Former Wales and Lions centre discusses his curt relationship with Gatland, hatred of the WRU’s 60-cap rule and rugby’s ‘monotony’Rare indeed is the Welsh rugby autobiography that reveals how a corner of Adolf Hitler’s desk ended up in the family home in Newport or details how the author drove Lana Del Rey around Monte Carlo in a Rolls-Royce Wraith after she and Bono had watched him play paddle tennis with Prince Albert of Monaco. If Jamie Roberts achieved plenty on the pitch, few modern players have a wider-ranging story to tell off it.We have not even mentioned playing guitar on stage with the Manic Street Preachers in Australia during the 2013 Lions tour. Nor Roberts’s impressive academic credentials as a...
Warren Gatland knows pragmatism is the order of the day and is willing to sacrifice entertainment to topple South AfricaSeldom does the thin line between success and failure feel slimmer than in the tense final days of a tight British & Irish Lions series. Even by the brutal standards of elite rugby it is knife-edge territory. “As I always say there’s nowhere in between,” murmured Warren Gatland this week. “It’s agony or ecstasy.”And at international level, perhaps more so than in most sports, that increasingly means playing the percentages. It is easy enough for onlookers to suggest this series decider needs to be an uplifting spectacle for the wider sport’s sake but Gatland strongly suspects entertainment is not currently sitting...
The head coach has a history of punts which came up trumps and is banking on his bold choices outfoxing the SpringboksWhen it comes to selection for the final Test of a British & Irish Lions series, Warren Gatland has historically proved a shrewd operator. In 2013 his reshuffled Lions, containing six starting personnel changes as is also now the case, trounced the Wallabies 41-16. Four years ago the All Blacks also proved unable to seal a series most had expected them to win.It is perhaps in that context that Gatland’s last spin of the 2021 roulette wheel – and almost certainly of his Lions’ career – should be viewed. This is a head coach who has been in this...
For South Africa’s analysts it will feel like doing battle with an army of unknown warriors for Saturday’s first TestThe secret of top-level selection is to heighten the sense of pre-game anticipation. If the team sheet can not only energise your own players but also make the opposition feel faintly uneasy, so much the better. Warren Gatland has ticked both those boxes; now we must wait and see whether it will trick the Boks.South Africa will certainly be scanning Gatland’s selection warily. Not since Jason Robinson skipped thrillingly around Australia’s Chris Latham at the Gabba exactly 20 years ago has a Lions side looked better equipped to make a more proactive start to a series. Gatland has been bold –...
Saracens player has the footwork, pace and the catch-pass to make him a shoo-in for the first Test against South AfricaWhen I saw Elliot Daly’s name in the initial British & Irish Lions squad it was my view that he would be the starting outside centre for the Test team. With a week to go that remains my view but the makeup of the midfield remains the hardest part of the side to call and one of the crucial decisions Warren Gatland and his assistant coaches must get right.Aside from Daly, there was an absence of creativity and pace in the initial squad and I was left wondering where the creative spark might come from if Finn Russell was not...