Gatland warns Grand Slam winners
October 27, 2008
The newly appointed Lions assistant coach Warren Gatland has warned Grand Slam winning players that they will have to earn their place in next year’s team for the rugby tour of South Africa.
Gatland, who is originally from New Zealand, was named the Lions forward coach on Wednesday in Dublin. Of course there were plenty of accusations against him for taking up the job, as he is also the head coach for Wales, but Gatland was quick to dismiss them. Although Gatland is quite a young coach, he feels that this experience from the South African rugby tour will help him to grow and gain knowledge as a coach.
Gatland stated that he although he coaches the Welsh team, it does not mean that he is going to go easy on them. In fact, he has said that the Welsh players will have to work extra hard. He also stated that he was surprised at the number of Welsh players selected and that there were not too many Irish players on the team. The final team which will consist of 35 players will be announced this coming April following the Heineken Cup quarter finals.
