Tuesday afternoon was press conference time and the usual round of interviews and the usual suspects. Not Warren Gatland's favourite time of the week. "Right," he says, suddenly bringing forward The Irish Times interview by 24 hours, "let's do it now and get it over with."

So it's going to be like that. In fact, it wasn't and it rarely is. He's very accommodating even if you sense sometimes it's done under a wee bit of sufferance. Not one to use two sentences where one will do, Gatland has been known to bridle at press conferences, but in one-to-one situations, particularly, he's more at ease and forthcoming.

You can see why players like him, and play for him. He's honest, straight and loyal. He's the kind of person that you'd hate to cross, or if you did you'd want to leave the engine running (and an airplane engine at that). Players not only know exactly where they stand with him, but know exactly what's required of them.

Players frequently reveal how much they enjoy his sessions; short, sharp and interesting. When something is done, it's repeated until it's done right. As a recently retired All Black, he's also in touch with modern players (and ditto team manager Donal Lenihan and coach Philip Danaher). He rarely barks or screams, and is a masterful player of mind games and motivator. His teams always walk tall into a dressing-room.

Away from the training ground and the dressing-room, he likes a beer, likes a bet, joins in a singsong, and in that droll way of his has a dry wit. He happily admits he's bought into the Irish way of life. The furniture has long since been shipped from New Zealand and Galway will always remain home for himself, Trudy and the kids, in preference to Dublin, too. Back in New Zealand on Christmas holidays, he's anonymous in the streets, unlike the days with Waikato and the All Blacks. The opposite is true here.

Adjourning to the coffee room in the Glenview Hotel, he wanders around to order a couple of coffees. This gives him the chance to repeatedly stand over and glare at David Humphreys until the outhalf cracks up and another RTE radio take is scrapped.

Mention his first anniversary as Irish coach, and he's off and running, and straight into one of his favourite themes. "I've been in the job for 12 months and I've enjoyed it. I've learnt a lot in 12 months. I suppose the most difficult thing that I've encountered, which has been a little bit of a surprise to me, has been the intense media demands and requests. The way the media are always sniffing and analysing, has been the hardest thing about the job and the biggest learning curve for me."

The bald facts of played 10, won three, lost seven, to some degree supports the theory of statistics, damned lies and statistics. So when you ask is he satisfied with where the team have come in year one, he responds: "Very happy. Very happy."

What follows is not a trumpet-blowing revision, merely statements of fact as he sees them. "Basically we've set targets all along and I would say we've achieved over 90 per cent of them.

And I'm pleased that we've got a side there at the moment who can go out and play and compete against any team in the world."

To support his contention that the team can now compete at the highest level, he cites the 63-15 defeat to the All Blacks at Lansdowne Road under 16 months ago. "They (the Irish team) were scared of playing the All Blacks and had the All Blacks up there on a pedestal. I know that if the All Blacks came back tomorrow they wouldn't be scared and would like another go. The same with South Africa. They (the Irish players) would feel they had something to offer and contribute to the game, and know that it wouldn't just be for 60 minutes.

"I think the public see a team now that they can go out there and support. It's a team that's going to go out there with a chance of winning and not be beaten by 40 or 50 (points). Win or lose, at the end of the game they're going to be proud of the way the team wore the green jersey."

Hailed as a pragmatist when he took over before the corresponding second game of the Five Nations last year in Paris - today marks the equivalent first Saturday of March - Gatland has brought a methodical and structured approach to the job. It's been steady if not spectacular.

With the realistic approach typical of a New Zealander, first came the five foundations: defence, scrums, line-outs, rucks and mauls. "I said to myself, if I want to coach a team that can compete then those areas had to work. We've had to work really hard on them but I think we've got to a situation where we can hold our own in all those areas, even though we still continue to work very hard on those aspects. Now we want to be a bit more innovative, without forgetting those basics."

It's all akin to the Connacht odyssey last season, when they reached the quarter-finals of the European Conference. "Very similar," he concedes, though not by accident. "You've got to believe in your own ability and I used the same principles that I applied to the team; the same type of environment, to try and get the closeness, and the work ethic of working hard, and to have honesty in the team; all those sort of principles.

"We made progress in that first year with Connacht, established basic principles and set standards for ourselves, and the second year was the year we started to achieve. And that's why I'm looking forward to the World Cup. In effect that will really be our second year and that's why I believe we'll be a better side come the World Cup, and a stronger side and a fitter side."

From Dion O'Cuinneagain to Keith Wood, the players say it's the best squad spirit they've ever known, though he's not sure how it happens. "I don't think it's about one thing. It's about yourself being honest with the players, it's about the players being honest with each other, it's about the way you train. It's not about the 15, it's 22 of them and the whole management team. They're all part of that cog in the whole thing which makes anybody successful, and making everybody feel a part of the unit."

If he could allow himself be a fan for a moment, Gatland becomes even more excited about the longer-term possibilities if the team stays together and reaches full maturity. "I look at the eight in the pack on Saturday, and Eric Miller as a ninth at the moment and one or two others who are very close, then take out Peter (Clohessy) and I'm not too sure about Paddy (Johns) but the rest could still be there for the next World Cup. When you think about the quality of the pack at the moment, then in four years time they could all have 50 caps under their belt. That's exciting.

"The half-backs could still be there too and most of the backs. Basically the whole team, bar one or two, or maybe three or four through injury, could be together for many years to come."

Self-confident without being arrogant about it, Gatland admits he is learning as a coach all the while, but he's not exactly riddled with self-doubt. "I've never had any doubts about my own ability to read a game or listen to people. Your ideas and principles are always evolving, even though lots of what you know about the game comes back to where you started from. But if you don't believe in your own ability then the players, the public and the media pick up on that and you start to have little doubts. If that happens then you're better off getting out. You've got to believe that you've something to offer."

Contracted to the World Cup, after jumping on to a moving bus in last year's Five Nations, Gatland does not look beyond that. Yet there's clearly a part of him that would like a full World Cup cycle with Ireland. "When I took on the job, it was under difficult circumstances, in the middle of a Five Nations and with Brian Ashton's input and the direction he was taking the team. My goals were so short-term, and had to revolve around specifically the World Cup. I hadn't the time to develop things beyond that. Everything was so short-term. "But I'm generally happy with where we've gone and where we're going."