'We're in the shit.' It's tempting to say that, if you ask a New Zealander for his thoughts on life at the wrong end of the Zurich Premiership, candour is what you are going to get. But Warren Gatland in his frankness was not so much being faithful to his Kiwi roots as to the trend he has found in England of all places.

'One of the things that's interesting about rugby in England is that they are brutally honest with each other. Everything is black and white. The players give out criticism and take it when it comes their way. In Ireland and even New Zealand you had to be prepared to tiptoe around a topic before making the point.'

Has he adapted to the English way since his arrival in London after losing his job as coach of Ireland at the end of last year? 'I haven't quite grasped it yet,' he admitted in his softly spoken tones. 'I'm still ducking and diving a bit.'

That's one way of putting it. Gatland has had one hell of a season. It began with him in control of Ireland. Not firmly in control because there were always whispers that, for all the clarity and straightforwardness of the former All Black hooker's coaching, Ireland were ready for something a little more complex, a step up into the stratosphere where the big boys play.

Gatland had refuelled criticism when his team slumped away in Scotland in the postponed portion of the 2001 championship. He had often cut a slightly remote figure, his hooker's burliness and necklessness and his slightly downturned mouth advising against easy access, and now he had every reason to keep his own company as the tongues began to wag.

But you could still find him in the bar of the Berkley Court around midnight on the eve of international games. He liked to drop down for a jar for the nerves. And quiet, genial company he was. Furthermore, he then did everything possible to quash the rumours where it mattered. Ireland disposed of Wales away and then, just down the road from the Berkley Court, sent England crashing from the edge of outer space to the earthbound contemplation of another grand slam gone. Ireland followed this with a performance against New Zealand that nearly produced a first-ever win over them.

'For 40 minutes I thought we were outstanding against the All Blacks. What did for us in the end was that they were able to maintain their levels for 80 minutes. They took us on one on one, made ground and retook control of the game. But for a time we played to a standard we had not reached before. That's the best way to move Irish rugby forward, to play more games like that, to get used to sustaining such intensity for the whole game.'

Before he had a chance to plan another intense encounter, he was out of a job. He had arrived in Galway as an All Black tourist out of the ferocious, marauding pack of Waikato, had fallen in love with Ireland and had returned to Connacht to coach and raise a family. Now the love affair was over.

'Well, I won't let what two or three people did to me colour my judgment of Ireland.'

And? And that's it. Warren Gatland hasn't yet embraced brutal honesty to the point where he'll expose those who shafted him, although he does wonder how much nearer his former charges are to their brave new world. 'The Irish forward play so far in the Six Nations has been pretty disappointing. The team are still caught between the top tier of England and France and the group of Scotland, Wales and Italy below them. Next season, the one before the World Cup, they have France and England at home. They'll be screaming for a grand slam. But it's also possible to see Ireland losing not only those two at Lansdowne Road but two on the road as well: four games out of five lost. They're putting a lot of pressure on themselves.'

And so, it seems, is the former coach of Ireland at his new club in England. Wasps are, as he says, in trouble. 'Yep, this is one big, traditional club that's been underperforming for most of the season. I'd say we're too big to go down and I'd point out that this is the first time all season that we've had a fully fit squad to choose from. But time is running out... and today we're playing Leicester.'

He arrived at Wasps as assistant to Nigel Melville. 'I was looking forward to something perhaps not quite as stressful as running Ireland. Two or three weeks later Nigel was on his way to Gloucester. I told the board here that they had no need at all to feel obligated to me. If they wanted to advertise the job, that was fine. But they didn't, and here I am.'

And loving it. 'The day-to-day stuff is really busy, but, yeah, I'm loving every minute. Part of me wants to change a few things on the field, and a few structures here and there off it. But the other part tells me we're up to our necks in a relegation battle.

'Part of me looks at a pack that goes: Will Green, Trevor Leota or Phil Greening as hooker, Craig Dowd, Simon Shaw, Ian Jones, Paul Volley, Lawrence Dallaglio and Joe Worsley and says that I never had a pack as good as that with Ireland. But without good back-ups to that pack you can end up in trouble. There's not the same depth here as there was with the Irish provinces. Lawrence has been out all season. He's such a strong personality and individual that no player has been able to step up and take his place.'

Dallaglio is back. Does that mean that Wasps are going to turn things around, even at this late stage? Perhaps even upset the runaway leaders of the Premiership? 'I can only say that I think it's going to be a hell of a game.' To be brutally honest, it's all that you would dare say towards the end of a season whose storms have blown you from the heights of victory over England to the lower reaches of a fraught Premiership.

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