Lion king: Warren Gatland
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Warren Gatland has been confirmed as the Head Coach of the British and Irish Lions for their 2013 tour of Australia.
The worst kept secret in rugby was finally confirmed in London on Tuesday after the initial announcement was delayed due to Gatland breaking both of his heels in a fall whilst on holiday in New Zealand back in April.
Gatland, who as an assistant to Ian McGeechan on the 2009 tour of South Africa, has long been the leading candidate for the top job after leading Wales to the semi-finals of the World Cup and the Six Nations Grand Slam in 2011.
The 48-year-old will become the second New Zealander to lead the Lions on tour to Australia, after Graham Henry's side lost the 2001 series 2-1 to the Wallabies.
Gatland is expected to confirm his full coaching team in October. England forwards coach Graham Rowntree and are Wales defence coach Shaun Edwards, who were also part of the 2009 Lions management, are likely to be involved.
Gatland will coach Wales in their November Tests against New Zealand and Australia, but otherwise he will be seconded full-time to the Lions.
Interim Wales coach Rob Howley will be in charge for the Argentina and Samoa Tests in November and will take over at the helm full time for the 2013 Six Nations.
When Gatland leads the Lions to Australia, it will be 16 years since their last Test series victory - over world champions South Africa in 1997.
Next year's tour features 10 matches starting against the Barbarians in Hong Kong on June 1 before three Tests against the Wallabies, in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
Comments
Sincero says...
The Lions is special, to put it simply- it unites the four oldest Unions and their supporters every 4 years- all politics out the window. It shows just how much rugby is about sport and tradition. It wouldn't work in any other code. And selection is the greatest honour a player from these islands can receive, as it means he's the best in his position in the 4 nations. Scrap that, and for me you can scrap the whole lot. We've lost enough from the amateur days... let's not lose it all.
Posted 15:40 04th September 2012
atg77 says...
The lions does nothing but devalue the honour of playing for the individual national teams. It doesn't seem to help results of the home nation teams either, who always flop the year after a lions tour. Since rugby went pro, the French have won every five/six nations the year following a lions tour '98,2002, 2006 and 2010. I think we need to move on, scrap the lions.
Posted 15:28 04th September 2012
5Lock4ward says...
@GCP_Jones, The idea of touring Argentina has been brought up in the past and as far as I know is in the works for future tours. There'd be no point in touring Fiji, Samoa and Tonga b/c they don't have their own pro club teams, at least not in high enough numbers to warrant a tour. However once the USA and Canada catch up in that regard the Lions could tour North America. We could even throw Japan into the mix.
Posted 15:11 04th September 2012
GCP_JONES says...
@JamieTheProp....
As i have stated in previous posts on the subject, not enough preparation time together less than a week. Playing a Barbarians match(another pointless relic from the past)in Hong Kong i think. Then its off to Australia where they will face Super 15 academy teams because Deans will have his squad in camp for weeks.
You can safely assume the ARU will charge huge prices for the test matches (whats the bets there will be empty seats as a result).then the players will come back wrecked and late for the start of the season.
If its such a great tradition why don't they tour the likes of Argentina, Figi,Tonga and Samoa in 2021?.
Posted 14:48 04th September 2012
Jediboy says...
The thought of scrapping the Lions is madness!!
It's a unique sporting event that brings four nations together every four years.
I understand the point about players having no rest in a overcrowded calendar, but I'm under the impression that a Lions tour ranks highly on a players CV. It seems that players strive for Lions selection as its up there with international call up.
Personally I love it and hope its never scrapped.
Posted 13:54 04th September 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
Cant see Oz being the beat in the world come Lions time. I think the last time a Lions tour was vs a country that was not WC champions or top of world rankings we won. I think we should win it provided he doesn't do a Henry. A series loss would be completely unacceptable. And of course there is a place for the Lions in the professional era. It's more important that ever.
Posted 13:54 04th September 2012
Propmelsey says...
ANOTHER KIWI!!! ... It's The BRITISH & IRISH LIONS!! ...... A terrible appointment ...... Another blemish on a great tradition ....... If we can't find a suitable British/Irish Coach i think that most Rugby Lovers would rather see The Lions Ruck Off into Rugby Valhalla ....... It's becoming just another Shirt selling oportunity if you ask me ......
Posted 13:51 04th September 2012
5Lock4ward says...
The Lions have a seriously legit shot to win here. Let the debate over who should be the captain (and the squad selection in general) begin! You're all going to say Warburton b/c he's the current Welsh captain but the same thing went around before '09 regarding Ryan Jones and we ended up w/ Paul O'Connell. I'll wager on Gethin Jenkins as a reward from his Welsh coach for a long and prodigious career.
Posted 13:51 04th September 2012
Propmelsey says...
ANOTHER KIWI!!! ... It's The BRITISH & IRISH LIONS!! ...... A terrible appointment ...... Another blemish on a great tradition ....... If we can't find a suitable British/Irish Coach i think that most Rugby Lovers would rather see The Lions Ruck Off into Rugby Valhalla ....... It's becoming just another Shirt selling oportunity if you ask me ......
Posted 13:40 04th September 2012
papachinzo says...
Great, our chances go way up. McGeechan was a terrible coach!
The only down side, the Squad will be 70% welsh...
Posted 13:39 04th September 2012
rugbybutten says...
In reality there was no one else.
How Graham Henry's side did not win that series is unfathomable Aus have an incredible knack of clawing victory from defeat.
So apart from the 2 kiwis...who was the only other BL coach that never actually played for the Lions (nor any of them for their country ( I think !! ) ) ??
Posted 13:35 04th September 2012
passtheball says...
It will be an interesting comparison with Sir Graham on the same tour. I suspect Warren will have more success as the knight is over rated as a coach though he has much better political skills.
APV1 who said "she's the kind of girl who climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong"
Posted 13:18 04th September 2012
JamieTheProp says...
@ GCP_JONES - the Lions is one of the things that still makes professional rugby union unique in the world and to lose it would be to lose the very heart of the game we love.
You ask any player who is selected for the Lions or any of the teams who play against them what it means!
I personally am planning to go to New Zealand in 2017 for the full tour and am looking forward to it as much as I did watching England last year in New Zealand.
It is the soul of the game and special - there is nothing else like it in world sport!
As for Gatland - he's a quality coach and will do a good job! But now he is free I'd have given the job to Geech again.
Posted 13:16 04th September 2012
magic_dragon says...
I think we've got a great chance of winning this series,all four nations have plenty of talent to contribute to the final squad,it's just a matter of taking the right players to do the job,I don't think the Welsh will have as large a contingent as some people make out. The pack should be very strong,and we've got plenty of good backs,I want revenge for 2001!
Posted 12:56 04th September 2012
APV1 says...
His ability to climb the career ladder is slightly better than other ladders he might attempt.
Sorry. I'll go now.
Posted 12:53 04th September 2012
Sincero says...
His record speaks for itself- success everywhere he's been. Sadly, the one exception being that he was shabbily treated in Ireland and moved on due to inner political nonsense (something he still bears a grudge over, perhaps somewhat understandably). A top coach... however his major weakness seems to be PR and his cringe-worthy attempts at 'mind games' which inevitably back fire. If he can keep his mouth shut and stay focused on the job at hand rather than on trying out his laughable pop psychology on the Wallabies we should be fine. Fancy our chances.
Posted 12:47 04th September 2012
GoWalesGo says...
This is disastrous for Wales. Not happy at all
Posted 11:36 04th September 2012
GCP_JONES says...
Get rid of the whole thing, lets flog the players even more shall we, does not belong in the professional era.
Honour the current contract and then wrap it up in pink and send it off.
Posted 11:31 04th September 2012
Frooschman says...
He's a Kiwi. This is the Lions and he's a Kiwi.He may be the best of the home nations coaches blah, blah bleedin' blah. But he's still not one of us! Mind you I could probably coach the Lions against this Aus team so maybe even a Kiwi'll do.
Posted 11:16 04th September 2012
melkdave says...
Ithought he was already confirmed ,wasnt it annouced that he would be taking charge of Wales this aurtum ,but be Lions coach straight after,so wouldnt be with Wales for the 6Ns
Posted 11:04 04th September 2012