Wales will be put under plenty of pressure but if they can limit New Zealand to one or two tries they have a chance of causing an upsetDespite everything that has been said in the past few weeks, and everything written in Warren Gatland’s book, the Wales manager needs to park the British & Irish Lions on Saturday. He has to stick to his guns in terms of what he is trying to do with this Wales side and continue to show ambition. The biggest question will be: when the pressure comes on from the All Blacks, will he revert to type? Related: Wales seek to invoke spirit of 1953 for new coronation against New Zealand | Paul Rees Related:...
Head coach is justifiably proud of his team’s achievement of a tied series against the best team in the world on their home territoryWarren Gatland lost his red nose somewhere along the way on Saturday night, but he did have a couple of black bags under his eyes on Sunday morning. He said he was feeling fresh, but you would not have guessed it to look at him. It had been “a pretty quiet night,” he said, “quiet for me, anyway.” Related: Sam Warburton the Lions’ brightest star in series that had everything Related: Warren Gatland says his Kiwi instinct was a crucial factor in Lions series draw Continue reading...
Are the All Blacks, who are used to flattening every team they face, actually starting to flatline, as England close in on them at the top of the global rankings?The players voted Jonathan Davies the Lion of the tour after the third and final Test on Saturday. The recognition for the Wales centre was notable for at least two reasons: he was a back on a trip when they were expected to do little more than chase kicks, and he was not from the country with the largest single representation. His defence in the second half at Eden Park on Saturday made it hard for New Zealand to achieve width and it was a series when the loss of so many experienced players...
Critics attack his teams for playing Warrenball but as the only unbeaten Lions coach of the professional era Gatland has shown yet again he gets resultsHe would not rule it out, but nor was he chomping at the bit for another shot. Warren Gatland refused to be drawn on the prospect of another Lions tour. “I don’t know,” he said. “There’s been a lot of water under the bridge.” For now, obviously, he is just thinking about Wales, the autumn and preparing for the World Cup in two years’ time. Whether he is in position to take on another Lions tour in 2021 remains to be seen.It is a scarcely guarded secret that he has his eye on the All...
Whatever the result in the decider against New Zealand, those who have derided the Lions coach’s methods as smash and drab have underestimated himClowntime is over. Whatever the result on Saturday, Warren Gatland will finish the series against New Zealand with his coaching reputation encased in cement a month after an aside he made at the end of a media conference at which his methods had been questioned, which cursed the need for him to keep defending himself, was picked up on tape recorders and printed.Some in the New Zealand media were quick to write off Gatland as a failure, despite his success with Wasps, Waikato and Wales, after the British & Irish Lions made a juddering start to the...