Gatland criticises All Blacks’ use of Marshall
New Zealand’s most capped back will play his 81st and final Test tomorrow morning against the Lions at Eden Park, Auckland, before taking up a lucrative contract with Leeds in England’s Guinness Premiership.
All Blacks coach Graham Henry has guaranteed that the 31-year-old Canterbury and Crusaders star will come off the bench for a fitting end to a glittering career in the black shirt. Yet former Ireland and Wasps coach Gatland, who has arrived back in his native country to coach his old provincial side Waikato in the National Provincial Championship later this summer, believes the move has come at the expense of blooding a new player as back up to first-choice scrum-half and long-time Marshall rival Byron Kelleher.
Gatland told New Zealand Television News: “I don’t want to be too controversial here but they’ve picked Justin Marshall here and it’s important to win a test series against the Lions but the thing I would ask is ‘has that denied a younger player an opportunity to get experience against the Lions which in two years’ time could be incredibly valuable to an All Black team’.”
The former Waikato and All Blacks hooker said he was impressed by the All Blacks’ Test performances against the Lions but they had a long way to go if they are to lift the Rugby World Cup in France in 2007 and end 20 years of soul-searching since winning the inaugural championship. “We’ve been surprised by teams changing their games tactically and it’s caught us in semi-finals and finals in the past. We’ve got to continue improving and we can’t sit back on our laurels.”
Gatland, who began in his new post in Hamilton on July 1, said New Zealand had already improved in many ways, not least at the lineout, which had been a key factor in their resounding Test series dominance over the Lions.
“I think there’s always been a criticism in the past that defensively the All Blacks haven’t competed on opposition ball at lineouts,” he said. “Even offensively as well they’ve lost a lot of their own throws and haven’t been as accurate as they could, but on this tour by the Lions they’ve been very, very accurate and I’ve been very, very impressed by their set-pieces.”
The Lions, on the other hand had surprised Gatland with their lack of effectiveness in the series, a fact that he thinks means Clive Woodward’s travelling army of players and coaches will not be repeated after this tour.
Gatland said he believed New Zealand’s crushing Test victories over the Lions have been crucial in putting to an end any possible development of Woodward’s much-criticised idea to take touring to an all-new level of expense and organisation.
Gatland, though, has some more immediate issues of his own to sort out. Having arrived back in New Zealand at the end of last month, the Waikato coach admitted he had very little knowledge of the provincial game in his homeland or even of the players he now had in his charge.
“It’s quite difficult at the moment. I don’t know a lot of players personally. There’s a few I’ve seen in the Super 12 on TV in the UK, while they only show one NPC game a week over there and so I might have got to see Waikato about twice in a season.
“So I’m just watching, listening and learning at the moment.”
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