5 things Warren Gatland must do if the Lions are to beat the All Blacks

5 things Warren Gatland must do if the Lions are to beat the All Blacks
1. Rotation, Rotation, Rotation
The Lions tour is without doubt the most gruelling event on the rugby calendar. Coming off the back of a hard-fought season, the squad will be beaten up twice a week by the provinces in so-called warm-up matches, and then face the most physical team on the planet at the end of it. 3 times. If the players who play 80 minutes each week in the midweek games start against the All Blacks, Gatland shouldn’t be surprised if the injury list is longer than the injury-hit tour of 2013.
2. Keep Morale high
Graham Henry’s time as Lions coach is the perfect example of how NOT to win the series. Henry lost half the squad, mentally at least, on day one after telling his players who would be starting in the Test matches before they’d played a single warm-up game, leaving most of the squad disgruntled and with no motivation. The squad was effectively cut in two, with the midweek players training, eating and travelling separately to the Test players. Gatland must avoid this if the Lions want to utilise their clear strength in depth.
3. Don’t favour the Welsh
Just because something worked once, doesn’t mean it will work again. Gatland silenced his critics when he fielded 10 Welsh players in the starting 15 that thrashed Australia in the final test to clinch the series, but Wales were a very different side 4 years ago than they are now. Jonathan Davies, however skilful, has been blighted by injury, and Leigh Halfpenny and George North have been on a downhill trajectory ever since they stepped off the plane from Australia 4 years ago. Admittedly, the likes of Liam Williams and Taulupe Faletau are worthy of a place in the Test side, but if Gatland sticks to what he knows again, there is likely to be a repeat of Wales’ disastrous tour of New Zealand this time last year.
4. Play Sexton AND Farrell
Eddie Jones and England have proved that a 10-12 axis including two kickers is highly beneficial, if used in the right way. If you have an outright fly-half who can offload to an extra decision-maker, this not only takes the pressure off the 10 but also allows the team’s kicking game to be more versatile. Gatland must make sure these two are able to play together in the same team, as it would be a massive shame to see one of them sitting on the bench when both possess such talent.
5. Give Joe Launchbury a call
It’s okay Warren, everyone makes mistakes. Hopefully after a couple of weeks of working with George Kruis, who hasn’t played for a year, and Iain Henderson, who is an inconsistent starter for Ireland and Leinster, the coaching staff will realise what they really need is a leader who can conduct the lineouts, get through 15 tackles a game and generally lead by example, both on and off the field. Joe Launchbury is just the man, and supporters around the UK should be praying that he is top of the standby list for when one of the back five forwards inevitably gets injured. Launchbury is a match winner, and needs to be in the squad.
SQUAD FOR LIONS VS PROVINCIAL BARBARIANS – 3RD JUNE
15. Hogg, 14.Watson, 13.Joseph, 12.Te’o, 11.Seymour, 10. Sexton, 9.Laidlaw; 1.Marler, 2.Best, 3.Sinckler, 4.Jones, 5.Henderson, 6.Moriarty, 7.Warburton, 8.Faletau
Replacements:

George, Vunipola, Furlong, Kruis, Tipuric, Webb, Farrell, Daly (injury replacement for Jared Payne)

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