Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Chiefs dismiss Steve Hansen's criticism of Warren Gatland's Lions sabbatical

Steve Hansen (left) and Warren Gatland. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

The Chiefs have rebuffed Steve Hansen’s critique of the Super Rugby contract that will allow new coach Warren Gatland to take a season off to coach the British and Irish Lions.

ADVERTISEMENT

Departing All Blacks coach Hansen caused a stir at the conclusion of the Rugby World Cup last week when he questioned the nature of Gatland’s four-year deal with the Kiwi outfit.

Long-serving Wales mentor Gatland will coach the Chiefs from 2020 to 2023 but take 2021 off to lead the British and Irish Lions on their tour of South Africa that year.

Continue reading below…

Video Spacer

Hansen, who is known to have an icy relationship with Gatland, wondered why the Chiefs would agree to a deal that could be disruptive.

“Having him back in New Zealand, not sure how that is going to work to be honest,” Hansen said.

“Because he is going to go and do the Lions after that.

“So there is not going to be a lot of continuity there for the Chiefs and him.

“But I am sure he will work his way through that.”

ADVERTISEMENT

https://twitter.com/RugbyPass/status/1192624145122488320

Chiefs chief executive Michael Collins reiterated the stance adopted when Gatland was appointed in June, believing the 2021 “sabbatical” could be catered for without disruption.

“I’m really comfortable with where we’re at. We’ve got some great assistant coaches, we’ve got some good continuity going forward,” Collins said.

“People will have their own opinions on that, as Steve Hansen has, but I’ve got a good crew set up and I’m not as concerned.”

Collins said Gatland had his heart set on leading the Lions for a third tour but had otherwise been engaged with Chiefs management since his appointment.

ADVERTISEMENT

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4k44pTghDo/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

An interim head coach for 2021 is yet to be finalised but Collins said planning was “well advanced” and whether it would be someone from the six-strong assistant coaching staff that was unveiled on Friday.

Five of them are familiar to Chiefs supporters, having served as assistants previously.

Neil Barnes (forwards), Tabai Matson (defence), Roger Randle (attack), Nick White (scrum) and Andrew Strawbridge (resource coach) will be joined by former Chiefs five-eighth David Hill.

The 56-year-old Gatland had been in Hamilton this week working with the Chiefs but was to return to the UK before taking charge fully from December 3.

AAP

In other news: 

Video Spacer

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

F
Flankly 2 hours ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Marcus Smith on that substitution and his England plea Marcus Smith on that substitution and his England plea
Search