England great ‘gutted’ after Andy Farrell snubs British and Irish Lions legend
Ben Youngs and Dan Cole have reacted to Andy Farrell's British and Irish Lions coaching staff.
Ex-England scrum-half Ben Youngs predicts the role fellow countryman Richard Wigglesworth will fill in the British and Irish Lions coaching team while ruing the exclusion of a Welsh legend.
Wigglesworth is the only England coach who has been included in Farrell’s coaching ticket for the tour to Australia, with clear roles for the coaches yet to be disclosed.
There are no Welsh representatives in the coaching box, which Youngs says is understandable as Farrell has picked an Irish-heavy backroom team in order to limit the bedding in process.
However, he admits that he is gutted for British and Irish Lions legend Neil Jenkins, who has been on every tour since 2009.
“I’m hoping that he’s a late addition”
Youngs provided his reaction, along with Leicester teammate and fellow England legend Dan Cole to the coaching team on their podcast For the Love of Rugby, with the latter taking a humorous dig at Wales while doing so.
“Andy Farrell was always going to pick an Irish-heavy coaching staff because that’s who he’s familiar with, he hasn’t got to fast-track them in terms of how he likes to play and his philosophies and everything like that,” Youngs said.
“Simon Easterby has obviously been very important to Andy Farrell over the years he just slots in, I don’t know much about John Dalziel to be honest. Andrew Goodman of course was with Leinster for a long time and only joined Ireland recently, he is an attack coach and then of course, Richard Wigglesworth is an attack coach as well, so it will be interesting to see how that looks.
“I reckon Andrew Goodman will be the attack and Richard Wigglesworth will probably do the kicking strategies, exit plans and everything like that around the kicking game – what I reckon would happen potentially.”
Reacting to Jenkins’ snub, he added: “I’m a bit gutted about one person who is not there though and that is Neil Jenkins.
“Maybe he’s coming in a bit later but I’m gutted Neil Jenkins, the legend, won’t be running on with the tee, running on with his water bottle getting his knee drained because he’s got such bad knees that they swell up straight after game.
“I’m hoping that he’s a late addition.”
Cole, a two-time Lions tourist, joked that perhaps the reason that Jenkins is not going on the tour is because there won’t be enough Wales players in the squad that will understand him.
“Maybe there might not be enough players that can understand his thick Welsh accent on the tour. So he might not be selected for that reason,” the prop joked.
“He is a Lions legend and there’s always a place. He’s one of the great blokes in rugby and I remember playing international rugby and I’d be running around the pitch warming up when I’m on the bench for England and he’d just look at you, wink and you shake his hand.
“He’s probably the only person in World Rugby whose hand I would shake in the middle of a Test match, but yeah he’s a great guy.”
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No Wales coaches
With Jenkins not flying out to Australia with the Lions, Youngs believes that Wigglesworth will take over the kicking coaching and tactics.
“He is an absolute gent and a champion. That’s the one guy I was a bit gutted for but I think there’s still time for Jenkins, but I feel like Richard Wigglesworth could be in there for the kicking strategy,” he said.
Youngs does not believe that Wales’ performances in the Six Nations has impacted Farrell’s decision on who will join him on the Lions tour.
“I think Andy Farrell would have had a clear idea about who he wants anyway, well in advance, and the Six Nations wouldn’t have had a huge impact in terms of who he could or should or wouldn’t take,” he added.
“I think it’s more some of the cases are they available and can they do it and that’s what he’s gone with.”
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