That Gateway is well beyond a circle being able to shield 1 woman with a powerful sa'angreal. Of course what you say here is pretty much the same thing I'm getting at and flies in the face of the RJ quote. All this conversation really bears out is that circles do exponentially increase the abilities of those in them. Perhaps not directly mapping to Talents and flow strength, but it's also clear that there is more to it than simply seeing increased strength and precision.

From these effects no individual should be able to hold up to even a small circle and we know that is false from the Cleansing. Damer, Corele and Sarene barely match Demandred, despite being a mixed circle of relatively strong individuals. Cumulatively their strength would add up to close to Demandred, in a link with the amount of bonus we are seeing they should have crushed him in seconds. And Verin's team with an angreal could not even shield Graendal. Huge disconnect IMHO

No use arguing the quote at this point, but I wonder if he would say the same thing now.