HAVING BEEN OFFICIALLY confirmed as head coach of the Lions last week, Warren Gatland is now in the process of identifying and signing the assistants he feels will give him the best chance of glory in New Zealand next summer.
Paul Gustard would appear to be the favourite to take on the defence coach role, but Gatland and Andy Farrell worked well together in the 2013 series success over Australia.
The Lions assistant coaches will be announced on 7 December, meaning the process still has some way to go.
“You start thinking about things like that, then you start getting distracted, don’t you?” said Ireland defence coach Farrell yesterday when asked if he hopes for the call from Gatland again.
“It’s not a matter of hoping. [It's] making sure that you use your time wisely, making sure your team does as good as it possibly can, therefore you put yourself in the picture.
“Warren has got a tough job really, because the British Isles and Ireland have a lot of good coaches on the books.”
While Lions involvement is not specifically referred to in the contracts of Ireland’s assistant coaches, according to the IRFU, it’s understood that head coach Joe Schmidt would support any appointments from his staff.
Has Farrell been told there would be any issue?
“You’d have to ask Joe, but he hasn’t said anything to the contrary, no,” said Farrell. “I’m sure Joe would be up for any of his coaching staff getting as much experience as they can.”
And in Farrell’s eyes, the Lions experience is an influential one. His defence earned repeated plaudits on the 2013 tour and the Englishman said he enjoyed his involvement in Australia.
“It’s priceless really for growing,” said Farrell. “Simply because international football is completely different from club football, because you have shorter space of time to prepare the boys – say a week before a competition.
“But when you get all the best players together – those best players have all been used to being top dogs, the stars of the side – to gel them together when they have been competitors against each for so long is fantastic.
“That’s a great challenge to have but the pleasure is working with the quality you have got. You tend to only have to say things once or twice – they tend to get it, the top line players.”
Andy Farrell, Gary Neville, Pat Lam, Ronan O’Gara and other elite athletes and coaches will line out for Huddle Dublin, a new performance, leadership and networking event taking place on Thursday 29 September at the Aviva Stadium.
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