Gatland’s ‘Tour to Hell’ is all his own doing
THERE comes a time where anger and frustration turns to sympathy and that point was reached this week as Warren Gatland’s experience in New Zealand veered towards ‘tour to hell’ territory.
The Lions coach has truly had a torrid time of it in his home country, the nadir arriving last Tuesday when the New Zealand Herald (the primary Lion-whacking organ throughout this tour) depicted Gatland as a clown on the front page of their sports edition.
It was a cheap shot, and a deeply unoriginal one, the Herald using the exact same tactic when having a pop at Australia coach Michael Cheika last October and then Gatland a few weeks later for raising the issue of Kiwi supporters booing opponents.
As New Zealand coach Steve Hansen rightly noted, there is no justification for crossing the line from criticism to personalised ridicule and Gatland deserves credit for his dignified response to the attack.
However, the incident added to the sense of Gatland being exposed by the intense challenges of the most difficult tour in rugby and, while one can reserve sympathy for some of the brutal abuse he has been subjected to, there is none available for the succession of ill-judged calls made by the Lions coach.
As the tourists head into tomorrow’s must-win encounter in Wellington, there are pertinent issues relating to their head coach which must be addressed…
Should Gatland have taken on this assignment in the first place?
A valid question and not one borne out of hindsight, as it was raised at the time of his appointment. This is not Australia, this is a Kiwi returning to his homeland with the express purpose of inflicting humiliation on his countrymen. For that is what a Lions series victory would represent in this rugby-obsessed country — humiliation on their home patch — and the fact it is one of their own attempting to mastermind it, a man who had represented the All Blacks, inevitably created accusations of betrayal. Yes, Gatland has led Wales against New Zealand but that is an acceptable path of progression for Kiwi coaches (Graham Henry and Hansen both did stints in charge of the Welsh).
Trying to engineer victory in a Lions series (second only to the World Cup in the Kiwi order of priorities) is a different matter entirely and Gatland has not been allowed to forget it.
Was Sam Warburton the right choice as captain? He was the easiest choice, trusted by Gatland for years with Wales and a proven success from the 2013 Lions tour to Australia. The affable Warburton was also a hugely popular choice with the media, a factor which is far more significant than it should be. However, while the flanker is a quality player, he was also one with a long history of failure against New Zealand (seven meetings, seven defeats) and, with injury issues going into the tour, was never guaranteed his place in the Test backrow.. It is not parochial to say Ireland’s Rory Best would have been the better choice as skipper as the Ulster hooker was the only candidate with experience of leading a team to victory against the All Blacks.
The evidence of the tour thus far has strengthened the conviction Gatland chose the wrong captain as Warburton has struggled to the point of being left out of the first Test line-up, while Best has had a superb tour — excelling in areas (scrum and breakdown) where the Lions were dominated in Eden Park.
Why has Gatland taken pot-shots at the Kiwis? Crazy. You do not go to a dinner party and make disparaging remarks about the quality of fare, you swallow it and bitch about the hosts in private. Gatland questioned the legality of Kiwi scrummaging and blocking tactics before, most damningly, suggesting the All Blacks tried to injure Conor Murray.
That prompted Hansen to launch an angry riposte on national radio and the whole unseemly episode emphasised how much Gatland would have been better served voicing his concerns to officials in private.
As Hansen noted: ‘As a New Zealander, I would expect him to know the psyche.’ Quite.
Where was he going with ‘Geographygate’?
A pre-meditated disaster. Gatland’s decision to call up the ‘Geography Six’ blew up in his face as a succession of revered former Lions lined up to correctly slam a move which utterly devalued the jersey. It was an insulting, dispassionate ploy, which it emerged had been arranged during the Six Nations, and threw the spotlight back on Gatland’s Kiwi origins as it was impossible to imagine a British or Irish coach making the same move.
To compound the ridiculousness of it all, Gatland did not even see it through, refusing to call on his journeymen when the Lions were flagging against Hurricanes in a bid to deflect the flak he had already received.
A farce from start to finish and one which will haunt Gatland regardless of what happens over the next week.
Why did he make Peter O’Mahony a scapegoat? As Brian O’Driscoll remarked yesterday, going from first Test captain to second Test reject was ‘very tough’ treatment. It was also completely unwarranted. O’Mahony is carrying the can for the Lions being blitzed at the breakdown by All Blacks openside Sam Cane and his teammates, yet Cane’s opposite number, Sean O’Brien, was exonerated — his ratings clearly boosted by rounding off one of the great Lions tries. O’Mahony was also judged on his lack of carries but his worth revolves around the overall influence he exerts and, when the Corkman was hauled ashore for Warburton after 53 minutes in Eden Park, the Lions were only 13-8 down.
The game was immediately taken away from them with Reiko Ioane’s try and the margin had widened to 30-8 by the 71st minute — which does not say a lot for Gatland’s post-match assertion that Warburton had a ‘big impact’. O’Mahony performed his role extremely well last weekend but has suffered hugely for Gatland’s knee-jerk reaction to defeat and failure to see the bigger picture.
Why has Gatland ignored Justin Tipuric?
The big mystery. Tipuric is the one specialist openside in the Lions squad capable of matching Cane yet has barely been mentioned in the Test selection debate. This is despite Tipuric enjoying an excellent tour in his five appearances (58 tackles attempted, 58 completed) and he was the standout performer last Tuesday, tormenting the Hurricanes at ruck time until Iain Henderson’s yellow card. Meanwhile, Gatland has kept faith with Alun-Wyn Jones despite the second row failing to land a meaningful blow in the first Test. Baffling.
What does the future hold for Gatland?
He is never likely to get the All Blacks gig after this. Too much has happened. New Zealand has long been a graveyard for visiting rugby ambition and looks to have claimed another victim, with Gatland gradually unravelling as the heat has ramped up. There is no excuse for the litany of mistakes made by the Lions coach but now all that is left is sympathy — not least because the All Blacks are a clearly superior force. Warren Gatland is a proud rugby man, with a distinguished career of achievement behind him, but nothing short of a miraculous series victory can salvage his battered reputation now.
He’s now not likely to get All Blacks gig