Approached about the national coaching role in Wales and asked whether he defined himself as a manager or a coach, Warren Gatland answered that he saw himself as having his feet firmly on the grass and not on the concrete. He was a man in a tracksuit who coached a rugby team.

Typical of a New Zealander when applied to rugby. As with so much else among so down-to-earth and unfussy a nation, there was unequivocal clarity to what he saw as his sense of purpose. With such a colourful phrase, he painted a picture that meant the Welsh Rugby Union - or at least the emissaries who had left these shores on its behalf in search of its main man - knew what it was getting. Gatland was precisely what it was looking for.

It is interesting how perspectives change. That delegation, much joked about, who were observed leaving in the middle of the World Cup last October after Wales lost to Fiji to go out of the tournament at the pool stage, were accused of acting with unnecessary haste and going “off on a jolly”. They were teased about their business-class comfort.

Now, in view of recent drawn-out events at Twickenham surrounding the appointment of Martin Johnson as England team manager, they are thought of as having been “decisive”.

I have to add that to fly for 27 hours to New Zealand for a weekend break is hardly to be recommended. Having arrived there, any sensible person would wish to enjoy for longer the “jolly” in that country's fresh air.

Once again, recent discussions have centred on what it is to be a leader. It is a conundrum. Yet it is often conveyed as an elementary matter. You need only walk into any bookshop to find shelves full of wise words with fine, quotable slogans of advice on the characteristics required to be a leader.

Books on “man-management”, as it is referred to - in view of the persistent glass ceiling, I assume - abound. Follow the long list of essential qualities, it is fancifully if vaguely presumptuous to believe that all will be well and that, hey presto, the person of your management dreams materialises. I wish.

Such hopes, however, can soon evaporate. The memorable aphorisms remain, attractive and not entirely hollow, but they do not always provide the answer.

There is also an element of chance and in these circumstances it plays as valid a role. Leadership, to a certain extent, can be put into words, but it is recognisable only in practice. Some, indeed, are born for the task, while others can be made ready for it and still others grow into the task when it is thrust upon them. There are, as ever, no guarantees.

Quite where Johnson fits into any of these categories is hard to judge. After all, he was not, if we care to remember amid the deserved accolades that have come his way since, the first choice for England as captain.

Clive Woodward chose Lawrence Dallaglio for the job in 1997. This decision was made despite Johnson being the captain for the successful Lions tour to South Africa earlier that year under Fran Cotton, the manager, and Ian McGeechan, the coach. Thus chance took its turn when Dallaglio, for personal reasons, had to relinquish the captaincy of England. Johnson took over.

As a player and a leader he has proved his credentials. Perhaps, like Cotton and McGeechan, there are those at Twickenham who have recognised his capabilities as a manager. Such qualities are less tangible than those of a coach, whose abilities by and large are more visible and ponderable. Results show Johnson, by his own admission, could not be the coach. His credentials did not exist. A national coach would need to conclude a level of apprenticeship, achieve a degree of technical knowhow and learn how to transmit it to players of fewer talents.

To have been a player is not sufficient in itself. A player is often selfish, often blinkered, protective of his talent and the desperate need to express it.

On the other hand, a coach needs to be selfless for the greater good of the team; to be able to make the ordinary player a good one and the good player a superior one. This is not a manager's role, but the coach's.

Johnson will doubtless prove to be a high-profile personality who will inevitably draw attention, necessary or not, blessed or not. Johnson is a man who will, presumably, occupy his space on the concrete and not on the grass. For sure, there should be no confusion.