Warren Gatland: ‘It felt like I was being drained of blood, drop by drop. I was hating the tour’

Taking the Lions to his homeland should have been his proudest moment but now back with Wales the coach believes the welfare of rugby’s elite players is a more pressing concern“I’ve been on the sidelines of some big games and even I’m scared watching the collisions,” Warren Gatland says after an hour in his company makes it clear he has moved beyond the hurt of coaching the Lions in New Zealand. A far warmer man in person than in his press conferences, Gatland’s concern about the health of rugby’s elite players now overrides his consuming battles as the Lions’ head coach.“We’ve not seen the im…