WARREN Gatland has said he would probably have a list of 15 to 20 players with "a good chance of going" were he to name his British and Irish Lions squad now for next summer's New Zealand tour. The head coach of the touring side was speaking in Dublin yesterday after confirming the three key members of his coaching team:
England forwards coach Steve Borthwick, Ireland defence specialist Andy Farrell and current Wales interim head coach Rob Howley. will join Lions chief Gatland on the 10-match trip.
Now that the front-line coaches are in place, speculation will intensify over the make-up of Gatland's final squad, which will be announced on April 19. "To name a squad now, I would probably get a list of 15-20 names with a good chance of going," Gatland said, then explained his thinking about the Lions captaincy.
“The process will be pick the squad first, then the captain. Just because you are captain, there is no guarantee you'll be playing in all the Tests. Probably it will be someone doing [a] captaincy role at the moment.”
Gatland has not ruled out making further coaching appointments, and the likes of former England and Fiji sevens coach Ben Ryan and Saracens rugby director Mark McCall have both been linked with roles. Incoming Scotland coach Gregor Townsend and Ireland coach Joe Schmidt have both turned down invitations.
Meanwhile, Craig Joubert, the referee who ran off the pitch at the end of Scotland’s World Cup quarter-final loss to Australia last year, has retired from Test officiating. The South African, who fled after mistakenly awarding the Wallabies a penalty with which they won the match, is to take up the post of Referee Talent Development Coach with World Rugby. He will continue to referee on the global sevens series.
“This was not a decision I took lightly, given the obvious lure of possibly refereeing the Lions in New Zealand next year as well as the Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019,” the 39-year-old said. “However, the opportunity to make a difference in other people’s careers and lives is something which I’m excited about. It really is a dream job.”
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