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British & Irish Lions coach for South African tour to be confirmed on Wednesday
By Online Editors
The British and Irish Lions will name their head coach for 2021 tour of South Africa on Wednesday, with New Zealander Warren Gatland widely expected to be given the honour for the third time.
Gatland led the Lions to a series victory over Australia in 2013 and a drawn series against New Zealand in 2017. He was also an assistant in 2009 when Ian McGeechan's Lions lost 2-1 in South Africa.
Gatland, who led Wales to the Six Nations title this year, will stand down as the country's coach after the Rugby World Cup in Japan, having won three Grand Slams during his spell as the longest-serving coach in their history, having taken over in 2007.
Previously he has taken a sabbatical from his Wales duties to dedicate himself to the Lions but now he would be free from any distractions from when the World Cup ends on Nov. 2.
Gatland said after the last Lions tour that he was frustrated by limited time given to prepare the team and by the shortened nature of the tour. He was also not happy at his treatment by some areas of the New Zealand media.
At the end of that tour he told journalists: "I'm done, I hated the tour. What I've learned from my Lions experiences is how difficult it is to put some continuity together in terms of people and staff, and the lack of preparation time. Let someone else do it. Let someone else reinvent the wheel."
Gatland, 55, has mellowed but will have to deal with an even tighter schedule in 2021. No official dates have yet been released but the tour is expected to last five weeks, featuring eight matches, down from six weeks and 10 games in 2017.
It is also likely to run from July into August - by far the latest in the year of any Lions tour - following the changes to the international calendar that take the European domestic seasons through to late June and give him only three weeks with the players before the first tour game.
The Lions' last series victory against the Springboks came in 1997, also under McGeechan, when the host nation were world champions.
- Reuters
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Latest Comments
Agree with Wilson B- at best. And that is down to skilled individual players who know how to play the game - not a cohesive squad who know their roles and game plan. For those who claim that takes time to develop, the process is to keep the game plan simple at first and add layers as the squad gels and settles in to the new systems. Lack of progress against the rush D, lack of penetration and innovation in the mid-field, basic skill errors and loose forwards coming second in most big games all still evident in game 14 of the season. Hard to see significant measureable progress.
Go to commentsKeep telling yourself that. The time for a fresh broom is at the beginning - not some "balanced, incremental" (i.e. status quo) transition. All teams establish the way forward at the beginning. This coaching group lacked ideas and courage and the players showed it on the pitch. Backs are only average. Forwards are unbalanced and show good set piece but no domination in traditional AB open play. Unfortunately, Foster - Mark 2. You may be happy with those performances and have some belief in some "cunning plan" but I don't see any evidence of it. Rassie is miles ahead and increasing the gap.
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