Getting revenge over England at a packed out Principality Stadium was what he wanted most of all in the wake of the 33-19 defeat last weekend. The rest was merely icing on the cake.
“It’s just a number, isn’t it. It’s a nice accolade to have, but it’s all about the next few months and backing it up in the World Cup,” said Gatland.
“It’s nice for a day, but we won’t be shouting from the rooftops about it. We’ve got a couple of games against Ireland to go as well and we’ve got to keep things in perspective.
“Lots of journalist will be out there saying ‘this is a joke’ – probably Kiwi journalists more than anything! It’s just a number and we’re not making a big fuss of it.
“We’ll keep it in our pocket and go from week to week. The boys knew how psychologically important it was today.
“If we’d lost to England then potentially it could have had an impact if we meet them in a World Cup quarter-final. We showed some fantastic character and big cahoonas out there.
“That’s what these boys are about, they wear this jersey with pride. Teams are going to beat us because we’re such a small nation, but if they do beat us, they’re going to have to play pretty well because these boys are pretty proud Welshmen who won’t roll over easily.”
