Zealand (Waikato) On his return to New Zealand to coach Waikato in the National Provincial Championship (NPC), he led the side to seventh in the Division 1 table. However, under the new competition format, the Air New Zealand Cup in 2006, Gatland took Waikato to the final of the 2006 Air New Zealand Cup, beating Wellington in the final 37–31, losing only one match in the run up to the knock out stages. However, in the 2007 Air New Zealand Cup, Gatland was only able to lead Waikato to the quarter-finals, losing to 38–35 to Hawke's Bay. In addition to his role as head coach of Waikato, during the off-season, he acted as technical advisor for the Chiefs Super 14 team in 2006. Wales On 9 November 2007, Gatland was named head coach of Wales, and took up his position on 1 December 2007. Gatland's first game as coach of Wales was in the opening week of the 2008 Six Nations Championship, which was a major upset as Wales beat England 26–19 after trailing 19–6 with nearly sixty minutes played. It was Wales' first win at Twickenham since 1988. After victories over Scotland and Italy, Wales went on to defeat the Triple Crown holders Ireland at Croke Park 16–12, thus winning the Triple Crown themselves. This was the first time Wales has held this trophy since 2005. In the final round of fixtures, Wales beat France at the Millennium Stadium 29–12, to clinch their 10th Grand Slam, 100 years after they won their first. Despite being Six Nations Champions, Gatland led Wales to a 2–0 test series defeat to South Africa during the 2008 mid-year rugby union tests, losing 43–17 and 37–21. Wales then went on to lose to South Africa at home during the 2008 Autumn internationals. Their Autumn campaign saw Wales win two, lose two – the two wins being a 34–13 win over Canada and a 21–18 win over Australia. This was Wales' first win over the Wallabies since 2005. Wales were unable to retain their Six Nations title in 2009, finishing fourth with just three wins; England, Italy and Scotland. Due to his commitments to the British & Irish Lions, he was unable to coach Wales to their Summer tour of North America against Canada and the United States. However, he led the team in their 2009 Autumn internationals campaign, which consisted of wins against Samoa,