian Foster (a teammate in that 1990s side) fell apart in unexplained circumstances four years ago. The Chiefs vacancy for 2012 was recently filled by Dave Rennie, the national Under-20 coach, with Wayne Smith, now assisting Henry with the All Blacks, to join him.
Gatland has wandered the globe. His wife, Trudi, and their two teenaged children stayed in Hamilton during his latest stint with Wales but they were mostly along for the ride during his appointments with Galwegians, Connacht, Ireland and Wasps. The last won three Premiership titles and a Heineken Cup.
Then he had two years back in Hamilton, guiding Waikato to their second domestic provincial championship (the other came while he was a player). Gatland said: "There were quite a few people in New Zealand who said you couldn't win anything by playing Northern Hemisphere-style rugby. That criticism pretty much dried up when we won the cup."
An approach by England that Gatland said was bungled went by the wayside when he joined Wales after the 2007 World Cup, landing the Grand Slam in his first season.
But perhaps Gatland bungled himself - he once told me that not long after he joined Wasps in December 2001, he turned down an offer from Mitchell to join the All Black staff.
"Warren takes great pride in seeing a lot more Wales players come through to be of international class," says Basil Lennan, a school friend who has worked with Trudi on a scheme to put Welsh supporters up for free.
"He's a Waikato boy; he bleeds the Waikato, basically. I had a coffee with him the other day. The guy's obviously got something and none of his mates here can understand why he's not in the All Blacks set-up. If Wales make the semifinals it'll raise his profile immensely."
The accommodation scheme, inspired by the welcome the Gatlands and other Kiwis have had on their own travels, has seen 140 Welsh visitors given free accommodation in and around Hamilton for the matches against Samoa and Fiji.
Last night marked the beginning of Gatland's second World Cup - in 1999 Ireland's ended in a quarter-final play-off defeat by Argentina.
As a player he made 17 appearances for the All Blacks but, due mainly to the presence of Sean Fitzpatrick as hooker, none of them in tests. Graham Dowd of North Harbour was the bench No 2 for the 1991 tournament.
If that lingering hurt is ever to be salved by Gatland wearing the coveted silver fern as a coach, the next few weeks are crucial.
- Independent
