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The 2017 Lions lesson colouring Gatland's thinking regarding 2021 Test team selection
Warren Gatland has remarked how impressed he is by the speed his 2021 Lions have gelled, but he insisted there is nothing fixed in terms of who might make the July 24 Test team that will take on the Springboks in Cape Town, the coach referencing what happened on the 2017 tour where two players starred against the Chiefs on the Tuesday and made the first Test team versus the All Blacks the following Saturday.
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The match in Hamilton versus the Super Rugby Chiefs was controversial as this was the game where Gatland selected the infamous ‘Geography Six’ on the Lions bench after they were called in to bolster numbers at Test week training.
However, while that legacy didn’t reflect well on the tradition of the Lions, a more favourable development was how that week illustrated Gatland hadn’t a closed mind in terms of his Test team selection as the impressive performances of Liam Williams at full-back and Elliot Daly on the left wing against the Chiefs catapulted them into the first Test team that faced New Zealand just four days later in Auckland.
That’s a memory Gatland touched on while speaking on the Channel Island of Jersey after naming his team for this Saturday’s eve-of-tour-departure match against Japan in Edinburgh, an XV that contains no starting English player for the first time since 1950.
In selecting six Irish, five Welsh and four Scots, Gatland has gone for some combinations already familiar on the Test circuit to enable the Lions to get off to a cohesive start but he was adamant they were no real indication in it as to how selection might unfold on tour in South Africa next month.
An administration day exercise reminded Warren Gatland about the influence wielded by the England skipper#LionsRugbyhttps://t.co/fZj95yjozY
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 22, 2021
“It will be interesting to see how these combinations go… but we are not fixed in our thoughts, we haven’t got any pre-conceived ideas about the Test side at the moment,” he explained. “We are giving everyone an opportunity and we want to see who puts their hand up and makes a real impression and players that play well will get their chance.
“The door is never closed for anyone. That was definitely the message in 2017, even before the first Test. We said to the players who played against the Chiefs on the Tuesday that we hadn’t selected the side and there was still an opportunity for players to get selected for the Test side and a couple of those players put their hand up against the Chiefs that night and were selected in the Test side.
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“It’s trying to be clear in our thoughts but also not being closed off to the possibilities. We feel we have some real quality men, some great players and everyone is going to get their chance. Someone is going to come through that a lot of people may not expect and that is the exciting part from the coaching aspect. We’re not fixed on who we think is going to be making the test team.”
Lions preparations were rushed in 2017, the squad having limited time in Ireland before flying to New Zealand and playing their opening match in Whangarei just three days after landing in Auckland. This time around, the majority of the squad will have spent the guts of two weeks in Jersey before playing Japan in Edinburgh and then flying down to South Africa with a couple of days extra lead-in in the host country before the opening game there versus the Emirates Lions on July 3.
Gatland is delighted with preparations so far. “They have all stepped up and the best thing is that quality players bring the best out of everyone and we have already seen that with the group how everyone seemed to raise the standard. It felt like as a coaching group we have been able to move a lot quicker than we have normally done.
“We have got absolute quality players here that take in the information so quickly and they have already been so accurate, so the whole group have really impressed us and we are excited about those players that get the opportunity to go out there and perform so I don’t think there is any one person or any two or three players that have really stuck out.
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“We have had some players that have been training well as have the whole group, they have been absolutely outstanding, they have been excellent in terms of the way they have conducted themselves and the way they have prepared so far and trained. ”
"That was our thoughts behind that…"
– It has been a busy Tuesday in Jersey for the Lions who have unveiled a starting XV to face Japan that doesn't contain a single England player#LionsRugby
https://t.co/mWexSrOKRH— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 22, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
One that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
3 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
114 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
1 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
3 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to commentsFinals are always tense affairs for the players so I do not expect this to be a spectacle of running rugby unfortunately.
3 Go to commentsBulls***': Ex-England international calls out Eben Etzebeth… Not to his face but from very far away… after he’d left. Checked to make sure he wasn’t in the building.
114 Go to commentsHopefully this will mean a new Auckland league team to support in the west. Big Warriors fan but it’s very, very stale on that front and I’d like the option of another team if it was to watch league again. League needs to step up BIG time if its to get anywhere, another AK team and something from the capitol or south is a must for the game.
3 Go to commentsGood, deep interview, nice job Frankie!
1 Go to commentsNRL players don’t have anywhere near the number of Tests. Some people would be happy having Rest Homes full if 40 yo ex-players walking, or hobbling more like it, into walls. It’s just a game!
4 Go to commentsNOW Razor is worried about ABs getting injured or overplayed! Didn’t bother him last year. He happily played his AB Crusaders.
4 Go to commentsWhat is the World Rugby U20 players born year.
2 Go to commentsMuch like the Chiefs finally gave up waiting for Atu Moli to ever not be injured, you have to wonder if the Chiefs and Crusaders will let Josh Lord and Ethan Blackadder go next season. They’re being well paid to sit in the injury ward every year. Better off putting those funds towards someone who might actually play.
7 Go to commentsShowed better basic skills than some nz Super sides, who probably would have botched some of those backline moves. This tournament really is too short though. Needs more teams, or have them play two rounds to properly prepare them for the near full-time NH U20 sides.
4 Go to commentsGood grief it’s only six months. Probably just upset it’s not an established kiwi entering their prime they can “project” into green to join the rest.
3 Go to commentsGood player but far from being best in the world. That's an exaggeration. Perhaps Best in world by Northern Hemisphere standards and biasis but certainly not Southern Hemi standards
3 Go to commentsWell one thing about World Cup knock out rounds and Ireland is very clear: they won’t be getting ahead of themselves in ‘27! Because making it beyond the QF is well and truly ‘IN THEIR HEADS’ now…😉
114 Go to commentsHas this guy been dope tested? Sounds like a case of “roid rage”.
1 Go to comments