The side co-captained by Cory Hill and Ellis Jenkins beat the Springboks in Washington DC before completing the double over the Pumas in San Juan and Santa Fe to push Wales up into third in the World Rankings.
Given Gatland went on tour without British & Irish Lions Sam Warburton, Alun Wyn Jones, Taulupe Faletau, Leigh
Halfpenny, Ken Owens, Dan Biggar, Rhys Webb, Jonathan Davies and Justin Tipuric, and also had to leave out injured players like Aaron Shingler, Jake Ball and Scott Baldwin, he was able to work with a number of less experienced players who now have one eye on selection for next year’s Rugby World Cup.
“We’re very pleased with the tour as a whole because we achieved all of our goals. I think we’re up to third in the world, which is an even bigger bonus as well,” said Gatland.
“The players demonstrated the hunger and desire we are looking for to want to wear the jersey. I haven’t seen a group of players this hungry for a while in the way that they’ve prepared and trained – it’s a great position for us to be in.
“A lot of people were sceptical about the tour, and they’d written us off, but we’ve achieved a huge amount. We made a lot of changes after 2010, brought all the guys in for the 2011 World Cup and this group of players have been outstanding both on and off the field.
“We spoke last weekend about expecting a backlash from the Pumas, but it wasn’t about them. The whole tour was about us, about taking the opportunity, developing and we stepped up again.
“What’s pleasing is that the second Test performance was better than the previous week. I don’t know if we’re missing anyone at the moment!”
The only downside for Wales came in the 83rd minute of the final game when Ross Moriarty received a red card for his choke hold on Nicholas Sanchez. It was an action that will earn him a suspension.
“In fairness to Ross, he’s disappointed in himself. The only bonus for him is that he will perhaps gets another couple of weeks of pre-season,” said Gatland.
“He just reacted after being hit from behind and he grabbed him and I’m not too sure it was a red card, but you accept the referee’s decision. He’s apologised, and he’s apologised to the player, it’s disappointing, but we won’t take too much out of that.”
Other than that the tour demonstrated that Welsh rugby is in a good place at the moment. The win in Washington made it three wins in a row over the Springboks, the 2-0 triumph in Argentina was the first series win in Argentina since 1999 and the successful summer tour came on top of a second place finish in the NatWest 6 Nations.
“I think we’re in a good place at the moment, particularly over the last 12 to 18 months. The planning that’s gone into building to the World Cup, and creating more depth, really goes back to 2016 when we went to play three Tests in New Zealand,” added Gatland.
“We played pretty well in the first couple, we had the game against the Chiefs and got significantly beaten, but that was all part of the long term plan in terms of developing strength in depth. We feel like we’ve achieved that.
“The plan goes ahead and November will be a different sort of campaign. We’ll be using that as a conditioning campaign, very much as a sort of World Cup pre-season.
“Everything will be planned for the start of the World Cup. We’re on track and we’ve stuck to what we said we were going to do.”
Having seen so many young and aspiring players work hard on tour and achieve so much success, Gatland knows that they will have sent a message to the more established names at home. Now he awaits their reaction.
“The biggest advantage that big nations have, a team like the All Blacks, is that when they put that jersey on they know there are four or five guys waiting for an opportunity if they mess up,” added the Welsh coach.
“Sometimes, in smaller nations, you get comfortable and complacent – that happens when you don’t have a huge amount of depth. What’s pleasing is that now we’ve created something where there isn’t any complacency.
“There are so many players at the moment that have helped create depth and players know that when they take the field it could be their last opportunity in a Welsh jersey and they’ll want to make the most of it.
“That, to me, is the most pleasing aspect of this tour. We’ve now got a group of guys sitting at home who realise their positions aren’t guaranteed – they’re going to have to work hard. The players that have been on this tour have really put their hands up and put a mark in the sand.”
