Is there an anti-Scottish agenda festering among Lions hierarchy, or is Gatland within his rights to ignore them?
Warren Gatland’s towering feats as a rugby coach are grudgingly acknowledged in Scotland, but he will never be loved here, will never be toasted as a colossus of the sport here, and the mention of his name in Scottish rugby circles will always elicit growls of bitterness and contempt.
Gatland is a rugby titan, no doubt. Whatever he does with Wales at the World Cup later this year and with the Lions in South Africa in 2021, his place in the game’s pantheon of giants has long been secured.
Three English Premiership titles, a Challenge Cup, a Heineken Cup, an NPC crown, three Grand Slams and four Six Nations triumphs, a victorious Lions tour of Australia and a drawn series in New Zealand against the back-to-back world champions. It’s a glorious CV.
The hostility in Edinburgh, Glasgow and beyond isn’t for his immense success against Scotland – 11 wins in 11 Tests as Wales head coach, 318 points scored and 148 conceded – or for the regular pastings his teams have inflicted on the Scots.
The aversion to Gatland is, of course, because of the way he went about leading the Lions of 2013 and 2017. Specifically, it’s about how desperately few Scots he took and what he did with the ones he did select. Gatland picked three Scotsmen for the journey to Australia and three more for the tour of his native New Zealand four years later.
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In the second Test of 2013 – the Test the Lions lost – he left Ryan Grant, a late injury call-up, riding the pine with Mako Vunipola wheezing and the scrum labouring. In an age where almost every substitute in almost every game gets on, that threatened to spark an international incident.
“I kind of avoided (forwards coach) Graham Rowntree for a few days after that because I was bitterly disappointed and if we spoke sooner, I would probably say something stupid,” said Grant four years later. “So I let it cool down for a couple of days, went and spoke to him. He just kind of said to me that he hadn’t seen enough of me.
“He wasn’t sure he could trust me in a Test match like that, and it was the one they lost. I just had to say, ‘Listen, I totally disagree with you, and if you’d watched any of the Six Nations games you’d know I could handle myself, so we’ll agree to disagree’ – I don’t think we’ve said a single word to each other since.”
That was the beginning of Gatland and the Scots. In 2013, Grant and co were nowhere as an international force, right at the start of their current cycle. Stuart Hogg had just thundered on to the scene. Matt Scott, Sean Maitland, Alex Dunbar, Pete Horne, Tommy Seymour and more were all winning their first handful of caps.
In 2017, things were different. They were damn impressive in putting Ireland and Wales, coached by Rob Howley with Gatland on Lions duty, to the sword. They copped an almighty, humiliating shellacking at Twickenham and that cost them but there were many more players with compelling cases to make the tour party.
Hogg, Seymour and Greig Laidlaw got there – Laidlaw only after Ben Youngs had withdrawn before the tour. Hogg was invalided out. Seymour and Laidlaw got nowhere near the Test team. And for the first time since 1908, no Scottish forward made the initial trip. “I don’t think having just two on the tour is justified,” said Jim Telfer, the leviathan of Scottish and Lions rugby, when news of Gatland’s squad broke.
The indomitable former prop of the 1970s, Ian McLauchlan, was a member of the Scottish Rugby Board at the time, but “Mighty Mouse” has never been known to be constrained by the shackles of diplomacy. “Gatland doesn’t exactly have a good track record in liking people from Scotland,” he said. “He doesn’t come here, does he? And he doesn’t know the names of Scottish players.
“When he was asked on television whether there were any Scots in the running, he said: ‘There is Hogg and the new boy at centre – and one of the wingers looked quite good’. He couldn’t name them. He only knows Stuart Hogg.”
But what was it Telfer said about the honest player? In that greatest of pre-match addresses, what did the white-maned colossus tell the Lions forwards of 1997 about carping and moaning and looking themselves in the mirror and resolving to get better?
Scotland’s hideous lack of representation goes way beyond Gatland. In 2001, they had three players in Graham Henry’s original party. One of them, Tom Smith, remains the most recent Scottish Test starter. Four years later, Clive Woodward took three on the wretched journey to New Zealand. Ian McGeechan selected four, one of them a pre-tour injury replacement, in 2009. And Gatland took three apiece in 2013 and 2017.
In the five tours since 1997, only Smith, Gordon Bulloch, Ross Ford and Richie Gray have seen any Test game time. Of the 225 starting jerseys up for grabs in that time, three have been filled by a Scot – each belonging to Smith 18 years ago. It is a pitiful return.
Is there some anti-Scottish agenda festering among the Lions hierarchy? Are Henry, Woodward, Gatland – and even McGeechan – biased or wrong or ignorant of a pot of riches north of the English border? Or could it just be that Scotland’s players haven’t been good enough?
Head Coach appointment ?
Now it's time to really start getting excited about the 2021 Tour of South Africa! pic.twitter.com/1wpt29zhom
— British&Irish Lions (@lionsofficial) June 12, 2019
If you cast an eye over the names that did make Gatland’s squad two years ago, you get an idea of the ferocity of the competition. From Alun Wyn Jones, Courtney Lawes, George Kruis, Iain Henderson and Maro Itoje, who should have been discarded to accommodate Jonny Gray?
Should Dan Biggar, Jonny Sexton or Owen Farrell have been left at home to select Finn Russell, who was then a far less accomplished game manager than he is now?
Hamish Watson decimated the Welsh back row only months earlier, but choose the Scot and Gatland would have had to ditch Sean O’Brien, Justin Tipuric or his captain, Sam Warburton.
The overarching narrative is that Scotland are improving, but if you took that squad position by position, as Lions selectors do, the Scottish players didn’t measure up to their rivals from England, Ireland and Wales.
They had won nothing. Their away record in the Six Nations was – and, two years on, remains – an embarrassment. No win in Paris for 20 years, no win at Twickenham for over 30, and only one apiece in Cardiff and Dublin this millennium.
Scotland’s players had no advocate on the coaching panel – Gatland had approached Gregor Townsend and Jason O’Halloran, but the former was taking the reins of the national team and the latter had to look after Glasgow’s pre-season before Dave Rennie arrived.
So why gamble on a Gray or a Russell or a Watson, impressive performers in a coming team, when you have a familiar, proven, Grand Slam-winning alternative?
It is brutal fare for Scotland’s supporters, a grand rugby nation growing increasingly detached from one of the sport’s most wonderful and prestigious traditions. A whole generation of Scots have grown up without seeing their team represented on the field in any meaningful way. But Scottish rugby’s hopeless recent past is hardly the fault of Gatland or any other coach.
These are the home truths, but the positive is that between now and 2021, Scotland’s players have ample opportunity to prove themselves in the biggest arenas, to show Gatland he can hang his hat on them just as readily as he might their rivals.
WATCH | Gregor Townsend discusses the 42-man training squad named in preparation for Rugby World Cup 2019. #AsOne pic.twitter.com/Wb1Jd4mJgW
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) May 7, 2019
Townsend and Scotland will negotiate a World Cup, two Six Nations featuring the full gamut of away trips, autumn internationals and probably a summer tour in a year’s time. That is a lot of seriously competitive rugby.
Before then, the flakiness displayed in all its unfathomable horror at Twickenham – the abomination of the first half and the brilliance of the second – has to go.
The perception of Scotland and Scottish rugby is changing. Townsend and his predecessor, Vern Cotter, have done more to ensure that than anyone.
There have been scalps along the way and the trajectory is discernibly upwards. But sustained, ruthless consistency when it really matters – that is Scotland’s great challenge. That is what Gatland will demand.
More fluctuations and more erratic tendencies will only result in Smith’s sorry Test record stretching another four years.
WATCH: Episode three of Rugby Explorer, the RugbyPass series hosted by Jim Hamilton, takes a trek through South Africa
Comments on RugbyPass
Brayden Iose and Peter Lakai are very exciting Super Rugby players but are too short and too light to ever be a Test 8 vs South Africa, France, Ireland, and England, Lakai could potentially be a Test player at 7 if he is allowed to focus on 7 for Hurricanes.
5 Go to commentsPencils “Thomas du Toit” into possible 2027 Bok squad.
1 Go to commentsDon’t see why Harrison makes the bench. Jones can play at 10 if needed, and there is a good case for starting her there to begin with if testing combinations. That would leave room for Sing on the bench
1 Go to commentsWhat a load of old bull!
1 Go to commentsOf the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.
27 Go to commentsIrish Rugby CEO be texting Andy Farrell “Andy, i found our next Kiwi Irishman”
5 Go to commentsI certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
1 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
1 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to commentsJust such a genuine good bloke…and probably the best all round player in his generation. Good guys do come first sometimes and he handled the W.Cup loss with great attitude.
2 Go to commentsWord in France is that he’s on the radar of a few Top14 clubs.
5 Go to commentsGet blocking Travis, this guy has styles and he’s gonna make a swift impact…!
1 Go to commentsWhat remorse? She claimed that her dangerous tackle wasn’t worthy of a red! She should be compensating the injured player for loss of earnings at the minimum. Her ban should include the recovery time of the injured player as well as the paltry 3 match ban.
5 Go to commentsArdie is a legend. Finished and klaar. Two things: “Yeah, yeah, I have had a few conversations with Razor just around feedback on my game and what I am doing well, what I need to improve on or work-ons. It’s kind of been minimal, mate, but it’s all that I need over here in terms of how to be better, how to get better and what I am doing well.” I hope he’s downplaying it - and that it’s not that “minimal”. The amount of communication and behind the scenes preparation the Bok coaches put into players - Rassie and co would be all over Ardie and being clear on what is expected of him. This stands out for me as something teams should really be looking at in terms of the boks success from a coaching point of view. And was surprised by the comment - “minimal”. In terms of the “debate” around Ireland and South Africa. Nice one Ardie. Indeed. There’s no debate.
2 Go to commentsThere’s a bit of depth there but realistically Australian players have a long way to go to now catch up. The game is moving on fast and Australia are falling behind. Australian sides still don’t priories the breakdown like they should, it’s a non-negotiable if you want to compete on the international stage. That goes for forwards and backs. The Australian team could have a back row that could make a difference but the problem is they don’t have a tight five that can do the business. Tupou is limited in defence, overweight and unfit and the locks are a long way from international standard. Frost is soft and Salakai-Loto is too small so that means they need a Valentini at 8 who has to do the hard graft so limits the effectiveness of the backrow. Schmidt really needs to get a hard working, tough tight 5 if he wants to get this team firing.
3 Go to commentsSorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
2 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to commentsThe current AB coaching team is basically the Crusaders so it smacks of wanting their familiar leaders around. This is not a good look for the future of the ABs or the younger players in Super working their way up the player ladder. Razor is touted as innovative, forward looking but his early moves look like insecurity and insular, provincial thinking. He is the AB's coach not the Golden Oldies.
10 Go to commentsSimple reason for wanting him back. Robertson wants him as captain. Otherwise he wouldn’t be bothering chasing him. Not enough reason to come back just to mentor.
10 Go to comments