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8th July 2017
03:44pm BST
He probably got his own back in some ways considering a series that was supposed to have ended in a whitewash for the hosts culminated in a win for the Lions and a final-game draw to let both camps share the honours when all was said and done.
But Gatland, who argued at the time that he hadn't seen the newspaper or was in any way aware of the clown picture, decided to have the last laugh on Saturday night in Auckland when he showed up at his post-game press conference wearing a clown nose.
At least he can laugh at himself, you might say.
Getting his own back at the Herald is the least they deserve, you could definitely argue.
But Gatland doesn't leave his native land victorious. He leaves having silenced over-the-top critics like those who draw him in a clown suit, sure, but he didn't exactly win bragging rights or any of that.
He said himself afterwards, to his credit, that he'd roll the dice for a chance of winning if he had the option of extra time but, with his clown-nose stunt obviously planned, he reeled it out anyway after a drawn series.
https://twitter.com/lionsofficial/status/883662951051386880
Of the joke, the Lions head coach said:
"It was my idea. I got it last week but didn't think it was the right time to do it."He had been lining this up for a while. Listen, a lot of the criticism he received was ridiculous and it's shit that it's now just part and parcel of the job. He's won one Lions series and drawn another and deserves respect but he'd find it quicker by ignoring snide and silly wise cracks from a bias media outlet and not just taking a high road, but perhaps leaving his retribution until he's actually exacted revenge. No-one won this contest. All this looks like is a stung manager trying to get one back on a newspaper he said he never read... and doing it after a draw.
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