Warren Gatland made his bed in April. He’s lying in it right now.
The British & Irish Lions head coach will not be too perturbed by the negative headlines and expert opinions coming from the UK, Ireland and New Zealand.
He will be more concerned by the losses sustained by his midweek side, concession of silly penalties and the fact that only four or five players have truly hit peak form on tour so far.
Losing tight matches will open the door for criticism and many have barged in. Chris Rattue has mocked Gatland’s decision to leave the flinty, driven England internationals Dylan Hartley and Mike Brown out of the Lions squad and feels the decisions will come back to haunt the Kiwi.
In The Telegraph, former England and Lions international Austin Healey is in full agreement about getting Brown on tour, despite the fact that he is in Argentina with Eddie Jones.
In a piece entitled ‘If Lions want to win Warren Gatland should send for Mike Brown’, Healey argues that the fullback should be immediately called up to replace the injured Stuart Hogg and leapfrog the out-of-form Leigh Halfpenny for the Test No.15 jersey. He writes:
‘I have not always been Mike’s biggest fan. But if the Lions are going to implement Gatland’s game plan, which seems to be trying to win by stopping the All Blacks from playing, he is the only man for the job.’
If that seems jingoistic, Healey does include four Irish players – Robbie Henshaw, Conor Murray, Tadhg Furlong and Iain Henderson [at blindside] – in his Test XV. There are three Welsh players, too, to go with the healthy contingent of eight England internationals.
Gatland has not called up a replacement for Hogg yet but that may chance depending on how the likes of Halfpenny and Anthony Watson get on this weekend against the Maori All Blacks.
AUSTIN HEALEY’S LIONS XV
Mike Brown
George North
Robbie Henshaw
Ben Te’o
Elliot Daly
Owen Farrell
Conor Murray
Mako Vunipola
Jamie George
Tadhg Furlong
George Kruis
Maro Itoje
Iain Henderson
Justin Tipuric
Toby Faletau
