The psyche of the Welsh nation tends to prefer being written off and having an against-the-odds go against the big boys. The Welsh are traditionally more comfortable being underdogs and not since the glory days of the 1970s have Wales revelled in being top dogs.
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Failure to deal with that tag was evident in 2006 when Wales suffered the ultimate hangover from their 2005 Grand Slam party, only a solitary win over Scotland saving them going from clean sweep to whitewash.
This year Wales are rightly favourites, not just because of their superb Six Nations last year but their performances in the autumn, where the 21-18 victory over Australia was the only Tri-Nations scalp by a northern hemisphere side last November.
They also fared well against the All Blacks and should have beaten the world champion Springboks.
Gatland says Wales now have to "embrace the challenge" of being favourites. "If we want to be one of the best teams in the world, it is not going to be unusual," he says, echoing a favourite son of Wales.
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