Gatland: Wallabies are Lions' best chance
British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland is confident Australia is the place to lead the tourists to a first Test series triumph in 16 years.
Next year's tour Down Under will be the fourth since the Lions' most recent Test series triumph in 1997 (in South Africa).
But Gatland has ruffled Australia's feathers early on, by suggesting that the Wallabies will be the easier proposition when comparing them to fellow southern hemisphere powers New Zealand and South Africa.
"Going to one of the top-three teams in the world, playing away from home and being successful is incredibly challenging," said Gatland.
"But if you'd said to me, out of the three southern hemisphere teams, pick your choice of where you'd like to go, I would've said, 'Australia probably'.
"It's maybe the easiest from a Lions perspective. In the past there are teams that have had some success against the Australian sides."
New Zealand-born Wales coach, however, is wary of the Wallabies' well proven ability to bounce back from defeat with a winning performance.
"We've got to be incredibly aware if we happen to win the first Test. We'll know what's coming in the second Test.
"They will do whatever it takes to get a result."
Comments
heart_of_oak says...
sasquatch - I know the Aussies are number 3 now but I thought they were 2 either when we played them earlier this year or when France played them. Maybe I was wrong but they were still above us (England).
My main point was that we should not underestimate the Aussies and cocky comments from Gatland and others will only serve to motivate the Aussies more. I would hope our coaching set up could be a bit more canny than this.
Posted 12:49 14th December 2012
TVaddict says...
@ABlack
The same one dimensional forwards that beat the All Blacks the other week? Oh yeah, still enjoying the win. :)
But seriously though, the English and Irish have the best packs. Combine them, add a mixture of Welsh and Irish backs, then add Tuilagi and Gray and you've got a great lions team.
Posted 02:42 14th December 2012
kinkster says...
Should be a good series. England seem to be on the up, Wales despite Autumn performances had a good world cup and came close to victory down under, Ireland are improving and Scotland whilst not getting many results they have come close in hard fought games and have shown that the Aussies can be beat. On the other hand the Australian first team hasn't been seen all season and won't be until the tour so a few unknowns there too. Lions 2-1 victory, winning just in the final test.
Posted 01:12 14th December 2012
Sasquatch says...
@kiwikev and @heartofoak:
http://www.irb.com/rankings/full.html
Posted 00:07 14th December 2012
ABlack says...
The Lions team wont be the best one they have ever put out, as if England do well in the 6N then Gatland will stack the Lions with england forwards who are one-dimensional. I beleive in the B&I Lions camp they are now over confident already based on England beating the AB's and Gatland will base most of the team plus his game plans and tactics around England type play( with Rowntree, Farrell in coaching team to implement the game plan)
Posted 19:46 13th December 2012
makemehappy says...
@99call - spot on - the facts are plain to see!
Posted 17:17 13th December 2012
dangerous says...
Gatlands feet must be a mess. He just recovered from shattered heels to then go and shoot himself in the foot.
Posted 16:35 13th December 2012
99call says...
bliksem the first test was lost by poor selection, Vickery should never have been starting at tighthead and the game was lost by the time the coaches had the balls to get Adam Jones on there to sort out the beast's illegal scrummaging, once there was parity in the scrum the Lions were every bit as good, also Burger should have been sent of for a gouge so proper refereing and the Lions would have won that game but they didnt and theres no point in moaning now my point still stands that SA side was beatable
Posted 16:21 13th December 2012
makemehappy says...
I can't see beyond a lions win. Where is the front 5 coming from for Australia?
Posted 13:09 13th December 2012
bliksem says...
99call says: "we should have won last time out in SA".
That's crap mate. The Boks destroyed you in the 1st test, you destroyed a second string Bok side in the 3rd test and the 2nd test was heading for a draw until O'Gara had his brain-fart.
The best you could've hoped for was a drawn series...
Posted 13:04 13th December 2012
99call says...
If the Aussies are full strength and the Lions the best side available i think it would too close to call. I would put the Aussies and the Safas on a par and beatable, we should have won last time out in SA but it shows how difficult it is to bring a side together to play against a settled team at international level.
The ABs are always going to be ones to beat but I dont see the Lions ever winning a series in NZ again but the Aussies are beatable depending on injuries as their strength in depth is as good as theyd like it to be but who knows
Posted 10:34 13th December 2012
leinster_goy says...
not quite an austin healey moment but the B&I lions need to be really careful what they say in the lead-up to june. there's almost nothing more dangerous in rugby than a written-off wallabies side with their backs against the wall. they and deans in fact are already under fire. so "gatty" and the rest would be well advised to keep their mouths shut
Posted 10:22 13th December 2012
heart_of_oak says...
Thank goodness I know now that Gatland was born in New Zealand. There I was, scouring the net to see where he was born. I had this crazy notion that he was an Inuit from Nunavit. They say some people there have never known Ann Widdecombe. Nor have they heard the pearls of wisdom from silver tongued Brian Sewell. So, for all Inuit based fans of PR, check out this URL for some of the great man's utterances :
http://www.briansewell.co.uk/brian-sewell-written-word/brian-sewell-soundboards.html
Anyway, be that as it may, we shouldn't get cocky about our chances in Australia. The Aussies showed why they were number 2 in the world when they beat England in England, following a heavy defeat to France. They also had several key players injured who could be back in contention by the time of this tour.
All I'd say is I wish we had some more creativity to offer, both in the coaching department and in the likely 3 quarters. I don't really see this coming from the likes of Andy Farrell. If the centres are Manu and Jamie Roberts, I don't see much 'guile' from those two. But having said that, they'd be my choices at centre and I don't know who I'd pick instead of them.
Posted 09:33 13th December 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
Looking at the 2nd test. Dumb. Reminds me of Deanss comment that he had one eye on the bledisloe cup before the first game this yr vs ABs. Maybe mind games that work down there but it's probably just got the Wallabies into the gym an hour earlier in the morning
Posted 08:38 13th December 2012
firepower says...
I need Australia to silence the critics especially my man Robbie Deans. Go the Wallabies!!
Posted 08:20 13th December 2012
DutchWing says...
Come June, it will be 2-0 to the Wallabies and only pride to play for in the last Test...
Posted 08:12 13th December 2012
Kiwikev says...
I am looking forward to this series because I suspect that Dingo will have a stronger pool to select from and Oz will have a point to prove after their "poor" performance this year...
After all, they only managed to maintain the No. 2 ranking!
Posted 07:59 13th December 2012