Round 3.

The Lions tour of South Africa in 2021 is still two years away, but that hasn’t stopped people speculating as to who will be the famous touring side’s next head coach.

Ireland captain Rory Best has backed his outgoing boss Joe Schmidt to lead the Lions against the Springboks, while the likes of Eddie Jones and Andy Farrell have also been linked. But it appears a former coach has already held “informal” talks about returning.

Gatland has previously said he will “never” coach the Lions again after the abuse he received from his country of birth New Zealand back in 2017. But he appears to have changed his mind and is weighing up the idea of leading the Lions for a third consecutive tour.

“Maybe. I’ve had a couple of informal conversations and that’s all it’s been at the moment.” Gatland said.

“What could work out brilliantly is to finish with Wales after the World Cup, have a little break and then potentially do the Lions for 12 months heading into 2021.”

“Ireland are going to have a new coach, Wales are going to have a new coach, England will have a new coach, you’ve got Gregor Townsend in Scotland.”

“It means that one of those countries could lose their coach for 12 months.”

“So it (Gatland being Lions boss) may appeal to the four home nations but there’s a lot of things that have to happen before then.”

“There’s potential there.”

Would you like to see Gatland take over as Lions boss again or is it time he stepped aside and let someone else take it?