BRITISH and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland attended a Scotland training session earlier this week - and says he saw an immense improvement compared to his visit before the last Lions tour four years ago. That in itself will not guarantee greater Scottish representation in the squad to tour New Zealand in the summer, but it showed Gatland why Scotland’s performances have got better recently.
“I looked at yesterday and was really impressed,” he said yesterday. “There was no comparison with yesterday to what I saw four years ago, in terms of structure, organisation, intensity, the way the session was run.
‘Just from yesterday’s session, you could see why Scotland are improved. When a team are competitive and hard to beat, you can see that in a training session – and I saw that yesterday.”
Only three Scots - Richie Gray, Stuart Hogg and Sean Maitland - were selected for the last Lions tour, with a fourth, Ryan Grant, being called up as a replacement. Gatland said he was pleased to see more in contention this time round, but said that an away win against England on Saturday would strengthen the case of those would-be tourists.
“It would create a few headaches, wouldn’t it? There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m a great believer in the idea that we should want Scotland doing well, because we should want them to be represented in the Lions.
“‘There was no pressure in 2013 to pick anyone from any nation. But, from my point of view, I’m pleased that there is an opportunity for more Scottish players to put their hands up.
“But it’s a big challenge for them this weekend. There’s always a bit of edge in the Calcutta Cup - you’ve seen that over the years. That’s something that we can definitely use in the Lions, because it could get pretty testy and tasty down in New Zealand.”
Warren Gatland was at the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh to learn where Dr Tilo Kunath conducts research on a novel cell therapy – work funded by The Cure Parkinson’s Trust. The Lions are supporting the Trust with a “Leading the Lions” fundraising dinner at Sheraton Grand Hotel in Edinburgh on Thursday 27 April. The dinner will see great names from Lions history come together with Gatland, 1993 Lions captain Gavin Hastings and tour manager and 1971 Lion John Spencer. To book places please visit tours.lionsrugby.com/leading-the-lions/ or call 0344 788 4067.
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