Gatland has little sympathy for losers

John O'SullivanWarren Gatland was unapologetic, the smile articulating his delight in victory. In a previous life as Ireland coach, the New Zealander enjoyed some good times, endured the bad at Lansdowne Road but yesterday's result at the stadium will definitely be a memory to be cherished into his dotage.

There was an air of quiet satisfaction as he strolled in to face the media in the company of his assistant, the former Wigan and Britain rugby league great Shaun Edwards. "I can't take the smile off my face," said Gatland. "From our point of you I thought we showed great character in terms of coming back."

Indeed, there are not many who come back from a 10-point deficit against Munster with that sort of support.

"We're in great shape physically and I thought we finished pretty strong. If it had gone into extra time, I think we would have come out on top as well. For me, personally, five tries to two was a reflection of the (fact) that the better team won."

There was nothing bullish in those sentiments, just an accurate reflection on the game as a whole, but when asked later about whether, because of his previous affiliation with Irish rugby, he'd consider a few words for Munster, Gatland refused to kowtow to the usual post-match convention of throwing crumbs from the winner's table.

Munster's five years with a tin of Brasso and nothing to polish, might have tugged at the heartstrings but Gatland is made of sterner stuff. "I don't feel anything for Munster in terms of that. You take your chances. They performed extremely well in this competition.

"For Munster it's easy to qualify; they're in the Heineken Cup every year. The Premiership is very important for us because it is extremely difficult to qualify (for the European Cup). You look at Gloucester who are a very good side, fourth at the moment but may miss out and have to go into the wild card play-offs to qualify for Heineken Cup rugby next year. From that point of you, you take your opportunities and we took ours today."

Wasps certainly seemed primed from the off, their physicality, and willingness to embroil themselves in post-whistle confrontations explained with humour by the Wasps coach. "They were fired up. They didn't need to open the door, they were going to go through it."

Welsh referee Nigel Williams once again came in for criticism. It's all a matter of perspective. Munster felt aggrieved at his decision-making, Wasps weren't enamoured either. Edwards ventured: "Everything seemed to be going against us at that point. At that stage our defence didn't seem to be in any trouble whatsoever. All our tackles were dominant tackles and we were gaining ground with our defence.

"I found it quite a frustrating time. I was listening to the referee on the ref link . . . and to say it was pretty frustrating would be a slight understatement. So I can't really see the sense in someone lying on top of the ball."

When asked who was to blame, Edwards was unequivocal: "I'm blaming the referee."

The patterns of the first half suggested that Wasps should have been enjoyed a better grasp on the match. Gatland wasn't unduly concerned at half-time: "We said about keeping our shape and pattern and when we did that we put them under a lot of pressure. There was a couple of times when we had mis-matches in the back line. I think they struggled to go to that third and fourth phase against us defensively.

"But in saying that once they got in top gear we struggled to get across the gain line, they defended well. That's just typical of what they do. We were probably a little bit too emotional before the game, gave away too many penalties early on. It was as much about emotion as anything. They're a special bunch of guys who want to achieve something. You saw the character today. They just enjoy playing rugby together. We didn't want to leave it behind."