Scott Robertson should be signed up quickly to replace Warren Gatland as the next coach of the British & Irish Lions.
That’s the view of Stuart Barnes, the astute British rugby writer, himself a former England and Lions player.
On the back of the lost test series against world champions South Africa, Barnes felt it was time to bring the curtain down on Gatland’s long service with the northern powerhouse outfit that tours every four years.
Barnes believes Gataland’s conservative approach should be replaced by the “joyousness” that comes with champion Crusaders coach Robertson for the next Lions tour secluded for Australia in 2025.
Barnes acknowledged that Scotland’s Gregor Townsend would be “the favoured candidate” to replace Gatland though Townsend’s responsibilities as attack coach against the Springboks “achieved nothing” as they lost the deciding third test 19-16 in Cape Town on Sunday.
“The only coach with that joyousness is the Crusaders’ Scott Robertson. Ask him (and maybe steal him from under the All Blacks’ noses) and take Ronan O’ Gara as No 2,” Barnes wrote in his latest column for The Times.
“That’s a combination that would have beaten a Springbok team there for the taking.
“Let’s have someone who will breakdance when his team win, as Robertson does. Let’s have a coach who will install ambition rather than fear of failure. I’d sign Robertson tomorrow; the rest can wait two years.”
Barnes thanked Gatland for his long service to the Lions, with South Africa being his fourth tour and third in a row as head coach. But he seemed dismayed at talk that Gatland could be contemplated for the next assignment in Australia.
“Enough madness. Enough of all this ‘nearly the first Lions head coach to go unbeaten in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa’. His supporters say the results speak for themselves. Do they?” wrote Barnes in The Times, noting that Gatland now had plenty to prove in his native New Zealand where he will return to coach the Chiefs in Super Rugby.
“To say he has unfinished business there is an understatement.
“In his first year back in Waikato he was overwhelmed by the ambition of the other New Zealand franchises. The Lion king lost all eight of his games in charge. In a country where skill and speed of thought counts for more than the suffocation that passes for test rugby in most other parts of the planet, Gatland was a loser.
