Lions lean on Wales, England coaches

Lions lean on Wales, England coaches

12 Dec 2012

Warren Gatland has announced that Rob Howley, Graham Rowntree and Andy Farrell will be his assistant coaches during the British & Irish Lions tour to Australia in 2013.

Howley has worked closely with Gatland at Wales, and was the acting head coach in 2012 when Gatland was unavailable. Rowntree and Farrell are currently part of the England coaching set-up.

While Gatland replaces Ian McGeechan as the Lions’ head coach, he was heavily involved in the most recent tour to South Africa as a forwards specialist. Howley and Rowntree were also on that coaching staff.

‘I am delighted with today’s appointments and confident that Rob, Graham, Andy and myself can come together quickly to face one of the hardest rugby challenges,’ said Gatland. ‘Lions tours are unique as we have to mold together players from four different countries in an incredibly short space of time.

‘We have no illusion as to the hard work required but we have spoken of the challenges and truly believe that as a coaching team we can provide the players with the support and environment needed for victory in Australia. We will also discuss over the coming weeks the requirement for any further technical assistance.’


5 Comments

  • 1.katman: Reply to this comment
    12 Dec 2012, 13:11 pm

    Oh those Lions. How very disappointing.

  • 2.greatest13gerber: Reply to this comment
    12 Dec 2012, 14:38 pm

    what a joke

    would be nice to get these coaches to speak directly and frankly without the PR statement/ dribble

  • 3.CharlesM: Reply to this comment
    12 Dec 2012, 19:50 pm

    IMO Gert Smal should”ve been there as well !!
    I’m not sure what the condition of his eyes are though – but nevertheless I’m sure he could have add some value

  • 4.goodstuff: Reply to this comment
    13 Dec 2012, 08:13 am

    The Lions team are gonna murder the woblies! I predict at least a 2-1 tour win for the lions.

  • 5.Doughnut: Reply to this comment
    13 Dec 2012, 09:25 am

    Reckon Oz will have to improve their forward play, they will struggle to combat Lions up front.
    At the back Oz have one of the worlds best 10s .. when his head is in the game, and AA-Copper who is one of the best 13s around, watch his play he is better than CSmith for me and JFourie ..

    However as we saw Eng vs AB, if you dont have clean ball the backs will never break down defences.

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