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Warren Gatland has been informed by the British and Irish Lions hierarchy that the head coach position for the 2025 Australia tour is his if he wishes, despite the series loss to South Africa. Gatland declined to rule out a fourth tour as head coach following the Springboks loss and he subsequently received strong support from Lions president Jason Leonard and general manager Ben Calveley.
Gatland has been on four previous tours – to South Africa 12 years ago, he was a forwards coach – and although only one of them resulted in a series victory, he remains a favorite at the level of the meeting room. On Sunday morning he returned to New Zealand, where he intends to spend 14 days in quarantine reflecting on his future and although the appointment of the next head coach is unlikely to be made before 2023, the work appears to be Gatland’s.
“I don’t think he’s going to have a problem with us,” Leonard said. “The highest honor I can give to someone like Gats is that he’s up there with Sir Ian McGeechan. If you cut him in half he bleeds Lions. He just understands what Lions are. Warren Gatland needs to be taken into consideration, it’s great to hear he’s ready for this.
Calveley added: “After working with him for that two-year period and incredibly closely over the past seven to eight months, he has just proven once again how an exceptional coach he is, but also how he is an exceptional individual. He brought this team of rivals together, bonded them in the most difficult situation we’ve been faced with on any Lions tour and he deserves huge credit because in our opinion he lives up to the challenge. one of the best in the world.
Although the Lions have only won one of their last six series, Leonard said the concept was “alive,” Calveley said the organizations finances were “in good shape” despite a closed-door tour with a huge demand for tickets. in Australia expected supporters unable to travel to South Africa.
Gatland and his assistants have repeatedly lamented how weakened opposition in warm-up matches, without Springboks in action for their franchises, hampered their chances of success. Australia’s provincial teams are also said to be undernourished without any wallabies in their ranks, but matches against Fiji and other Pacific island nations could be staged.
“The only thing I would say is you’d be surprised at how healthy Lions are – alive and active,” Leonard said. “People weren’t able to take part in this tour and interest in 2025 is at its peak. Everyone’s talking about it already so the Lions are going to be there for a while and it’s fantastic to be a part of it. We look forward to this to continue and [up to] 50,000 fans also come.
This is not the first time Gatland has also urged player clubs to take a more cooperative approach to give Lions more preparation time for future tours. Premiership clubs have traditionally been problematic and after finally granting their players release for the Jersey prep camp they insisted they would not do so again until their national final was played.
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“As soon as we get back, we have a bit of work to do regarding this tour, but it will be as soon as possible to sit down with all the people involved and really understand their anguish in this regard and pass ours on as well”, Leonard said. “We left it a little too late [for this tour]. It’s just about making sure we’re fair to everyone in this conversation.
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