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Ex-Ireland international backs Andy Farrell to lead the 2025 Lions
By PA
Grand Slam-winning Ireland boss Andy Farrell is the perfect guy to be the next British and Irish Lions head coach, according to two-time tourist Tommy Bowe. Farrell has significantly enhanced his coaching reputation over the past 18 months, clinching the Guinness Six Nations title on Saturday having led his side to the top of the world rankings on the back of last summer’s stunning series win over the All Blacks.
Former Ireland and Ulster wing Bowe represented the Lions during the 2009 trip to South Africa and the 2013 visit to Australia and he believes Englishman Farrell, who served as Lions defence coach in 2013 and 2017, is the ideal candidate to spearhead the 2025 series against Eddie Jones’ Wallabies following three tours overseen by Warren Gatland.
“He would be a fantastic Lions coach,” Bowe told the PA news agency. “He gets the ethos of it. He loves everything about the Lions and to have toured with him in 2013, he epitomises what’s great about it.
“He is very much about working extremely hard on the pitch but also being able to have a laugh off the pitch and I think that’s what the Lions is. The last tour (to South Africa in 2021) unfortunately got away from that.
"The next Lions tour is about bringing back the ethos of what is special about the Lions and making sure that the players really enjoy every minute of it, and the supporters too. Andy Farrell would be the perfect guy to do that.”
Farrell is the odds-on favourite for the role and has also received the backing of Gatland. Having initially joined the Ireland set-up in 2016 as assistant to Joe Schmidt, the 47-year-old has fully emerged from the shadow of his revered predecessor after taking over following the 2019 World Cup.
Bowe has been impressed by Farrell’s progress since stepping up. “I have always had huge respect for him,” said the 39-year-old. “He is a great character among the squad, a wonderful motivator of players. But it is very difficult to go from number two to number one. It’s an entirely different ball game and I did wonder if he could come out of the shadow of Joe Schmidt.
“Joe Schmidt is the most successful (Ireland coach) of all time, it will be hard to beat Joe Schmidt in terms of the three Six Nations titles, one of those was a Grand Slam, beating New Zealand for the first time ever, and he was a controlling presence on the squad. I felt that to try and put your own stamp on it would be very difficult and Andy Farrell has managed to do that, and it took time.
“Of course, there are question marks when any new coach comes in. There is always going to be a bedding in period. But to see the way they are playing now, I just love how they have evolved where the game is.”
- Sage is the official insights partner of Six Nations Rugby and powered the Smart Ball during the 2023 Guinness Six Nations
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Smith is playing a different game with the rest of the backs struggling to understand. That's the problem with so called playmakers, if nobody gets what they're doing then it often just leads to a turnover. It gets worse when Borthwick changes one of them, which is why they don't score points at the end. Sometimes having a brilliant playmaker can be problematic if a team cannot be built around them. Once again Borthwick seems lacking in either coaching or selection. I can't help but think it's the latter coupled with pressure to select the big name players.
Lastly, his forward replacements are poor and exposed either lack of depth or selection pressure. Cole hemorrhages scrum penalties whenever he comes on, opponents take advantage of the England scrum and close out the game. Is that the best England can offer?
Go to commentsWhich Australian coaches would be acceptable to coach the All Blacks ?
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