Robert Kitson believes that Warren Gatland may have stirred up the wrong hornet's nest with his Premiership comments in The Guardian.

"You have to hand it to Warren Gatland. Is there a more gymnastic orator in rugby? One minute he is encouraging an all-for-one cross-border team ethos with the Lions, the next he is slagging off standards on the English side of the Severn Bridge. There is always an ulterior motive for his verbal hand grenades but, on this occasion, his artful lob would appear to have landed slightly too close to home. "The beauty of Gatland, of course, is that he loves to stir whichever pot happens to be bubbling in front of him. By criticising the Guinness Premiership as "the weakest I have ever known" and not good enough for wannabe Welsh Test players, he is clearly hoping to lure back the likes of Eifion Roberts, the Sale prop who would appear to most neutrals to be a genuine international prospect. Welsh regional rugby gets stronger and the Premiership gets further diluted, potentially weakening the English national team. Job done, get the beers in. "Except that the situation is not quite that simple. It is true that this year's Premiership has not been mind-blowingly good to date. The ebbing tide of multi-national talent to the Top 14 – not just the English – and decreasing squad sizes have had a draining effect on clubs like Sale and Gloucester, both of whom are enduring tough seasons. Wasps, Saracens and Newcastle are rebuilding, Leicester are injury-plagued and only London Irish and Northampton have been playing with any real freedom."