HE’S the bogeyman, Warren Gatland, and he’s loving it.
He’s back here in his homeland with the intention of making Kiwi children cry — just like the British and Irish Lions who shattered his own illusions of All Black invincibility when he was seven years old.
Those 1971 Lions were the only ones ever to win a series here but the Kiwi who is leading this latest assault doesn’t just believe his men can triumph, he seems to actively EXPECT it.
Before tomorrow’s First Test at Eden Park, barbs about his ‘Warrenball’ playing style seem to injure Gatland — as if he is some sort of infidel, as a New Zealander who doesn’t believe in free-flowing, attacking rugby.
But then he talks with great pride about ‘squeezing the life’ out of opponents and ‘grinding them into the ground’ — and he’s the villain all over again.
Memories of that 71 tour — when Welsh fly-half Barry John became a God among rugby men — was a formative experience for a young Gatland.
He said: “I thought rugby was invented in New Zealand growing up. I didn’t think the All Blacks could ever be beaten.
“So it did have a big impact on me. It was the first time I realised the game was played well in other parts of the world.
“This is the 12th time the Lions have been to New Zealand, it’s only once before they’ve won. It is tough because you’re putting a group of players together in such a short period.
“But we’re very, very pleased with our progress. We’d like to think we can go out there and play well on Saturday night.”
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Gatland is so confident of victory that he is already talking about the ‘different animal’ of All Blacks the Lions might face in Wellington next week.
And when he’s asked about the contrasting styles of the cavalier All Blacks and the roundhead Lions, Gatland speaks with pride about victories against the Super Rugby powerhouse of the Crusaders and the Maori All Blacks on the last two Saturdays.
He said: “We squeezed the life out of those two teams and we won’t stop being aggressive defensively.
"Against the All Blacks you’ve got to have a strong set-piece. We’ve created opportunities and early on the tour we weren’t finishing — but we’ve started to do that.
“I think we’ve played some lovely rugby. We’ve scored nine tries to three in the last four games. I can’t fault the players if we’re getting some success by dominating up front.
“We’re not going to be talked into playing Barbarian-type rugby when we’ve got certain weapons we can use to our advantage. And that’s being smart about how you play.
“Hopefully we can be strong at set-piece and strong defensively and, when the opportunities arise, we can get in behind the All Blacks and finish the opportunities. We know we have got to be courageous and play some positive rugby.”
Gatland chucked all sentiment and reputation out of the window when naming his XV for the First Test — at a venue where the world champions are unbeaten in 23 years.
An 80-minute selection meeting ended with Elliot Daly replacing his Welsh favourite George North on the wing and Liam Williams starting at full-back, after both men impressed during Tuesday’s thumping of the Chiefs in Hamilton.
Gatland, 53, said: “Liam’s played his way into the Test team. You know that every now and then there might be a brain explosion with Liam — as we saw with the yellow card against Blues — so he must be switched on mentally.
“But last year he caused the All Blacks problems with his running and attacking game. When we sat down we asked whether we need to look at our back three and have players who have some footwork and to play some rugby.
“Elliot Daly was outstanding against Chiefs. That run down the sideline where he threw the inside pass, there aren’t many who can do that.
“He just put the gas on and passed inside. I’m not sure every player in the squad has the ability to do that.
“After the game, we were saying we had some good individual performances and we were talking about playing the All Blacks, coming over here and playing some rugby, being positive and outscoring them.
“I don’t know if it’s going to be enough playing a set-piece orientated game to try and grind them into the ground. When we get the opportunity, we’ve got to score some tries and that’s why that selection is the way it is.”
Daly is one of three England players in Gatland’s starting line-up who are not first-choice for Eddie Jones’ Six Nations champions — along with centre Ben Te’o and hooker Jamie George, who will start his very first international here.
Gatland explained: “With Te’o, we had seen the impact he had for England coming off the bench and that’s kind of where we had initially looked at him. But he’s beaten by far the most defenders from our backline on this tour.
“He’s more than just someone who can carry and hit it up. His selection is definitely on merit. With Elliot, he’s just an outstanding player. He could play 15, wing or 13.
“You tell him once and he gets it. There are not many people who understand the game the way he does. "I think he’s going to be a top player for England — if Eddie gives him an opportunity.”
A sly dig at Jones there but then there’s a true element of mischief and menace about Gatland.
The mothers of New Zealand will be telling their kids to do their homework and eat their greens or else Warren the bogeymen will be after them…
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