Major concern regarding ‘Welshness’ of the squad
At last we know who’s made the Lions squad, so we can have a proper whinge rather than just speculate.
I’m probably just being curmudgeonly, but there are so many things that worry me about the makeup of the coaching team and the squad. If the Lions is the pinnacle for the best players, then they should be coached by the best around – I’m not sure that’s going to happen.
First, is Warren Gatland the best choice for head coach? He led the lions to victory in Australia in 2013 but there are the questions surrounding the performances of Wales in the recent past, and whether ‘Warrenball’ can be as effective now as it once was. Leopards rarely change their spots, so a variation on a theme of bashing it up the middle looks to be on the cards.
What worries me most is the ‘Welshness’ of the Lions party. In the certain knowledge that I’ll get lambasted for this, I think that the Welsh card has been desperately over-played in the choices for the Lions’ coaches and squad. There is too much looking backwards to former glory days, and not enough hardnosed evaluation of Welsh rugby. There weren’t any Welsh sides playing in the European semi-finals for one simple reason: they weren’t good enough to get there. Equally, Wales managed to lose three of their Six Nations fixtures, and looked distinctly mediocre at times. And yet, there are 12 Welsh players in the Lions squad, including the captain, and two Welsh coaches – it’s hard to see how that can be justified.
Among Welsh supporters you’ll hardly hear a good word said about Rob Howley’s tenure as head coach, and yet there he is, once again at Gatland’s side, along with his colleague Neil Jenkins. Sam Warburton gave up the Welsh captaincy because he and Howley felt it was affecting his performances – well, if captaining his country was stressful, it will be as nothing compared to being Lions captain in New Zealand.
I keep coming back to this worry I have about both the Welsh regions, and the national side: they lose too many matches in the final quarter, and it’s valid to keep asking the question about fitness until there’s some evidence to show that it isn’t a factor. In the recent Challenge Cup quarter-finals, every report mentioned the Blues ‘wilting’ against Gloucester, and Warburton looked just as shattered as the rest of his team-mates. The All Blacks won’t be found wanting in the final 20 minutes of the Tests, so let’s hope the Lions can match their energy levels.
Amongst the non-Welsh members of the coaching set-up, Andy Farrell and Steve Borthwick get the nod and it’s hard to argue with that, but surely Graham Rowntree has to consider himself lucky to be going. Since being axed from the England set-up he has been forwards coach at Quins, currently in the bottom half of the league – is he even the best forwards coach in England?
If one nation appears to have a valid gripe about the make-up of the Lions squad it has to be the Scots. In the 6N they beat both the Welsh and the Irish, and their reward is a meagre two players on tour. Feelings are running high north of the border, but on balance it’s hard to argue with Gatland’s decisions. Personally, I think Vern Cotter would have been a better choice as head coach, so that he could repeat some of the magic he has demonstrated in making the Scottish team much better than the sum of its constituent parts – that’s the nub of the Scottish problem, a lack of genuine world-class players in an over-performing team. If Cotter could do so well with the limited talent available to him, imagine what he might have done with four nations’ players?
Despite New Zealand being perhaps more vulnerable than at any time in the past couple of years, the Lions will have to be utterly exceptional to overcome them. Training camps will be sparsely attended because of the demands of the PRO12 and Premiership seasons, and then there’s a mindlessly tough touring schedule where every Provincial and Super Rugby team will be keen to have a piece of the Lions’ players. If someone opened a book on how many replacements Gatland will have to call up, my money would be on 8-10 – between 20 per cent and 25 per cent of the party not making it to the end – who knows, even a few Scots might get the call?
Of course, everyone will get behind Gatland’s Lions, but I don’t think we’re sending the best we have out to New Zealand, and that’s going to make life very difficult.