Chris Robshaw will not be a Lion in 2013.

A bad week became worse for Chris Robshaw on Wednesday when the England captain felt his first cuff around the head by a Kiwi. It was delivered by Warren Gatland, who, in his role as Lions coach, revealed he would only consider specialist opensides for the tour to Australia next summer.
There goes Robshaw’s chances of captaining the British and Irish ­tourists, with Sam Warburton still the outstanding favourite. The Harlequins dynamo has many attributes but one of them is not a claim to be what Gatland calls “a genuine seven”. After having his national leadership widely questioned after the Springboks defeat last Saturday, Robshaw saw his suitability to his national position come under scrutiny as well.

“I feel England struggle for a ­genuine seven,” Gatland said. “Chris has been doing that role and people speak strongly of his leadership qualities. But I think at the moment you need genuine sevens going to Australia, who are competing hard on the ball and being effective. Because Australia don’t just have [David] Pocock, it’s [Michael] Hooper and [Liam] Gill as well. They are all ­quality sevens.”

Gatland believes Robshaw is a victim of the manner in which the Aviva Premiership is refereed. The ­attacking sides, he said, are favoured by the whistleblowers meaning “it’s difficult for a genuine seven to actually get himself in the game”. Listening to Gatland, Robshaw might suspect it will be difficult to actually get himself on the plane. Although, to be fair, Robshaw does have other problems to occupy his mind, with New ­Zealand visiting on Saturday.

Gatland is another with an overload of short-term negativity with which to deal. He must wonder at the moment which of his two hats is the more uncomfortable to don. After concentrating on his Lions duties for the first two autumn Tests, he resumed the reins as Wales coach last week to try to stop the alarming rot of defeats against Argentina and Samoa. And, despite an improved performance against the All Blacks, the statistics make concerning reading – ­whichever hat he is wearing.

Wales falling out of the world’s top eight is one thing, but from a Lions perspective consider the following. If the Millennium Stadium witnesses a fourth successive reversal and England fail to beat the world champions, this will be first time in 15 years when the home nations have failed to record at least one victory against the three southern hemisphere giants between them. But Gatland claimed not to have been shocked by the results, regardless of his own men’s standing as Grand Slam champions.

“The [Rugby Championship] teams have been together for a number of weeks and have come in a little bit sharper and better prepared,” he said. “They have played with an intensity week in and week out which has taken our home unions a little bit of time to get up to speed with. I’m not surprised by that really.

“Last week we had 73 per cent of possession and 57 per cent of territory in the second half – no team does that against the All Blacks. They are the most ruthless team out there. There are some things we need to address but collectively for the four home nations there are a lot of positives we can take from the autumn.”

Gatland is still evidently keen on Warburton, “genuine seven”, as his captain. “He was under a bit of pressure against the All Blacks but I though he was outstanding,” crooned Gatland. Yet there was also a caveat. “If it means picking what we think is the best team and leaving the captain out, I’ll be more than comfortable .”

The former hooker is renowned for playing it with a straight face, although surely it took all his poker prowess to overestimate the strength of this particular hand. “What I am still excited about is the potential a Lions team still has; particularly in certain areas,” Gatland said. “There are a few ­injuries but potentially we are strong in the second row, back row there’s a lot of competition, in the midfield as well and in the back three we have real options. We’re still lacking strength in depth in one or two areas.”

The half-backs are a concern as is the front row. Yet Gatland does not do overt panic and is adamant these are, as they say, early days. Gatland will name his backroom staff in two weeks’ time and, just as he did before this series of internationals sit down with “some key personnel to see what the squad would look like” and then repeat the process before and, for the final time, after the Six Nations.

“Nothing is crystallised at the moment,” said Gatland, speaking at the adidas launch of the Lions shirt. “We are looking at the players that have the form, reputation and pedigree, and seeing where they are, and then looking at the youngsters who are putting up their hands. The obvious example from last weekend is the Irish wing Craig Gilroy. He has put himself into contention.”

Have any players played themselves out of contention? Not in Gatland’s eyes, but you would have to be worried if you are Robshaw – or are ­playing for a French side. “At the weekend Mike Phillips was blowing after 52 minutes – we had to get him off. If the players go to France they take a risk that they won’t reach our standards and expectations.

“In France they tend to have one fitness coach who puts the programme up on the board and it is not monitored as heavily. That’s something we must look at. Are they in the best shape to compete at the highest level even though they might be playing quite well in France?” Questions, questions. All too soon, Gatland will have to supply the answers.

viewtothegym wrote:

EngInAuck wrote:

viewtothegym wrote:Good to see Gatland want's a real 7 to tour for the Lions, who would want a hopeless player like Robshaw lingering around every ruck with his dopey bottom lip hanging to the floor.
Also to see the English press to suggest he will be captain is hilarious,he can't make the right decisions also we have grand slam winning Captain Warburton in the forefront.
I can also see a lot of Irish players joining the GrandSlam Welsh players for the Lions tour,
we will have to have the token English player to keep SKY rugby club happy.

......

Scotland would have put that fever ravaged NZ side to the sword, lets not forget how bad England played against teams without sickness

yappysnap wrote:Not a problem if he isn't picked, just means he gets more time with the England team prior to the next AI's.

viewtothegym wrote:Let's hope if Gats picks English players that the Aussies have food poising to even it out for them.

majesticimperialman wrote:

viewtothegym wrote:Let's hope if Gats picks English players that the Aussies have food poising to even it out for them.

Like the All Blacks today you mean.

PJHolybloke wrote:I suppose Gatts could pick a squad made up entirely of Wales internationals, after Wales' performance in the summer against Aus, and today's performance at home, who could blame him?


Joking aside, it's all about the blend and the game plan, on that basis alone I could disqualify 70% of the posters on 606v2 based on their ability to acknowledge either of those two aspects of the game.