McGeechan: Gatland is right man to lead Lions
As the flagship team for northern hemisphere, they deserve to have domestic season fitted around them
Sir Ian McGeechan has backed Warren Gatland’s appointment as head coach for the British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand next year and says that the team have “a great chance of doing well”.
On Wednesday in Edinburgh Gatland will be officially announced as the Lions head coach for the second successive tour after guiding them to victory in the series in Australia in 2013.
Writing exclusively for The Sunday Telegraph, McGeechan says: “He is undoubtedly the right man for the job. He is a New Zealander who understands New Zealand rugby, especially what it means to play against the Lions, but he has also been a part of British rugby for a long time now.”
McGeechan, head coach on four Lions tours – in 1989 to Australia, 1993 to New Zealand, 1997 to South Africa and in 2009 to the same country, winning two of those series, in 1989 and 1997 – thinks Gatland will have a strong squad to face the world champions.
“He will have some tremendous players at his disposal. If they can have a real clarity of thinking in their game plan, they can challenge New Zealand. Gatland really has an understanding of the Lions jersey, and it is so important that you can then transfer that to the players. If he gets that in their hearts, their heads and their souls the Lions have a great chance of doing well.”
Meanwhile, Gatland and his coaching staff are in frequent touch with the coaches of the four regions in Wales to share ideas. “We are meeting quite regularly at the moment to say ‘how can we collectively get better?’” said the Welsh Rugby Union’s head of rugby performance, Geraint John. “After the New Zealand tour we had a whole day’s workshop together.
“We are not telling the regions how to play the game. But we have all agreed that there are some core skills that need improving, like the handling of the front five. The most important thing in general is the decision-making under pressure under fatigue.” The Sunday Telegraph also understands that London Welsh will be rescued by an investor who will pay the outstanding tax bill that threatens to see them wound up in the High Court tomorrow.
I will tell you a little story about the British and Irish Lions. About two years ago I interviewed the New Zealand head coach Steve Hansen for this paper. He was over here for the autumn internationals and, with the Rugby World Cup about 10 months away, we obviously talked about that tournament, but what struck me was how animated and excited he was when talking about the Lions tour to New Zealand in 2017.
I did not bring the subject up. He did. He said that the country was already talking about it. He was certainly talking about it, and he was already planning for it. And this was with a World Cup approaching.
It just shows how big a deal a Lions tour is, what it means to people and players not just here but also in New Zealand, and in Australia and South Africa, too.
There has been a lot of talk in the past week or two about the Lions and their place in the current crowded schedule, but those making big statements about their place and indeed their future should first consider little stories like that. It might give them a better understanding.
Yes, I am hugely, hugely passionate about the Lions and always will be because no one will ever change my mind on the impact this unique experience has for spectators as well as players.
But if there is a team who can take more than 20,000 fans to the other side of the world, who sell so many replica shirts that every other rugby fan walking down the street seems to be wearing one, then the game clearly has something that it has to hang on to. As long it remains as important to the players and to opponents, as it still undoubtedly does, then it has a huge part to play.
Of course, there is a problem with scheduling at the moment. But that is not a Lions problem. That is a rugby problem.
Quite simply the Lions are the flagship side of northern hemisphere rugby, both in terms of finance and also being the pinnacle for the players. The Lions have got bigger and better as a business while others have fallen away.
And it is not as if the rugby has been a failure. Yes, the last tour of New Zealand in 2005 was disappointing, but in South Africa in 2009 though we lost the series we won four of the six halves of rugby and in 2013 in Australia we again won four of the six halves, this time to win the series.
So everybody should be asking: “What gives us the best opportunity to win? What can a season look like in preparation?” It does annoy me a little when I hear Mark McCafferty, Premiership Rugby’s chief executive, talking about the “punishing” Lions schedule because he could do something about it.
To be playing a domestic final, as will happen again next year, when you should be preparing for a Lions tour is wrong. Professionally it is so shortsighted. There are ways of adjusting the season as long as there are open minds discussing the issue in a logical way. So what should happen? I would change the season in a Lions year. Would it be so bad if the Aviva Premiership were different just for two years in four (the World Cup obviously affects it, too)? There must be a way of playing fewer games.
Maybe have a play-off involving eight teams rather than four? You never know, it might catch on. It might throw up some different ideas that people like and want to expand upon.
All you need is for the season to finish two weeks earlier and that maybe something is put in place so that the Lions players can rest a little longer than others after the tour.
It could be as simple as shifting the beginning and end of our season by two to four weeks, and the Lions’ board getting agreement from the southern hemisphere that the tour can start a week later.
It will not cost anyone anything because the finances will be covered by the Lions tour. With new contracts to be settled for 2021 that represents a huge opportunity. Everyone will benefit. The Lions is such a big business that they should be paying for the time it takes to prepare. And preparation is everything. As it is, Warren Gatland will have to deal with this current situation. He will be named as the head coach on Wednesday and I think he is undoubtedly the right man for the job. He is a New Zealander who understands New Zealand rugby, especially what it means to play against the Lions, but he has also been a part of British rugby for a long time now.
He truly understands what the Lions means and has enormous respect for the concept. I remember when I was head coach in South Africa in 2009 and he was an assistant coach, and I asked him to speak to the team before one of the early provincial games. He said no. He said he had not earned the right to do that at that stage. It showed great respect.
The other thing he said to me on that tour that has stuck with me was that he thought it was the first time he had seen a group of players who look at the jersey in the same way as a New Zealander looks at the All Black jersey. It told me that Gatland really has that understanding of the Lions jersey, and it is so important that you can then transfer that to the players.
If he gets that in their hearts, their heads and their souls then the Lions have a great chance of doing well.
I really think they can prosper, despite New Zealand being so good at the moment. Gatland will have some tremendous players at his disposal. I actually think it could be the strongest group of Lions for a good number of years, and if they can have a real clarity of thinking in their game plan they can challenge New Zealand.
All this talk about the players being smashed because they have to play 10 games is misleading. Not every player will play in every game. What is important is that Gatland goes with a squad of 35 and that all 35 players have started in the first four games.
I think he will have the confidence and nous to know that he can play around with those early games. It is about ensuring that the game he wants to play in the first Test is taking shape in those matches. If they lose the odd game it will not matter as long as it is obvious that progress is being made in the game plan and that they can hit the first Test running.
This is where the Lions can have an advantage, because they can reach that first Test in better shape because of the time they will have spent together. It will probably be New Zealand’s first Test of their season, remember.
It will be interesting to see which tactics Gatland uses as it was clear with Wales in New Zealand this summer that he was trying to get his players to play more with their heads up and play broken-field rugby, which they did well at times but not often enough with the requisite intensity.
It does not have to be an all-court game, it just has to be a game where there is a total awareness and understanding of what is happening at almost every second of the game. Because that is where New Zealand beat everybody at the moment: with their collective awareness of roles, outcomes and consequences of getting their game right.
Let’s ditch the negativity now. A Lions season is truly special. Let’s embrace it and enjoy it.
Gatland understands what Lions means and if he can transfer that to players they can challenge All Blacks