There's a burgeoning hostility towards Warren Gatland in Scotland
Twelve months from now, Warren Gatland will take charge of the first matches of his third tour as coach of the British and Irish Lions. Back home, watching the action in South Africa, Scots will either be imbued with a rekindled love for this prestigious old rugby beast, or cursing their meagre contingent on yet another southern-hemisphere voyage.
There’s a popular theory among Scottish rugby people that Gatland has it in for their players, that he harbours a great bias against them and an ignorance of their qualities.
He took three to Australia in 2013 and three more to New Zealand four years later, calling up another two as part of his controversial “geography six”. No Scottish forward made the initial party and no Scot was selected in a Test squad for the first time in over a century.
Is this evidence of a Gatland agenda against Scotland, a deep-rooted scorn for the talents of Gregor Townsend’s players? Or could it be, simply, that the Scots haven’t done enough to move one of the finest minds the game has ever known to picking them?
This non-selection lament isn’t just a Gatland thing. Come next year’s tour to South Africa, it will be fully two decades since a Scot – the brilliant Tom Smith – last started a Lions Test. Since 1997, there have been 225 starting Test jerseys available and only three have been filled by a Scottish player – Smith in each game of the 2001 series. In that time, not Sir Graham Henry, Sir Clive Woodward, Sir Ian McGeechan nor Gatland himself has seen fit to take any more than four Scots on tour.
There is a burgeoning hostility towards Gatland in Scotland. A generation of supporters has never seen their team represented beyond provincial games and the odd Test cameo. The apathy during the last tour was palpable.
The landscape is changing a little, thanks to Vern Cotter and Gregor Townsend and, for the first time in an age, a large cohort of Scottish players who can make a persuasive case to go to South Africa.
At prop, Rory Sutherland must build on a fantastic Six Nations campaign where he scrummaged like a demon and charged around the paddock with the vigour of a scalded warthog. Rugby folk in Scotland have long known of Sutherland’s excellence but because of a dreadful injury, only now are those beyond his homeland beginning to take notice. The loose-head is leaner, hungrier and more focused as a result of the turmoil.
Zander Fagerson too is adding gears to his game season on season, bringing destructive ball-carrying to his set-piece heft on the other side of the scrum. The word is that he is being eyed up by clubs in England and France and Glasgow will find it almost impossible to keep him when his next contract expires.
Stuart McInally and Fraser Brown could force their way into the reckoning at hooker. Jonny Gray will find it exceedingly difficult to penetrate a phenomenal group of locks, but with a big start to life at Exeter Chiefs and some even bigger international displays, it is not beyond him.
Hamish Watson and Jamie Ritchie have the snarl and visceral aggression Gatland is going to need against the Springboks. Both are relentless competitors over ball, and Watson can deliver the stunning on the rampage. The Edinburgh open-side is in his prime and offers what few others can. He is a strong contender.
One of Ali Price and George Horne is a decent bet at scrum-half. Finn Russell is a far safer shout, having taken himself to staggering new heights in France and eradicated much of the flakiness from his play. Russell has cemented himself as one of the premier fly-halves in world rugby. After his dispute with Townsend, he needs and wants to get back in the Scotland fold to burnish his credentials for next year. It will not be enough merely to flourish behind a tremendous Racing pack.
Scotland have a glut of quality centres, but it is hard to see any of them making it barring a searing run of form or a spree of injuries.
Stuart Hogg is a Gatland favourite and maturing into a sound leader, and will go at full-back. He has the best prospect of ending Scotland’s 20-year wait for a starting Test Lion. Darcy Graham, once fit again, will be in the conversation if he replicates his dazzling performances of last season on the wing. Graham is another who punches well above his modest weight, relishes the skirmishes of battle and is a quite remarkable finisher.
All these names, all this fresh hope, yet the brutal truth lingers. Scotland are going to have to do an awful lot more at international level to compel Gatland to choose their players from a pool of champions and winners with credit in the bank.
If we take Italy out of the equation, Scotland’s last away win in the Six Nations came over ten years ago now, at Croke Park in 2010. They haven’t won in Cardiff since 2002, in Paris since 1999 and at Twickenham for 37 years.
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In the period since Scotland’s sacking of “Croker”, Ireland have won a Grand Slam and two more titles, beaten the All Blacks twice and reached the summit of the World Rugby rankings, while Leinster, their strongest province, have taken four Pro14s and three Champions Cups. Wales have two Slams and another title, all under Gatland, and also occupied the number-one spot. England made a World Cup final eight months ago, have won three titles, including a Slam, and in Saracens, boast a three-time European champion.
Scotland have big victories over Australia and Argentina to savour, home wins against Ireland, Wales, France and England, and that bonkers draw at Twickenham last year. But they also have two group-stage exits from the World Cup, hammerings in Dublin, in Cardiff, in London and in Japan, and only one piece of silverware in Glasgow’s Pro12 triumph of 2015.
Jason O’Halloran, the recently departed Warriors attack coach, spoke last month of how badly Scotland needed to win on the road and how more investment must be made in addressing their mindset.
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“Tell me that’s a coincidence that it was at Croke Park, where Scotland never normally play, and that’s the only away win they’ve had against anybody apart from Italy in 10 years,” the New Zealander said.
“That was possibly because it didn’t hold any of the demons of turning up at Lansdowne Road [now the Aviva Stadium] where they normally lose.
“You could state that in the early 2000s Scotland weren’t up to it, but you can’t tell me that since 2010 we’re demonstrably worse technically and tactically than these guys, because it’s not the case.
“You just can’t go away hoping you’re going to win and accepting poor performances. The pitch is 100m by 70m, it doesn’t matter where on the frigging planet it is, you should go out there and play to a certain standard.
“Richie McCaw doesn’t give a shit who he’s playing against. He doesn’t care if it’s Guatemala B or South Africa, he’s going to go out there and play Richie McCaw-level footie, and that’s what you’ve got to do as a rugby player.”
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O’Halloran turned down a role in Gatland’s coaching staff three years ago to put preparations in place for Dave Rennie’s arrival at Glasgow. Townsend too rebuffed an approach because the tour clashed with his first matches in charge of Scotland. The absence of an advocate on the selection panel undoubtedly hurt Scottish players, but nothing was stopping Gatland from picking up the phone to those who knew the men best.
It is a crying shame for Scotland that coronavirus scuppered a monumental summer tour, where they would have played South Africa and New Zealand in their own back yards and had the opportunity to emphatically catch Gatland’s eye.
As it is, all the old doubts remain about Scotland’s ability to win away from Murrayfield, and to seize games by the scruff when the chips are down. They will have opportunities to rectify that in the coming months, and it is imperative that they take them.
On 24th July next year, the Lions play their first Test against the Springboks in Johannesburg. How many Scots will be in the team? And if the answer is none, will Gatland again be branded as an anti-Scottish pariah, or will fans awaken to their team’s shortcomings? There are no agendas here, only cold, hard facts – promise abounds, but in the race to South Africa, Scotland are still the underdogs.
Comments on RugbyPass
Thanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
3 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
3 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
25 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
13 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
25 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
13 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
3 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
13 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
13 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
13 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
13 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
13 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
45 Go to comments