Warren Gatland has two aims on this tour. The obvious one is to beat the All Blacks, but the other is to win over the New Zealanders. Back in February, Gatland said that he wanted to repair the damage done when the British & Irish Lions last came here, in 2005. Clive Woodward’s side came across as arrogant and, hidden away in hotel rooms or ring-fenced in training grounds, operating at a far remove from the country they were
Eagles Youth Jersey touring, managed to alienate the public. “We are trying to go there and mend some stuff from 2005,” Gatland said. “We want to engage with the community, to play some good rugby, we want to get the public on our side. We want to be great tourists.”
You guess Gatland has a third, more personal, ambition too, one left unstated. He was born and raised in Hamilton and his family still live there, but he, away in Wales for most of the year, seems to have an exile’s desire to impress his own. “A savage loves his native shores,” he said before the tour. “I am a very proud Kiwi, desperate to be successful back home against the All Blacks.”
New Zealanders tend to think that they have the best of rugby right here and they don’t much reckon deeds achieved on the other side of the world.
For all Gatland’s good intentions, he could not help but provoke the local players and coaches. He has called the New Zealanders out for illegal scrummaging, illegal blocking, and dangerous play. They have not taken kindly to his criticism. Whether Gatland was right or not, high-hat tactics do not go over well when your team have just been beaten 30-15. Steve Hansen’s comebacks have not been any better. Only, Hansen’s team are on top, which makes him a tough man to talk down to.
So when Hansen described Gatland as desperate on Monday, the New Zealand Herald illustrated his remarks with a full-page cartoon of Gatland dressed as a clown. It was the third time they have pulled this stunt, the second with Gatland, and it has not got any funnier. It makes them look like the loudmouth in the corner, repeating the joke over and again because they do not understand that nobody laughed first time
http://www.nikeeaglesjerseysshop.com/allen-barbre-jersey-for-sale-c-56.html around. In the end then, it is best to ignore them. That is exactly what Gatland did. “I couldn’t give a toss,” he said on Tuesday.
Gatland insists he has not heard or read what Hansen said. Only that, he said with a wry smile: “I heard that he rang up a radio station, I thought that was quite unusual for an international coach.” The All Blacks insist that the radio interview was pre-arranged. “As a Kiwi you’d like it if, when you came home, things would be a little more positive from one or two members of the
media. That hasn’t happened. But you can’t let that get to you – you have to take it on the chin.”
His chin must sting. The Lions can afford to lose this series. Rugby fans will still love them. But Gatland does not have that much slack, here in New Zealand at least. Which is why it was good to hear from a man willing to cut him some, the All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster. He and Gatland go way back. They played rugby together for Waikato, where Foster bossed the backs, Gatland the pack, cricket together for Northern
Brent Burns Youth Jersey District’s U19 team, and coached together, for a season, at the Chiefs. They were even euchre partners. These days, Foster lives 500 metres down the road from Gatland’s family.
All this noise, Foster said, “is just part of the environment when you play a big series”, and, he added, this series is as big as they come. “I guess we probably give a little bit, they give a little bit, and that’s all part of things when stakes are high. So he’s doing what he thinks he needs to do to prepare his team and we’ll do what we need to do,” he said. “There’s a lot at stake. Everyone is looking for an edge. People are just trying to find that edge in different sorts of ways. I wouldn’t read too much more into it than just that.”
Once the series is over, Foster says he hopes he, Gatland, and the other coaches will share a beer or two. “Everyone is trying to put everything on the line, everyone is trying to get an edge or upset the other team in whatever way it is, but at the end of the day, we��ll go hammer and tongs at each other and at the end of the third Test we’ll sit down and have a quiet beer and have a good yak about it. You understand the pressures everyone’s under when you’re doing
http://www.authenticsanjosesharks.com/authentic-brent-burns-jersey similar jobs. He’s doing what he thinks is best for his team. We’re doing what we think is best for our team, but it’s important we catch up and have a yarn to people as mates.”
Foster came across as honest, measured, calm and respectful. All qualities you might try to present if you were auditioning to be the All Blacks’ head coach. And here’s the thing. Gatland has made no secret that he has designs on that job when he finishes with Wales in 2019. If it does nothing else, that a national paper painted him as a clown gives you an idea of his chances. Foster, on the other hand, is reckoned to be one of the most likely contenders to succeed Hansen when he does stand down.
