As Warren Gatland prepares for another tour over the Lions, Andy Dunne recalled an early introduction to the New Zealander's coaching genius in the English Premiership.
Having left Leinster for Harlequins in 2003, Dunne encountered Warren Gatland not too long after he had taken over Wasps in the English Premiership.
Recalling the match on OTB Sports during a British & Irish Lions build-up show, the Dublin native enjoyed his outing against Gatland's team.
"The first game I played in the Premiership was Harlequins vs Wasps," he explained, "and we did a job on them."
It was what happened next that told Dunne much of what he needed to know about Warren Gatland, however.
"The following April we got absolutely battered by Wasps," he said of the return game, "and they were like a different team."
A measure of how Gatland had improved his team over the season, perhaps, Dunne was provided with a first-hand account of how the New Zealander had shaped things.
"I ended up in a late bar in Fulham chatting to Gatland," he explained, this chance encounter coming the night after Quins' defeat to Wasps.
"He was very transparent [and] said how we shot the lights out back in August, but when it came down to the business end of the season Gatland had his teams prepared so well.
"It was very fancy wording but they called it periodisation back then."
Content for his team to suffer earlier on in the season if they could be primed for more decisive games, it endeared Warren Gatland to Dunne.
"I think he has got a very refreshing approach," he noted. "He doesn't mince his words and he marches to the beat of his own drum.
"I've found him a very interesting character and he's obviously been hugely successful."
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