Should Gatland join up with the Lions pack?

May 13 2008 by Delme Parfitt, Western Mail

Two of our rugby experts have their say on whether the WRU were right to let Warren Gatland should join the Lions tour

Delme Parfitt says YES

WARREN Gatland has the rugby world at his feet right now. There’s a sense, after his Grand Slam exploits, that no job is too big for the New Zealander.

That’s a bit over the top, Gatland is human and there will come a time when, just like any other professional sports coach, he has to deal with failure.

But for now he is on a roll, especially in tandem with the other members of the holy Wasps trinity of Shaun Edwards and Ian McGeechan, though the three of them were never at the English club at the same time.

And that’s why his appointment alongside two of his favourite sidekicks as part of the Lions coaching team for South Africa next year must be roundly welcomed by Welsh rugby fans, all of whom should want success in the three-Test series against the Springboks.

Deeper analysis suggests that success is the prime reason why Lions chiefs have turned to Gatland, the man with the Midas touch.

Following the debacle of the 2005 expedition to New Zealand under Sir Clive Woodward, when a bloated and muddled party were thrashed by the hosts, the Lions, as a concept, are badly in need of victory.

Or at the very least a gallant and close 2-1 defeat, even though tackling the world champions in their own backyard will be the mother of all challenges.

Anything less, and, while the tourists are steeped in glorious tradition with legends like Gareth Edwards, Willie John McBride and JPR Williams having forged their legacies on the famous quartered badge, the public could start to lose interest in the belief that four-yearly quests to the southern hemisphere are becoming too much of a long shot. It’s 11 years since the Lions won a series, coincidentally in South Africa under the leadership of McGeechan, and they need – no pun intended – the pride putting back into them.

Gatland’s presence will make that likelier, but it will also have positive spin-offs for Wales.

I do not buy for one minute the theory that his selection will have the same sort of dire consequences that rained down on Graham Henry after he led the 2001 Lions tour to Australia while also in charge of Wales because the circumstances this time are different.

Gatland is not Henry, and Wales are not the Wales they were seven years ago.

From the very outset, Gatland made it clear to the Welsh boys that he will call the shots, dropping the likes of Mark Jones and Alix Popham unceremoniously, hauling off his captain Ryan Jones 20 minutes from the end of the Six Nations clash with Scotland and making wholesale changes to a winning side if he felt it was the right thing to do.

In short, there was only one boss from the moment he took charge, and he didn’t care who knew it.

Henry was authoritarian in his own way, but he was far more reliant on a clique of senior players like Rob Howley, Scott Quinnell, Dai Young, Scott Gibbs and Colin Charvis.

Because his playing resource was shallower he was forced to rely on them as his lieutenants, but some were the very people he alienated on the Lions tour with his Test selections and exhausting training methods.

That ensured he could never count on their backing to the same extent when he returned and his slide towards the exit door in February 2002 was drawn out and painful.

Henry, as head coach, was accountable and tarred with the ignominy of defeat in a way Gatland will not be as merely the forwards guru.

Hopefully, the only baggage Gatland will bring back from South Africa with him will be a greater knowledge of the best players in England, Scotland and Ireland, that can be utilised to good effect from a Welsh perspective in future Six Nations tournaments. That can work both ways of course, because he will be forced to share some of his secrets with those who are more usually the enemy.

But Gatland has built his career on innovation and pragmatism and has the cunning rugby intelligence to devise new strategies for later.

The knowledge he has gained from working in Ireland, England and Wales qualifies him perfectly as a shrewd selector and for me there are just too many reasons why this is the right thing to do.

A coaching position with the Lions is a rare honour and one not easily turned down.

Gatland naturally wants the chance to add it to his ever expanding CV.

If he can help pull it off then his stock will rise even further when he returns to Wales.

But Gatland should also be applauded and wished well by the Welsh public for having the guts to risk his reputation on such a daunting assignment, something that he will not have overall control of, a shot at glory that could easily end in failure.

But you know what they say, he who dares...

Read on for two of our rugby experts views on Gatland with the Lions

Page two: Andy Howells says NO