Warren Gatland to coach 2021 Lions "Agreed in principle"

[Leonormous Boozer]

Just don't ruin any Ster players this time big W.

 

[General Melchett]

Howley as lions attack coach is such a waste of the attacking talent available to the lions

Townsend as head attack coach makes a lot of sense for me. Former lion and his sides play fast attacking stuff. Gatland needs to show less cronyism, swallow his pride and ditch Howler.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Howley will surely be too busy at Munster!

 

[General Melchett]

Howley will surely be too busy at Munster!

True. He did tweet last week saying he thought his Skype interview went really well.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Is that a done deal? I thought they voted against having a foreigner. If they were going for a foreigner then I'd go for Crowley.

The vote against having a foreigner was for the head coach role. Ibanez is for manager and Galthié for head coach post World Cup.

I assumed it was a done deal for Shaun to be complete Frances's coaching team. But maybe not. Neither was the Wigan role. So all speculation atm.

https://www.google.co.jp/amp/s/amp....les-defence-coach-after-world-cup-rugby-union

 

[Bada-Bing!]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/rugby-union/50411698

So 5 Englishmen if Warren we're picking his Lions team today: George, Maro, TC, Watson and Tuilagi. No mention of Farrell though.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

I'll get my outrage in early at him picking Biggar over this guy.

https://www.planetrugby.com/analysis-attacking-masterclass-from-finn-russell/

 

[TRF_heineken]

I think it's a bit premature to make calls on who to pick 2 years down the line. And a lot can happen in that time. But I can see the reasoning (not necessarily bias) of him picking certain players over others. But I can't understand the obsession with Dan Biggar. Did Gatland not watch the Semi-final?? SA targeted Biggar specifically because of his poor tackling and we scored a lot of metres when we ran into his channel. Fiji did the same thing.

Maybe Gatland learns something different while in NZ and getting to know a bit more of the SA teams as he'll be facing our guys in the SR.

 

[General Melchett]

With Gatland in charge Biggar will definitely be touring in 2021 most likely at the expense of either Ford or Russell. I can't see Gatland taking both of these guys.

Parkes will go as one 12 and if there are other 12's in better form than Farrell then he will go as another 10 leaving Ford or Russell battling for the last spot.

A lot will depend who the other coaches are. Will Howler go after his betting escapades? Stranger things have happened. I would like to see all four nations represented in the coaching team.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

You're forgetting Anscombe will definitely travel,

Anscombe, Patchell and dirt roader will be the 10s.

 

[TRF_heineken]

You're forgetting Anscombe will definitely travel,

Anscombe, Patchell and dirt roader will be the 10s.

Just say it. Every fly half except Ford and Farrell

 

[TRF_Olyy]

and Scots, Gatland doesn't like the Scots.

Well, apart from when he took Hogg as a flyhalf

 

[McTallshort]

Why all the hate for Gatland?

In terms of the Lions, as head coach he has beaten Australia and drew with New Zealand. Geech at this point had beaten Australia (1989) and been beaten in New Zealand (1993) and still went on to defeat SA.

Yes Gatland has a bias towards Wales but most coaches have some bias towards players they know. Geech took I think 6 Northampton players in 97?

 

[RedruthRFC]

Why all the hate for Gatland?

In terms of the Lions, as head coach he has beaten Australia and drew with New Zealand. Geech at this point had beaten Australia (1989) and been beaten in New Zealand (1993) and still went on to defeat SA.

It's possible for people to spin his record either way to suit their agenda. On the one hand, his record is way better than average. On the other, the result against Australia was the bare minimum against meh opposition and some of the stories that came out after the NZ tour, coupled with the number of changes after a poor first test performance make you wonder if the tour was an opportunity wasted rather than a loss avoided. Given my expectations going in to the NZ tour, it's hard to feel too upset about the result, but it's hard not to wonder what if. I certainly don't think of him as a Lions legend like Geech or Carwyn James.

Yes Gatland has a bias towards Wales but most coaches have some bias towards players they know. Geech took I think 6 Northampton players in 97?

Five. Three of them ended up as test starters (although Dawson and Rodber might not have been had their Welsh counterparts remained fit), so hard to question. Grayson was pretty so so, but probably a fair pick given that Arwel Thomas and Eric Elwood were the other contenders. Nick Beale was pretty random though, I'll give you that.

 

[McTallshort]

Given my expectations going in to the NZ tour, it's hard to feel too upset about the result, but it's hard not to wonder what if. I certainly don't think of him as a Lions legend like Geech .

the 1993 tour of New Zealand was a disaster and given the players in the Lions test side they should have beaten NZ comfortably. Yes Geech's were tied on some selections but his ignorance of midweek teams attitude and performance was nothing short of criminal.

 

[RedruthRFC]

the 1993 tour of New Zealand was a disaster and given the players in the Lions test side they should have beaten NZ comfortably. Yes Geech's were tied on some selections but his ignorance of midweek teams attitude and performance was nothing short of criminal.

TBH, I don't know much about that tour, I didn't have the facility to watch it in those days. It was far from a classic New Zealnd side, that was beaten by a pretty average England side later that year, so I suppose you're right in intimating that it was a poor tour. Ironic re: the mid week games given that Donal's doughnuts were formed the tour before.

I don't know if you have an agenda on this, but you seem to be forgetting 1989 and 1997! Both better results than Gatland hs achieved IMO.

 

[McTallshort]

TBH, I don't know much about that tour, I didn't have the facility to watch it in those days. It was far from a classic New Zealnd side, that was beaten by a pretty average England side later that year, so I suppose you're right in intimating that it was a poor tour. Ironic re: the mid week games given that Donal's doughnuts were formed the tour before.

I don't know if you have an agenda on this, but you seem to be forgetting 1989 and 1997! Both better results than Gatland hs achieved IMO.

No agenda, I'm not a fan of Gatland to be honest but his record as Lions coach isn't bad. He has been Australia the same as Geech, drew with New Zealand which was better than Geech and now he's going to coach against SA and many on here are behaving like the Lions selectors have **** in their beds. His style of rugby isn't as attractive on the eye as Geechs used to be but his track record is good.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Scott Robertson asked Gatland if he could be one of the coaches. Interesting. Lancaster also supposed to be in the frame to coach.

Not that I have anything against Robertson coaching but I am kind of inclined to go with Lancaster and keep back room staff for British coaches.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Scott Robertson asked Gatland if he could be one of the coaches. Interesting. Lancaster also supposed to be in the frame to coach.

Not that I have anything against Robertson coaching but I am kind of inclined to go with Lancaster and keep back room staff for British coaches.

Well, given gatlands 0 and 8 record in super rugby Aotearoa games, he could do with a good coach, one who has a 4 and 0 record in super rugby competitions