Warren David Gatland CBE (born 17 September 1963) is a New Zealand former rugby union player and the former head coach of the Wales national team.

Gatland launched his coaching career as a player/coach for Taupiri in 1989, and after the All Blacks' 1989 tour, he remained in Ireland to act as a player/coach for Galwegians RFC leading them to promotion into the All-Ireland League Division 2.

As head coach of Wales from 2007 to 2019, he won three Six Nations titles, which were all Grand Slams, and reached the semi-finals of the 2011 and 2019 Rugby World Cups.

Gatland launched his coaching career as a player/coach for Taupiri in 1989, and after the All Blacks' 1989 tour, he remained in Ireland to act as a player/coach for Galwegians RFC leading them to promotion into the All-Ireland League Division 2.

In 1996, he returned to Ireland and became the director of rugby at Connacht, leading them to the quarter-finals of the 1997–98 European Challenge Cup after twice beating Northampton Saints in the pool stages.

Ireland had a disappointing 1999 Rugby World Cup campaign and failed to make it to the quarter-finals after losing narrowly to Argentina in a play-off game 28–24.

After losing his job with Ireland, he joined the coaching staff at London Wasps under director of rugby Nigel Melville.

The team was bottom of the Premiership at this time, but Gatland helped steer them away from the relegation zone and develop one of the meanest defences in Europe.

On his return to New Zealand to coach Waikato in the National Provincial Championship (NPC), he led the side to seventh in the Division 1 table.

In addition to his role as head coach of Waikato, during the off-season, he acted as technical advisor for the Chiefs Super 14 team in 2006.

In the final round of fixtures, Wales beat France at the Millennium Stadium 29–12, to clinch their 10th Grand Slam, 100 years after they won their first.

Due to his commitments to the British & Irish Lions, he was unable to coach Wales to their Summer tour of North America against Canada and the United States.

However, he led the team in their 2009 Autumn internationals campaign, which consisted of wins against Samoa, and Argentina, but losses to New Zealand and Australia.

Their Summer tour consisted of a 2–0 test series defeat to the All Blacks (42–9 and 29–10), and their 2010 Autumn campaign saw Wales at best get a 16–16 draw with Fiji – losses to Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

[7][8] Due to his success with Wales, Gatland was named head coach for the 2013 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia.

Despite there being mostly Welsh players on the British & Irish Lions tour earlier that year, Wales failed to defeat Australia at home, going down 30–26 in their final match of the series.

Gatland led Wales to third in the 2014 Six Nations Championship, defeating Italy 23–15 in their opening match, before they were convincingly beaten by Ireland a week later 26–3.

They returned to winning ways when they beat France 27–6, however they lost to England at Twickenham to end any hopes of retaining their Championship.

[12][13] Despite many injuries before and during the World Cup, Gatland guided the team out of the "pool of death", with victories over Uruguay 54–9, England 28–25 and Fiji 23–13.

The All Blacks were without many of their World Cup winning side, with Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Keven Mealamu, Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith all retiring.

In rounds 4 and 5, Wales returned to winning ways, defeating Italy 38–14 and France 14–13 to finish the Championship in second behind victors Ireland.

In June 2018, Gatland led his side to three from three victories, defeating South Africa in Washington, D.C. in a one-off test match 22–20, before securing a 2–0 series win over Argentina.

In the buildup to the 2019 Six Nations Championship, Gatland said that should Wales start off the campaign with a victory over France, "we can win it given we have home games against England and Ireland.

[21] In March 2012, in the wake of his second Six Nations Grand Slam with Wales, he was interviewed for the position of head coach for the Lions' 2013 tour of Australia,[22] before being appointed in September that year.

Gatland promised impartial selection and said he believed that Graham Henry in 2001 picked too many Welsh players who were insufficiently good for the tour.

In the third test, Gatland was heavily criticised for naming 11 Welsh players in the matchday squad, as well as for the dropping of Brian O'Driscoll.

Gatland was heavily criticised for the lack of Scottish players in squad, considering Scotland had beaten both Ireland and Wales during the 2017 Six Nations Championship.

[36] Gatland was promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to rugby in Wales.

In December 2022, Wales head coach Wayne Pivac, who had replaced Gatland, was sacked by the Welsh Rugby Union after a poor period of results.

[42] The 2023 Six Nations Championship saw Gatland's Wales fall to a second consecutive finish in fifth place, after only winning one match away against Italy in the fourth round of the competition.