1
Exeter boss Rob Baxter has described the British and Irish Lions’ stance over player release as a little bit disingenuous ahead of this summer’s South Africa tour. Lions head coach Warren Gatland insisted on Tuesday that players based in the Gallagher Premiership could see their tour prospects harmed if restrictions on player release are not relaxed.
ADVERTISEMENT
Gatland called for common sense to prevail when Lions chiefs met Premiership Rugby (PRL) – the organisation representing the twelve top-flight clubs in England, plus Saracens – this week in the hope of thrashing out an agreement.
Currently it is thought that even players not appearing in the Premiership final on June 26, which takes place on the same weekend as the Lions’ warm-up Test against Japan at Murrayfield, are blocked from joining up with Gatland’s squad prior to departure for South Africa.
A likely 36-man playing group is set to be announced on May 6 and Gatland is planning a two-week training camp in Jersey leading into the Japan game. The regular Premiership season ends on June 12, with semi-finals a week later.
Speaking on Tuesday, Gatland said: “We understand about the Premiership final and players involved in that, but we hope to be together for a couple of weeks of preparation leading into the warm-up game against Japan. If some players are not available for that preparation time, there are some tough calls to make.
"Using the players this way is wrong"
– @chrisjonespress has learned that Lions boss Gatland picked the wrong day to go public with his threat over Premiership-based players
https://t.co/iApCWxOTYP— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 14, 2021
“What we are asking is can they be released a little bit earlier, when they’ve finished their club campaign? I am just hoping we can get some resolution and that common sense will prevail, so we don’t have to go through the squad and start looking at 50-50 calls on players and think, ‘Well, he is based in England so he is unfortunately not going to be available to us’.”
Premiership champions Exeter have strong Lions squad contenders in the likes of Stuart Hogg, Henry Slade, Jonny Gray and Sam Simmonds. Chiefs rugby director Baxter said: “The Lions have known the Premiership schedule for a long time now, I think about a year, so they have known exactly what the scenario was, they have known there is no way of cutting that season short.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Everyone has known when the Premiership season is going to finish, so for the Lions to now turn around and say that this is a scenario is a little bit disingenuous, I think, because they have known our fixture list for a long time. Secondly, I have got every confidence that Warren Gatland will pick the team that he feels will do the job for him because that’s the kind of coach he is.
“I don’t think if there was a player playing in the Premiership final that Warren Gatland thinks is an important player in his squad that he will leave him out. I wouldn’t. It is an unfortunate situation, but at the end of the day, it has not been created by the Premiership, so we have to get on with it.”
Exeter boss Baxter continued: “If I am Warren Gatland and I am sitting watching guys play outstandingly well in Premiership semi-finals and finals, do I decide I don’t want them to be part of the Lions tour because they have missed a week’s training? So the management I will take with our players is they will get themselves on the tour by playing well, and the better they play in the bigger games they play, the more chance they have got of being involved in anything.
“I don’t for one second, despite whatever is going to be said, think that Warren Gatland will not take a player he deems to be important to him on that tour because they miss a week’s training or they miss a warm-up game. It is not like the player will need game-time, because the players will be playing. If they think they are good players, they will be involved.”
ADVERTISEMENT
"Now you’re having a discussion about them and that is a good discussion to have”
– Lions boss Warren Gatland has been speaking about poor England form, Saracens players and why there is still no tour resolution with the PRL https://t.co/3hwE0JLRvq
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 14, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Speell cehck
1 Go to commentsColeman is gaawwwwnnn.
1 Go to commentsnext SA head coach?
2 Go to commentsGreat try by van Poortvliet.
1 Go to commentsThey have been cruelled by injuries but almost nobody (Sevu Reece and Fletcher Newell big exceptions) has played above himself which regularly happened before. Surely Scott Robertson had maintained the recruitment programme and it looks like a reasonable squad. Last in this competition will stall a lot of careers. Penny seems likeable. But it’s not enough even though this was better. We haven’t been good enough and it’s not helped by the “it’s been 15 years since… “etc “after nearly every match. Seems somehow a soft gifting of something once valuable. Kieran Read giving comments last week almost choked describing the easy surrender of possession by the forwards. I’d love to think that the senior players some of whom are back can show enough pride in the jersey to test the Blues next week.
3 Go to commentsWho will Joe select for the back three with so many in form candidates? Just hope he doesn’t get shafted like Dave Rennie and to a lesser extent Deans.
6 Go to commentsAlways reluctant to blame a coach when losses rack up, but Penney must go. The backline is dysfunctional and the coach must carry the can. No cohesion, no idea and in many cases, minimal skill. The trains out of Roma St depart faster than the ball from Crusaders’ set pieces. Wouldn’t be surprised if the forwards went on strike.
3 Go to commentsAdding to earlier comment. Cullen Grace has been playing great at no6. Lio-Willie , who was on fire a few weeks ago, had a bad game. I think Cullen should have been moved to 8 earlier, Dominic Gardiner on earlier. Feel for Quinten Strange , put in a big shift .
6 Go to commentsWe dominated the scrums Ben Curry was all over pitch again .Surely James Harper got to be one of best English tightheads
1 Go to commentsRoos is a better option at 6 than 8 for the boks. Needs to work on his windgat though.
1 Go to commentsThe Sharks’ 2nd team maybe?
1 Go to comments‘radical’
1 Go to commentsCome back to Christchurch Robbie, please!
1 Go to commentsI think there is zero chance Sam Cane will be selected for another Test. There is simply no point except sentimentality. Razor is not sentimental- ask Wyatt Crocket. Razor is a ruthless selector
5 Go to comments> It would be best described as an elegant solution to what was potentially going to be a significant problem for new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson. It is a problem the mad population of New Zealand will have to cope with more and more as All Blacks are able to continue their careers in NZ post RWCs. It will not be a problem for coaches, who are always going to start a campaign with the captain for the next WC in mind. > Cane, despite his warrior spirit, his undoubted commitment to every team he played for and unforgettable heroics against Ireland in last year’s World Cup quarter-final, was never unanimously admired or respected within New Zealand while he was in the role. Neither was McCaw, he was considered far too passive a captain and then out of form until his last world cup where everyone opinions changed, just like they would have if Cane had won the WC. > It was never easy to see where Cane, or even if, he would fit into Robertson’s squad given the new coach will want to be building a new-look team with 2027 in mind. > Cane will win his selections on merit and come the end of the year, he’ll sign off, he hopes, with 100 caps and maybe even, at last, universal public appreciation for what was a special career. No, he won’t. Those returning from Japan have already earned the right to retain their jersey, it’s in their contract. Cane would have been playing against England if he was ready, and found it very hard to keep his place. Perform, and they keep it however. Very easy to see where Cane could have fit, very hard to see how he could have accomplished it choosing this year as his sabbatical instead of 2025, and that’s how it played out (though I assume we now know what when NZR said they were allowing him to move his sabbatical forward and return to NZ next year, they had actually agreed to simply select him for the All Blacks from overseas, without any chance he was going to play in NZ again). With a mammoth season of 15 All Black games they might as well get some value out of his years contract, though even with him being of equal character to Richie, I don’t think they should guarantee him his 100 caps. That’s not what the All Blacks should be about. He absolutely has to play winning football.
5 Go to commentswhat’s happening to Ian Peel?
1 Go to commentsAs a Crusaders fan , so disappointed , again.But I think Fergus Burke was all class for the Crusaders in his first game since October last year. Fletcher Newell , was so good at prop. Johnny McNicoll has been gold since returning from Wales. Noah Hotham brilliant , in a coming of age second season for the Crusaders.Jone Rova did really well at centre. The end of the game was tough.Sevu Reece , what a game/season in tough times.
6 Go to commentsFellas a balloon
3 Go to commentsBlues B team on display and made no race of it. By far the best team in SR with the Hurricanes barely getting past the winning post. Up the Blues 💙
7 Go to commentsWould be amazing to have Servette Genève reaching this level
3 Go to comments