Warren Gatland was right all along.
As the dust settles on the Premiership final and Rory Best
faces the media before boarding the plane to Hong Kong, the
Kiwi coach will think back to his comments in 2011 with the tiniest feeling of
self-appreciation.
Prior to England’s 6 Nations clash with Wales, experienced
sledger, Warren Gatland, launched a personal attack on Northampton hooker,
Dylan Hartley, criticising his performances as well as his temperament and
character. Wales would, Gatland said, look to exploit Hartley’s many publicised
weaknesses.
Hartley responded to Gatland’s criticism and England went on
to win that game comfortably.
Since then, Hartley has done his best to win Gatland over,
and whilst his performances have been average, losing his once certain England
starting spot and being ignored by almost all sofa/pub-Lions selectors, the Kiwi
coach saw a hard edge to Hartley’s game that would have intimated the
Australians.
An interesting aside:
in 2011, England beat Wales 26-19 in Cardiff. Of that Wales team, six have been
selected for this year’s Lions, compared to just two from England.
Whilst the
rest of the all-knowing rugby public openly criticised Gatland for his
selection of Hartley over Ulsterman Rory Best, the Lions coach clearly had good
reason and will be disappointed that Hartley won’t be on the tour.
There
is absolutely no doubt that both Wayne Barnes and the RFU got the decision
right, regarding the red card and subsequent ban. Had the RFU ban been more
lenient, I would hope that Gatland would still have made the tough choice of
dropping Hartley.
So, Gatland got it right and two and a half seasons later,
Hartley eventually imploded. The more you analyse and re-watch the two minutes
surrounding the foul-mouthed outburst, the greater the disbelief is that
Hartley could have been so appallingly irrational and irresponsible. Long have
the Northampton coaches ignored criticism of their hooker, burdening him with
the responsibility of captain and repeated public displays of their faith.
Whilst Hartley continues to get banned for gauging, biting
and punching, Mallinder & co. have stood by their man, claiming after every
ban that Hartley is the England captain in waiting.
England’s starting hooker and a firm pencilled name on the
Lions touring party at the start of the season, Hartley’s performances have
been mediocre and his selection to the Lions was seen as the biggest shock of
all.
Many will feel that Hartley’s
ban is simply correcting the one mistake Gatland made in his original tour
selection and I for one am incredibly glad that the only pre-tour change in the
squad was thoroughly deserved, and not forced by injury.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Whilst Gatland may take some small solace in the fact that
Hartley has proved him somewhat of a fortune teller, he will be even happier –
delighted in fact – that not one member of his touring party has picked up an
injury, despite the gruelling end of season run-in created by a play-off
culture.
In fact, not only has no one picked up an injury, but those
who were lacking form, fitness and match time have been able to return to full
strength. Tom
Croft has gone from looking horribly out of shape and out of his depth against
Wales in Cardiff, to scoring one of the tries of his career, winning the
Premiership final and boarding the plane as the front runner for a starting
test spot.
Dan Lydiate has proved his fitness, leading the hapless
Dragons to a remarkable win over Munster, whilst Brian
O’Driscoll, Richie Gray and Richard Hibbard have all returned to fitness.
All reports coming from the departing Lions party is that
optimism is running high. This may not be the most talented touring party since
the last tour win of 1997, but they just might be the luckiest.
