PRIDE OF LIONS
Captain Sam on historic Test draw
WARREN GATLAND hopes the achievements of the Lions in New Zealand can serve as a springboard for Wales over the next couple of years.
The Kiwi coach will return to the day job in the autumn as he once again takes up the reins of the Welsh team, having been away from the post for the past 12 months.
He will do so having guided the Lions to a drawn campaign against the world champions, with a number of the players he will be working with through to the 2019 World Cup having played key roles.
“I can take my Lions hat off and start plotting and planning for the next couple of years with Wales,” he said. “And hopefully transferring that confidence and experiences that we’ve got from Welsh players, and then understanding a little bit more about some of the opposition we will come up against in the next couple of years.
“For me, it’s about the autumn and the Six Nations and then definitely building for the World Cup.
“I am excited as an international coach about the World Cup as it’s the only time you get that period together with the players.
“Normally it’s so tough. You come into campaigns and you’ve got to prioritise, you don’t get a lot of preparation time.
“The nice thing about this Lions tour is it’s been six weeks together and at the World Cup you get two or three months.
“You feel like you can prepare properly and plan properly for World Cups, so I am looking forward to the challenges over the next couple of years.”
Gatland was full of plaudits for the job Wales flanker Sam Warburton has done as Lions tour captain over the last six weeks.
“I thought he did outstandingly well,” he said.
“We spoke about him as an individual and the character he had. He showed that in the way he took not being selected in the starting XV for the first Test.
“He has been fantastic over the last two Tests.
“He has led well and spoken well and handled the officials incredibly well.”
THE Lions’ tour may be over but the questions keep coming for Warren Gatland – ranging from which beach to lie on in the coming weeks to the thorny poser of which captain to choose for Wales for the 2017-18 campaign.
The Welsh contingent on the trip to New Zealand showed up well and emerged with pride intact as the honours were shared over the series.
Not all featured in the Tests, though, and it will be fascinating to see how Wales perform in the season that is coming up, with Gatland no doubt aware that they haven’t finished in the top two in the Six Nations in a post-Lions campaign this century.
Here, we look at some of the questions that the head coach will mull over and a few more for others to ponder.
1. Sam Warburton or Alun Wyn Jones as captain?
Both these players return from New Zealand with their standing in the world game enhanced.
Warburton largely excelled as tour captain, conducting himself with dignity and diplomacy and barely putting a foot wrong. True, the side lost discipline in the second Test, but even though the skipper has to carry some responsibility, there is only so much he can do if individual players decide to go into anarchy-from-the-UK mode.
He is an all-round nice guy and being blessed with such a persuasive personality can help at key points in a Test.
The trouble is Rob Howley gave Jones the Wales armband last season.
And do not underestimate what he brings as skipper.
He came up with one of the finest individual performances of the Lions tour with his display as captain against the Crusaders. The jet-lagged Lions had struggled to beat the semi-professional Provincial Barbarians and then lost to the Blues. Defeat against the top side in Super Rugby at the time would have had huge implications for morale.
But Jones steamed into the opposition from the start, winning the first kick-off and not taking a single step back.
He also showed character to recover from an out-of-sorts effort in the first Test and is a player others rally around.
Given that Gatland has continually preferred Warburton as his Wales captain, it would be a surprise if he suddenly changed tack. But it is a call he will need to think through.
2. Warburton or Tipuric at No. 7?
Rob Howley solved this one by switching Warburton to six, picking Ross Moriarty at No.8 and using Justin Tipuric at openside.
And even though Wales finished fifth in last year’s Six Nations, their back row was widely viewed as the strongest-performing area of the team.
Taulupe Faletau’s return to fitness and form further complicates the picture.
Gatland would argue that Welsh fans and the media here should celebrate having two world-class No.7s, but Tipuric’s admirers would argue that under the Kiwi it always seems to be their man who occupies the bench.
He didn’t play a single minute in the Tests for the Lions in New Zealand, despite being voted player of the year in Wales and despite making 58 tackles on the trip and missing none.
It is a fiendishly-difficult call because Warburton brings clattering physicality to the breakdown and is outstanding at what he does.
But Gatland’s selection of the Cardiff Blue in New Zealand suggests he still believes he is the top Welsh openside.
Tipuric’s best hope would appear to lie with the Kiwi adopting a policy of picking two opensides. It is not inconceivable, particularly in the event of injuries. But in a straight shoot-out for the No.7 shirt under Gatland there is likely to be only one winner.
3. Does Gatland come back with his stock enhanced?
The short answer here is ‘yes’ and the long answer is ‘yes’ as well.
Though some would say fortune smiled on the Lions with the early sending off of Sonny Bill Williams in the second Test, the tourists still had to win that game and they did well to claim a draw in the deciding game of the series.
It took strong leadership for the side to come through and the head coach displayed no little strength of character to withstand personal attacks.
Not everyone may warm to every aspect of the Gatland package, but he is a tough nut who has shown again he can get results.
4. Will Wales change their style?
Possibly, but then they had started to go down that road under Gatland in New Zealand in 2016.
The Lions tour showed the benefits of having skilful players and good decision-makers behind the scrum, but there follows the assumption is Gatland will only go for the double playmaking option if he feels the personnel are available.
Power will remain fundamental to his teams – but the Lions have played differently from Wales, which suggest Gatland isn’t inflexible.
But so much depends on players putting their hands up.
5. Where does the tour leave Rob Howley?
Maybe with his stock a shade higher than it was before he set out for New Zealand.
The Lions weren’t the Barbarians circa 1973, but they had their moments in attack and presumably Howley would have been involved in the decision to team up Jonathan Sexton and Owen Farrell at 10 and 12 in the final two Tests.
The Welsh Rugby Union’s investment in Howley is immense, but there is still a case for believing Wales’ results over the next couple of years will determine whether he takes over when Gatland eventually departs.
6. Will Wales evolve their team?
Time is against them and on their fixture card this autumn are Australia, New Zealand and South Africa – hardly the ideal opponents to blood kids against.
Under Robin McBryde, the side did well to eke out wins against Tonga and Samoa this summer and Gatland will monitor the development of the likes of Sam Davies, Steff Evans, Keelan Giles, Seb Davies, Ellis Jenkins, Dillon Lewis, Ryan Elias and Owen Watkin.
Maybe one or two of those might figure in Gatland’s plans.
But he is a coach who values experience and anyone expecting a radical shake-up ahead of the tournament in Japan can probably think again.
7. Will Liam Williams or Leigh Halfpenny start at full-back?
Another flick-of-a-coin call, though Gatland will probably use slightly more scientific methods for deciding who to use as his last line of defence come the autumn.
The tour confirmed that Williams offers an extra dimension in attack, but Gatland will continue to mull over the Saracens- bound man’s occasional “brain explosions “.
In the past, the Kiwi has favoured Halfpenny’s steadiness in the No.15 role, but a strike-running full-back who can counter with pace and venom is increasingly seen as a must-have item for a team with serious ambitions.
But Halfpenny hasn’t become a bad player overnight and Gatland will know as well as anyone how well his steadfast qualities have served Wales in the Six Nations.
It depends on how ambitious the Kiwi is feeling.
But if he is serious about opening up Wales’ play then Williams seems the way forward.
8. Can Gatland reboot George North?
It really needs to happen. Gerald Davies was considered a great because he performed consistently well.
North punctuates good performances with ordinary ones.
He will not be feeling great after a disappointing tour for him personally.
The challenge for Gatland is to make North perform consistently like the player who destroyed Ireland in last term’s Six Nations.
9. Might there be a Henry factor at play?
Not an easy one to answer. How is Gatland going to convince Rhys Webb he is better than Conor Murray when Wales play Ireland next season, with the Kiwi having favoured the Irishman in selection on the Lions tour? Much the same applies to Ken Owens when he faces Jamie George, and Dan Biggar when he opposes either Jonathan Sexton or Owen Farrell.
It all fell apart for Graham Henry in 2002 amid claims that he had ‘lost’ certain Welsh players following the previous summer’s Lions tour.
But a core of Welshmen did feature in the Tests this time and maybe that will be enough to counter-balance the understandable disappointment of those who missed out.