Warren Gatland launched a staunch defence of his coaching philosophy yesterday by saying that those who have accused him of playing “Warrenball” were envious of his success.
At a media conference to announce the British & Irish Lions team to play against the Blues in Auckland tomorrow, the Lions coach became exasperated at having to defend his acumen and flexibility as a tactician after Steve Hansen, the All Blacks coach, joined those who have criticised his approach.
“We don’t want to be prescribed and we don’t want to play by numbers
Gatland went so far as to name the culprit who invented the term “Warrenball” as Brian Smith, the former England and London Irish coach. “Look, a few years ago Brian Smith coined a phrase ‘Warrenball’ and I don’t know whether that was because he was jealous of how much success we had,” Gatland said.
“I think in a way it is an opportunity for people who want to be critical. We experienced that four years ago [during the 2-1 series victory over Australia] when people decided to be critical and a lot of people got caught with their pants down afterwards, didn’t they?”
The tactic most readily associated with Gatland is the use of a big ball-carrier at No 12. Gatland looks likely to stick with that policy on this tour. His two inside centres are Robbie Henshaw, the 6ft 3in, 16st Ireland player who plays tomorrow, and Ben Te’o, the 6ft 2in England centre who weighs 16st 9lb and played on Saturday. To a certain extent they both fit the description. However, Gatland insisted yesterday that he did not want to limit the tactical freedom of these Lions.
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“We don’t want to be prescribed and we don’t want to play by numbers,” he said. “To match the All Blacks, you have got to display a bit of X-factor and if that X-factor means an offload or do something that is a little bit outside the box, the players are being encouraged to do that — because that is what we are going to need to beat them: express themselves, back their skills and back their ability.”
To try to achieve that against the Blues tomorrow, Gatland has picked a number of tried-and-tested international partnerships in a team that will be captained by Ken Owens, the Wales hooker who almost missed the tour because of an ankle injury.
Gatland has picked two Welsh half backs in Rhys Webb and Dan Biggar and an all-Ireland midfield partnership, with Jared Payne, who has been passed fit after a calf injury, playing outside Henshaw. At lock, he has selected the two England players, Maro Itoje and Courtney Lawes.
Jack Nowell and Elliot Daly, two more Englishmen, are also picked on the wings. The game against the Blues will be the first of three that the Lions play at Eden Park on this tour. The ground will also host the first and third Tests against the All Blacks.
A measure of the interest in the game and the tour is that a crowd of more than 40,000 is expected tomorrow, which will be the biggest Eden Park crowd that the Blues will have played in front of. They are coached by Tana Umaga, who said yesterday that everyone should put behind them the famous incident in the first Lions Test 12 years ago when he was involved in the foul tackle that ended the series for Brian O’Driscoll, the Lions captain.
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“That’s 12 years ago, so if people haven’t put it behind them, then they never will,” he said. “It’s about this group now and their time against the Lions and the memories they make which are hopefully positive ones, and we move on from there.”
It was right at the start of that first Test, in Christchurch in 2005, that Umaga and Keven Mealamu, his team-mate, picked up O’Driscoll and drove him downwards in a spear tackle of such power that it dislocated the Lions captain’s shoulder. Neither Umaga nor Mealamu were sent off or cited.
The Blues rested a number of players to be at their best for this game and will play eight present or former All Blacks, including Sonny Bill Williams.
Williams, who expects to be passed fit after a knee injury, ranks among the world’s supreme sporting characters, crossing codes from rugby league to help the All Blacks claim consecutive World Cups, while also finding time to win a heavyweight boxing title.
The 31-year-old, who was born in Auckland, was praised yesterday by Steven Luatua, his team-mate, for being a role model.
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“For a lot of us from religious backgrounds, we’ve got to this point because of our faith, because of our beliefs,” Luatua said of Williams’s Islamic faith. “So for him to display that on an international stage, not change for anyone, I think that’s all credit to him.”
Williams is fasting for Ramadan but said that it will not change his preparations for the game.
“We’ve got great coaching staff and trainers so I’ve worked pretty closely with them,” he said. “I just push back the weights until I break the fast. We’re lucky that we only fast for nine to 10 hours in this part of the world because of the daylight.”
