Lions v All Blacks: Clash of the coaches

Rugby analyst·NZ Herald·

2 Jun, 2017 09:00 PM5 mins to read

Warren Gatland and Steve Hansen. Photos / Getty (left) and Brett Phibbs (right).

As much as the series is a clash between the All Blacks and the Lions players, it is a conflict between two of the longest serving and most experienced coaches in the international game.

Not many coaches have been around for as long as Steve Hansen and Warren Gatland and not many are as competitive and as fiercely driven.

What's also becoming clear is that they aren't overly close. They have mutual respect for one another's ability but there isn't much warmth there.

There isn't much of a relationship - not one that will see the respective coaching teams spend much time with each other during the tour.

There will be cordial handshakes after the game and a bit of polite chit-chat, but no private dinners or invitations to spend real time with one another.

And that's unlikely to change because from the moment Gatland announced his 41-man squad to tour New Zealand, an element of points scoring began.

Both coaches enjoy using the media to their advantage and neither has been shy about airing their thoughts publicly to try to win the imaginary public relations battle.

Gatland sparked up first by saying he felt the Lions had an advantage with their goalkicking. He pointed out that while his squad is loaded with proven kickers such as Owen Farrell, Johnny Sexton and Leigh Halfpenny, the All Blacks' chosen kicker, Beauden Barrett, wasn't performing these duties for the Hurricanes.

Hansen, not one to let something like that linger unchallenged, hit back with his memory of Sexton missing a vital kick against the All Blacks in 2013. It was all very well having a good statistical record riposted Hansen, but goalkicking is all about handling the pressure and he was certain that the likes of Barrett, Cruden and Lima Sopoaga would do that just fine.

And part of the reason he was keen to bring up the business of handling pressure, is that he feels this is where the Lions are vulnerable.

Pressure is part of All Black life. They can never escape it. It is a constant in everything they do and every time they play they are expected to win.

This was the point they made at the last World Cup - that it was business as usual for them while for everyone else, it was a massive change in circumstance to come into a major test with thousands of people hopeful of seeing the result they wanted.

So the All Blacks, while not being complacent about their ability to cope, know that they live in a different world to their opponents. Hansen knows that many of the Lions players will be in new territory - part of something much bigger than they are used to.

"The Lions would be foolish to think that there's not an expectation there for them to do well," Hansen told the UK media. "There will be a massive expectation on them. If you're a Lions fan, you'd look at it and say, 'We've got four countries going into one against the opposition, we should be able to beat these blokes'. That is an expectation to be dealt with.

"We have our own expectations. People expect us to win, too. We don't get to avoid it. But it's something that we live with all the time. And have had to learn to deal with. And the Lions will have to learn to deal with it. And I'm not sure [how and if they can deal with it].

"Each team has its own unique way of dealing with it. My point is that 20,000 will be coming out with a massive expectation. Yes, they want to see some good rugby, but they also want to see the Lions win."

This will be a theme he will hammer over the next few weeks. He'll keep asking the question as the Lions try to navigate their way through the toughest schedule in their history.

As the tour progresses, it may become harder for Gatland to bat off Hansen's niggling. If the Lions don't start well, lose a couple of games to the Blues and Crusaders then Hansen may become a voice he can't blank out.

Gatland is desperate to make history on this tour. His coaching experience goes back more than 20 years and while he's won Grand Slams, Six Nations, the Heineken Cup with Wasps, the ITM Cup with Waikato, taken Wales to the semifinal of the World Cup and won a Lions series against Australia, his career needs a bigger moment.

Beating the All Blacks in New Zealand would be as big as it gets - a chance for Gatland to write himself large in the history books and possibly leave him feeling that he doesn't much left to prove.

The same is true for Hansen though. He's been part of two successful World Cup campaigns, been world coach of the year four times and established himself as one of the best leaders of the professional era. But a Lions scalp is still a high priority for him and and he'll say and do whatever he feels he needs to, to help his team.