New Zealand Maori rugby development manager Tiki Edwards delivers the taiaha which will act as a trophy in the British and Irish Lions tour next year.
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That success ended the Lions’ run of three straight series defeats.
The Lions, who play their first match just a week after the Aviva Premiership and PRO12 finals, face a fiercely hard schedule on their 10-game tour and will have to hit the ground running when they land in New Zealand.
“He has the courage of his convictions and knows everything there is to know about New Zealand rugby”.
The Kiwi coach is set to become the highest paid Lions mentor with an announcement expected this week. “The Lions in New Zealand is something special and will be a tremendous test of what a high performing team can achieve in a high-pressure environment”.
The 52-year-old will be charged with trying to reverse a four-game losing streak to the All Blacks, who swept Clive Woodward’s 2005 touring side away as well losing the first and third Tests to Laurie Mains’ All Blacks.
With the contracts of Ireland coach Joe Schmidt and England’s Eddie Jones – whose Six Nations Grand Slam champions are set to be well-represented in New Zealand – not allowing for secondment to the Lions, officials appeared to have opted for Gatland over Scotland’s Vern Cotter without much hesitation.
But the hugely respected Sir Ian McGeechan, who toured twice as a player with the Lions and four times as head coach (the last, in 2009, with Gatland as his assistant), has provided a ringing endorsement, not just of Gatland’s suitability for the job, but his capability of masterminding a massive upset against the world’s No 1 side.
“He (Gatland) will be named as the head coach on Wednesday and I think he is undoubtedly the right man for the job”, McGeechan wrote in his Sunday Telegraph column.
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“Any tour of New Zealand is going to be challenging because we’ve got real talent and depth here”, Fox said. “With time at a premium, short-hand coaching is as crucial as previous Lions experience”.
