Shane Horgan Thinks He Knows Who The Weakest Link On The Lions Tour Is

The domestic seasons may be over, but the Lions tour of New Zealand is only just beginning.

The Lions jet off to New Zealand tomorrow morning with their opening game against the Provincial Barbarians just six days away. The Lions will play a number of Super Rugby sides in the build up before we get to the all important series with the All Blacks in late June.

No matter what happens in those warm-up games all the Lions will be remembered for and judged on is those Test games with the All Blacks. The last time the Lions went to New Zealand in 2005 they were embarrassed by the All Blacks who convincingly beat them 3-0.

Nobody wants a repeat of that this time round, but one man who was on that tour in 2005 reckons it could very well happen again because of a weak link on tour- head coach Warren Gatland.

Writing for The Sunday Times, Shane Horgan says the tour may go one of two ways:

My worry is that this summer we could see two different philosophies: a group of players stretching themselves in the provincial games, and then the Test team reverting to type with a variation of Warrenball and the hope that Owen Farrell converts his kicks while Beauden Barrett misses.

If they go for the latter approach, they will lose. If they stick with the former, they may lose too but they will at least have given themselves a chance. I’m not sure Gatland has the playbook and the tactical flexibility for this challenge.

In fact, I would be more confident if any of the other three home nation coaches were in charge.

So I ask myself: is Gatland the weakest link on the tour?

What do you think? Does he have a point?