2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia

[Welsh Exile]

Only the second time in the 20 tours since 1955 that the head coach has been English. And the other one didn't go so well.

Let's hope some of that Irish luck has rubbed off on him

 

[die_mole]

Let's hope some of that Irish luck has rubbed off on him

I think the French and Italians have to be hoping some of the Irish crunch time mentality will spread to the rest of the home nations

 

[Dean Cooperfield-West]

His backroom set up will be interesting

 

[General Melchett]

For the purposes of inclusivity I hope all four nations are represented in the coaching team because we've seen before what happens when there are 50/50 calls with nobody to push some players' case at the selection meetings. That said it's his coaching team and he should be allowed to choose people he trusts and in his view are most capable to help deliver a winning series.

If Shaun Edwards doesn't tour then Steve Tandy could be an option as defence coach again. He's Welsh, knows the Scottish players well and between him and Faz Snr you've got all four nations represented already.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

What about Farrell getting Lancaster, Catt and Rowntree. Great coaching group, I'm sure if they were together they'd be excellent.

 

[AngloScotsHybrid]

The head coach needs to be of the same mindset as the rest of the coaching team. The last tour was ridiculous with Gatland and Townsend having completely different styles of play which led to some very mixed up selection.

 

[McTallshort]

What about Farrell getting Lancaster, Catt and Rowntree. Great coaching group, I'm sure if they were together they'd be excellent.

Eggchashers said that. Would be a good **** you to the RFU

 

[Kiwiwomble]

right, now thats the rebels are no more...who are the Lions going to play

most likely it will be another invitational baabaas team...which is actually boring as theyre already playing an ANZAC B team (prob no wallabies or AB's)

i know im bias....but i would love for them to play the Victoria State Rep Team (the Axemen)...would be a massacre...but i think the lions would have wiped the floor with the Rebels so not much different....but would actually mean something to the rugby community in Melbourne

 

[Which Tyler]

PI combination would be good to see (yes, I know why they don't want to) - even if it's "just" combining Moana and Drua, which seems way more realistic.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Drua game would be great - if they could wangle it to be a home game too then even better (though considering the Lions only exists as a cash grab, that'll never happen)

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

Yeah the Drua would've awesome to watch. I do hope we get a fair selection this time though. Gatland has ruined my love of the lions a bit with his bias.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Yeah the Drua would've awesome to watch. I do hope we get a fair selection this time though. Gatland has ruined my love of the lions a bit with his bias.

I don't want to go over this again but you do realise that every single coach in the world, no, every single human being on this speck of dust hurtling through space, has a bias, right?

Farrell will more than likely have a bias towards players he knows best (Irish and English)

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

I don't want to go over this again but you do realise that every single coach in the world, no, every single human being on this speck of dust hurtling through space, has a bias, right?

Farrell will more than likely have a bias towards players he knows best (Irish and English)

That's why you are supposed to have a balanced coaching team and an honest view after training.

Al people have bias but only a smart man is aware of his bias and understands how it can affect judgement.

 

[Welsh Exile]

That's why you are supposed to have a balanced coaching team and an honest view after training.

Al people have bias but only a smart man is aware of his bias and understands how it can affect judgement.

That's not how bias works really, not practically anyway. Most of it is unconscious and ultimately, you can have the most diverse coaching set up going but it's the head coach who picks the team and he's obviously going to pick players he knows best. It's that simple really.

People will tell themselves, I'm not bias, or I'm making this decision objectively, but they're not really. It takes CIA levels of training to remove this kind of thinking from your thought process.

 

[AngloScotsHybrid]

The selection on the last Lions tour was so muddled. It was like for every match Gatland picked 13 players and he let Townsend pick 2 players, and the 15 players altogether never matched the same gameplan.
Gatland tried to play a strategy of kicking the ball high but then he picked Van de Merve who is not known for catching the high ball and left out Liam Williams who is known for it.
Then Elliot Daly was picked in the centre for the first test who was no good for a crash ball strategy and got smashed in his first carry. Then he replaced Daly with Bundee Aki who does fit the crashball strategy better.
Then at scrum half he started with Ali Price in the first test, then started with Conor Murray in the second test, and then back to Price for the 3rd test. Did he strike a deal where Townsend picked the scrum half for the 1st and 3rd tests and Gatland picked the scrum half for the 2nd test? So mixed up and muddled.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

That's not how bias works really, not practically anyway. Most of it is unconscious and ultimately, you can have the most diverse coaching set up going but it's the head coach who picks the team and he's obviously going to pick players he knows best. It's that simple really.

People will tell themselves, I'm not bias, or I'm making this decision objectively, but they're not really. It takes CIA levels of training to remove this kind of thinking from your thought process.

Umm we do bias training at work. It's not hard. Once you know your own bias you can use that information to help make education decisions. It's not CIA complicated at all.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Umm we do bias training at work. It's not hard. Once you know your own bias you can use that information to help make education decisions. It's not CIA complicated at all.

Okay mate.

 

[dirty harry]

right, now thats the rebels are no more...who are the Lions going to play

most likely it will be another invitational baabaas team...which is actually boring as theyre already playing an ANZAC B team (prob no wallabies or AB's)

i know im bias....but i would love for them to play the Victoria State Rep Team (the Axemen)...would be a massacre...but i think the lions would have wiped the floor with the Rebels so not much different....but would actually mean something to the rugby community in Melbourne

Have they gone under?

 

[General Melchett]

It's not bias that I'm concerned about for next year - it's nepotism.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

Have they gone under?

yeah, rebels wont exist after this years finals series, been in administration for 6 months or so owing $18M i think