The selection debate will be settled on Wednesday when experience and versatility are likely to be key factors in Warren Gatland’s thinking to face New ZealandWhen Warren Gatland named his squad for the 2013 tour to Australia it was evident that the Lions would be playing the power game that had delivered Wales consecutive Six Nations titles. As Wednesday’s announcement of the 37 players who will take on New Zealand this summer is awaited, a trip that will be considerably more demanding in the warm-up matches never mind the three Tests, the tactics are harder to discern.The international game has moved on appreciably in the past four years. It is faster because of a greater emphasis on retaining possession, kicking...
No Lions tour before 1991 made a profit but, with 35,000 fans expected to descend on New Zealand and 11 major sponsors, the brand is now big businessRegardless of what is on the menu at London’s Hurlingham Club, it will not match the delicious irony served up a week next Wednesday. It is an evening with the “Cambridge University Big Cats” and, if the billing sounds contrived, it is because the British & Irish Lions have instructed them to drop “Lions” from the title. Quite apart from the fact that Cambridge have provided the Lions with 73 tourists over the years – more than any single club – among the legends due to be present is John Spencer, who happens...
England’s second title in a row said more about the weakness of the opposition in a tournament lacking the subtlety that will be needed by the LionsThe Six Nations is the envy of the southern hemisphere – for its licence to print money rather than the quality of the rugby it inspires. England retained the title but were written off in New Zealand as clunky musclemen who live in a cave, a view compromised by the praise then lavished on Ireland, whose record of two tries in their final three matches was hardly a testament to their perceived verve and guile.Bonus points were trialled this year in order to, in the words of the tournament’s chairman, Pat Whelan, “materially improve...
Coach has four weeks to put together a squad capable of overpowering the All Blacks for the first time since 1971Picking the best British and Irish Lions squad to tour New Zealand has long been a fraught job. In 1993, as now, England had just lost to Ireland in Dublin on the final weekend and the selectors were required to gather the following day. “We spent the next eight hours arguing,” recalls the then assistant coach Dick Best. “At one stage we had 21 England players on the tour but because we’d lost to Ireland it got whittled down to 17. Afterwards Ian McGeechan said: ‘I’m not going again unless I can select the team.’” Related: Six Nations 2017 verdict:...
The Six Nations winners will lead the way in selection but the style of play will not be Eddie Jones’s. Gatland faces a tough job matching personnel with outlookEngland’s success in the Six Nations and their long winning run are a blessing and a curse for Warren Gatland. As the British & Irish Lions’ head coach starts turning names for the tour to New Zealand from pencil to ink and erasing others, the champions’ players are high on confidence but have an attacking style markedly different to Gatland’s Wales.England’s first three tries against Scotland last weekend came directly from lineouts, with speed of hand and foot rather than power undoing the defence. In 2013, when the Lions toured Australia, Wales...