Donal Lenihan: Paul O’Connell would be an inspired addition to Lions management ticket
Ireland forwards coach Paul O’Connell watches his players during squad training during the Guinness Six Nations at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. While O’Connell may be reluctant to miss Ireland’s tour of the Pacific Islands, given his comparative inexperience as an international coach, a Lions tour and the chance to learn off a cohort of other, more established international coaches would hugely accelerate his development, which, in the longer term, will serve Irish rugby even better, says Donal Lenihan.
Another productive weekend for the French in Europe, another challenging week for Warren Gatland.
Let’s start with the Lions. When news broke late last Friday that Gatland had lost not one or two, but three of his trusted Lions coaching lieutenants, it must have been impossible for him not to wonder if this tour to South Africa has been cursed from the outset.
Getting the chemistry right in your coaching team, with so little time to prepare the side for a test series, plays a big role in the ultimate success of the tour. The fact that Steve Borthwick, Andy Farrell, and Graham Rowntree were all part of the Lions coaching set up in New Zealand four years ago, with the latter two also on the series-winning trip to Australia in 2013, it meant that, in terms of sitting around the table to select the final squad and in achieving a good working relationship on the training field from the off, Gatland was in a great position.
That no longer applies. All three had valid reasons for making themselves unavailable, even if Gatland would have preferred if some of the calls were made a bit earlier. To be fair, he was aware that Farrell’s availability was unlikely, with Ireland set to tour the Pacific Islands this summer — can you think of a better place to tour after a year in lockdown? As Ireland head coach, and with a view towards looking closely at some of the younger talent who may be in the running to make the 2023 World Cup squad, Farrell is, quite correctly, committed to that.
As forwards coach on the last three tours, Rowntree is also a loss, not only for his technical expertise but for his understanding of what Lions tours are all about and how, as a coach, you need to be more flexible in your training regime. Problem is, with the tour now looking like extending into eight weeks with a pre-tour camp planned for the Channel Islands, family commitments forced his hand.
Borthwick is doing an excellent job as the newly appointed head coach of Leicester Tigers as they start the long road towards reviving their fortunes on the domestic front and in Europe. For a club of Leicester’s standing, they have been down for far too long and may well have been relegated from the English Premiership last season but for Saracens’ financial misdemeanours. He just couldn’t afford to be away from his primary role for that length of time.
With Scotland coach Gregor Townsend, who has never worked with Gatland in any capacity, already in place as the attack coach, along with his established kicking coach Neil Jenkins, Gatland was forced to implement a back-up plan pretty rapidly.
In securing the services of Scotland’s impressive defence coach Steve Tandy, whom he knows from his days at the Ospreys, and his former Welsh assistant and current Leinster forwards coach Robyn McBride, Gatland has recruited smartly and identified people he will be comfortable with.
He also confirmed that “as the tour approaches, we may look to bring in some extra resource”. An inspired addition here would be Paul O’Connell to take charge of the lineout and work in tandem with McBride on the breakdown.
Not only did O’Connell excel in that capacity with Ireland, but as a former Lions captain in South Africa and as a player who operated under Gatland on the 2009 and 2013 tours, he has a firm understanding of Gatland’s ways and is fully aware of what is required to give the tourists the best chance of succeeding in the test series.
While O’Connell may be reluctant to miss Ireland’s tour, given his comparative inexperience as an international coach, a Lions tour and the chance to learn off a cohort of other, more established international coaches would hugely accelerate his development, which, in the longer term, will serve Irish rugby even better.
As if things weren’t bad enough, it now looks as if the new South African additions to next season’s Guinness PRO16 may not be able to introduce themselves to their new audience as their participation in the Rainbow Cup may not proceed due to Covid restrictions.
The obstacles to this Lions tour seem to grow on a daily basis. At this stage, we don’t even have a revised itinerary. With a tour party of 36 players set to be announced in three weeks, some badly needed clarity is required in order to convince that the tour should even take place.
Back to Europe. With five clubs in the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals and three advancing to the last four, French club rugby is very much back in the spotlight. How Gatland would love to cherry-pick just a few of the sparkling gems from the French set-up to take to South Africa with him.
The French never cease to amaze. At a time when we waxed lyrical about the attacking attributes of so many of their players, on the ability of even their lumpiest forwards to link and off-load in broken play along with the sheer magic spread evenly across their back lines, they somehow conjure up two of the blandest quarter-finals in memory.
Given that Bordeaux-Begles, Racing 92, Clermont Auvergne, and Toulouse had delivered an amazing 17 tries between them in their round of 16 games a week earlier, naively, we sat down on Sunday afternoon looking forward to an attacking extravaganza.
With La Rochelle delivering on their side of the bargain by doubling up on the three tries they scored against Gloucester with six in the impressive dismissal of Sale Sharks, the possibilities were endless.
Unpredictability and French rugby have operated hand in hand for years now but what were the odds in advance of Bordeaux-Begles v Racing 92 and Clermont Auvergne v Toulouse not producing a single try between them?
Instead, we were treated to a kicking contest, with the combined 78 points scored courtesy of 25 penalty kicks and a drop goal. In the circumstances, it was probably fitting that Bordeaux-Begles advanced on the strength of a monstrous 55m penalty in added time from Matthieu Jalibert. On this basis alone, let’s hope it’s not an all-French final. It’s as if they only like to show off against the rest of us.
Having seen Toulouse in the flesh against Munster in Thomond Park and watched Bordeaux-Begles in their last two Champions Cup outings on television, I’m convinced La Rochelle will pose the biggest threat to Leinster in their latest quest for European glory.
In addition to a coaching duo who know exactly what’s required to succeed in Europe, La Rochelle have a pair of World Cup winners in All Blacks Victor Vito and Tawera Kerr-Barlow that bring a calm edge to the fulcrum of the team at eight and nine.
Add to the back row mix one of the stars of the French Six Nations campaign, Gregory Alldritt, and former international Kevin Gourdon and you have a trio capable of giving Leinster’s in-form unit of Rhys Ruddock, Jack Conan, and Josh van der Flier a serious run for their money. For all kinds of reasons, this tie is the pick of the semi-finals. At the very least, we should be guaranteed a few tries.
