All Blacks Coach Steve Hansen Is Far From Impressed With Gatland’s Lions Squad
Jason Hennessy
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Warrenball.
After months of speculation head coach Warren Gatland finally named his British & Irish Lions squad yesterday.
As expected there’s a large Welsh contingent in his squad, despite their far from impressive record against the All Blacks. Gatland has stuck to his guns, and largely picked the kind of squad we’ve expected for quite some time.
While the overall consensus is a positive one, some people believe he could have been a little bit more creative in his selections, with his backline perhaps missing a bit of spark in certain areas to defeat the All Blacks.
New Zealand boss Steven Hansen is far from impressed with Gatland’s squad.
“It’s pretty much what you’d expect from Warren.” Hansen said.
“He likes his big ball carriers in the middle of the park and his big, grunty forwards so that’s what he’s picked and I’d expect that we are going to get a similar game style to what we’ve always got whenever we’ve played a Warren Gatland team.”
Hansen also said reading too much into Ireland’s win over the All Blacks in Chicago would be a big mistake for the Lions.
“I’m pretty happy that our guys got some confidence beating Ireland in Ireland,” he told Radio Sport.
“You’re clutching at straws if that’s how you are selecting teams. You pick players who can do the job you want them to do and play the style of game you want to play.
“They’ve got enough good players there. I don’t think it’s about picking teams who beat us in Chicago.”
Shots fired.
