WHATEVER THE RESULT YOU’VE DONE US PROUD
Sir Clive Woodward’s open letter to Warren Gatland
Hi, Warren THIS is the first open letter I have ever written but, sitting here in auckland surrounded by hordes of excited Lions fans, I had to put pen to paper!
I want to wish you all the best against the all Blacks tomorrow and I wanted to say that regardless of the result — and you have given the Lions their best chance of winning — what a great job you have done under very difficult circumstances which few can begin to understand.
There is no bigger challenge in rugby, in fact there is no bigger challenge in professional sport, than getting a Lions team to the starting gate against new Zealand with a genuine chance of glory.
History shows the odds are stacked massively against you but it is those odds which make the job so compelling. I was trying to explain it all to Jamie Carragher the other day in the Sky studio, the sheer magnitude of the task. eventually he just started to shake his head! We both struggled to come up with a more challenging task in professional sport.
Only one coach — Carwyn James — and one team — the 1971 Lions — have succeeded. They had a brilliant generation of all-time greats and a playing schedule that allowed them to build momentum going into the first Test. But that was in the amateur era and the task today is so much harder against arguably the most successful and best-run team in any professional sport.
as Lions coach you spend 12 months or more making meticulous plans — it’s the Rubik’s Cube of rugby logistics — and trying to identify the players you want. Then it is all over in a flash. There is scarcely time to breathe and gather your thoughts. Despite all the planning you still have to act on instinct.
Six matches in 18 days to prepare and you have squeezed every last ounce of usefulness from them. It hasn’t all been plain sailing. It was never going to be in new Zealand and we would not want it any other way, but there have been three outstanding performances — against Crusaders, maori and Chiefs on Tuesday — which have demonstrated the real strength and talent in the northern hemisphere.
every game has been played with a Test-match intensity and this squad has looked very close-knit, a challenge in itself given so little time. You cannot fake these things. That applies to your coaching team as well. You all seem to be warming to the task, something on which I congratulate you.
I don’t sense any egos clashing and it must help when you have vastly experienced captains like Rory Best and Greig Laidlaw rolling up their sleeves and showing the way by their dedication in the midweek team and big characters like James Haskell showing such enthusiasm for the cause.
everybody has looked hungry, ambitious and fully engaged. You have pulled off the remarkable trick of keeping Test selection open right to the last minute of the last warm- up game as evidenced by rewarding Liam Williams and elliot Daly for their fine performances in midweek against Chiefs.
I shook my head the other day when you received criticism for bringing in those six players from Wales and Scotland, players to help out on the bench last Tuesday and next week against the Hurricanes. Some even suggested you don’t ‘get’ the Lions. One of my favourite sayings immediately sprang to mind — ‘any fool can criticise and many do’.
Those who were quick to criticise are living in another era, on another rugby planet almost, and do not have a clue of the complexities of heading up this tour while at the same time being fair to everyone — including other international coaches trying to develop their own teams.
You ‘get’ the Lions more than most, certainly far more than I do and I played for them on two tours and coached them!
When I was coaching england, the Lions, frankly, were just a massive distraction to england trying to win the World Cup, there was just no upside.
Those quick to criticise should remember your track record. You have played against the Lions and been part of a famous win for Waikato against the 1993 tour party when you even scored a try. You understand the once-in-every12-years, new Zealand passion of a Lions tour. You were an assistant to Ian McGeechan in 2009 and you were in charge four years ago when the Lions claimed a 2-1 series win over the aussies. as Theodore Roosevelt said in another of my favourite quotes ‘The credit goes to the man in the arena’ and the arena is where you have spent your entire coaching career.
In the modern rugby world, the value of the Lions can be questioned. That’s entirely valid but the one thing that will keep the value and the brand intact — in fact the only thing that will keep the Lions going in the professional era — is winning Tests on tour, especially against all logic and massive odds in new Zealand.
It is about taking on the double world champions on their own patch off the back of very limited preparation time at the end of a 10-month season. every decision has to be made ruthlessly and those who were so quick to criticise should look in the mirror and understand how damaging their comments can be to the team.
The argument over the replacements was always going to create a lot of heat, bringing in Welsh and Scottish players to basically sit on the bench. But did the england players really want to parachute into a Lions tour from afar to sit on the bench for two matches and miss their Test against argentina? I doubt it.
Four years ago you wanted Jonathan Davies to start alongside Jamie Roberts against australia in the third and deciding Test. That meant dropping Brian O’Driscoll and it didn’t make you popular in some quarters but you won the match and series and everyone went away happy.
Winning the Tests, especially in new Zealand, will justify once again every decision you make regardless of how controversial.
So keep making the calls as you see them, the time for everyone — including yourself — to evaluate them is after the tour when the outcome is known, not in the heat of battle when every negative comment just gives ammunition to the opposition.
From the comfort of the stands, I see a Lions team and squad peaking at exactly the right time, which is tomorrow against the all Blacks. nothing else matters.
every travelling fan, and on this occasion that includes me, and everybody back home sitting in front of the TV can rest assured that no matter what happens, you have given the Lions team every chance of pulling off the greatest achievement in team sport.
Well done and good luck. Best wishes Clive