WARREN GATLAND HAS suggested next year’s tour to South Africa will be his last as head coach of the British and Irish Lions.
Having defeated Australia in 2013 before tying the 2017 series with the All Blacks, Gatland is keen to make history next year. Never before has a Lions coach gone through three successive tours without losing at least one series. “The dream is to be undefeated in the Test series in three tours as head coach,” Gatland said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph today. “Going forward it is probably an opportunity for someone else to step up and take the mantle. If I can be of any service, in terms of helping the Lions, in terms of sharing experiences, I would love to follow them again.
“I still have a huge passion for it and am very fortunate for my experiences I have had. I have done my time. But it is like anything, they might come and knock on my door and say ‘We don’t think anyone else has got the experience and would you do it again?’
“Then you reassess everything but they would probably say I have been in charge for three tours, is it right for someone else to have a go? I am comfortable with that.”
Gatland also stressed in his interview with the Telegraph’s Gavin Mairs that it would be preferable if the 2020/21 Premiership final was moved back a week. As things stand it is due to take place on 26 June, a week before the Lions tour kicks off against Western Stormers.
“It has been a little bit frustrating with the Premiership not moving their final,” Gatland said. “That may change with the reintroduction of the season. We will have to wait and see. The ideal situation would have been to have a full week together in the UK, play a warm-up game and get on the plane the following day and head to South Africa.
“I don’t think assembling a squad for two weeks before you play your first game in South Africa is too much of an unreasonable request. Last time, in New Zealand, we left on the Monday, had two days’ travel and arrived on the Wednesday. The players were jet-lagged and had to play the first game on the Saturday. I did point that out to the powers-that-be and the Lions and said we were potentially opening ourselves up [to legal action].
“I said if a player got a career-ending injury in the first game, I think he had potentially got a legitimate claim to say that the preparation wasn’t adequate or he didn’t have enough time from arriving in New Zealand before he was made to play his first game.
“Those are things we have got to be careful about. Everyone talks about player welfare, and it is one of the criteria in looking at seasons and planning and preparation. We have got to deliver that.”
