Farrell's team shows he has an eye on the future

BEFORE I went on a Lions tour I knew a bit about the great players like Gareth Edwards who had worn the jersey, but didn't know much about the coaching set-up apart from that Carwyn James had been the mastermind behind the 1971 Lions beating the All Blacks.

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After that it went a bit quiet on the Lions front until I was selected on the 1989 Lions tour of Australia. It was still the amateur era, and the coaches were Ian McGeechan and Roger Uttley, who had both played in the 1974 Lions side which beat the Springboks. The manager was Clive Rowlands, and the team doctor was Ben Gilfeather and that was about it in terms of coaching and support staff.

So, the difference between that and the five assistant coaches for the 2025 Lions tour of Australia announced by head coach Andy Farrell this week is striking, because the coaches and support contingent will probably be around 20.

This time the only coach who has played for the Lions is Simon Easterby (defence), the Ireland assistant coach who was on the 2005 Lions tour to New Zealand. That will have been a tough experience as a blindside flanker in the second and third Tests, because, with the All Blacks on fire, they were whitewashed 3-0.

The other coaches, including two more from the Irish camp, Andrew Goodman (attack) and John Fogarty (scrum), Scotland's John Dalziel (lineout), and England's Richard Wigglesworth (attack), are Lions novices.

It is one of those difficult balances to strike, because if the tour goes against them the blamegame will start with the criticism that they should have taken more former Lions in the coaching team. Set against that, I know John Dalziel from the business world, and having spoken to him he's definitely as excited as players are to get the Lions call up.

The other factor is that Farrell has a big Lions legacy having been an assistant coach alongside Warren Gatland on the series-winning tour of Australia in 2013, and for the drawn series in New Zealand in 2017.