WRU right to tell Lions to keep their paws off!

Sunday Mirror, Feb 17, 2008 by PHIL BENNETT WALES LEGEND SPEAKS OUT

THE Welsh Rugby Union are spot on in telling the Lions they won't be allowed to get their hands on Warren Gatland.

Of course Wales have to offer every support to the Lions and I'll be as pleased as anyone if a big chunk of this country's playing squad are on that plane to South Africa next year.

But not the head coach, thanks very much.

They can take Rob Howley to coach the backs. They can take Dai Young to run the forwards.

But Gatland is the man charged with leading Wales over the next four years and he's only had his feet under the desk in Cardiff for the past six weeks.

The last thing Wales need is for our head man to be distracted from his main task for the next 12 months because he is trying to plot a winning series against the Springboks.

Graham Henry's experience coaching the Lions was a salutary lesson. It taught us all that coaching the Lions is no longer a parttime add-on that can be done in your spare moments.

In the modern era, masterminding a Lions series has become an all- consuming enterprise and one that can only really be done if you put down all your other coaching balls.

Otherwise the whole lot will come tumbling down on top of you, as it did for Henry after 2001.

The response towards Gatland being linked with the Lions job is not unprecedented, anyway.

When Mike Ruddock was appointed Wales coach in 2004 there was some talk of him getting involved with Clive Woodward's Lions trip to New Zealand.

Quite rightly, the WRU said their man had enough on his plate and Mike was able to concentrate solely on Wales.

Mike did a pretty good job, too, you might remember, with the delivery of a Grand Slam in 2005 and I'd hate to think that any early success for Gatland might be compromised by a Lions role.

Italy is Gatland's current focus. Then it will be Ireland and France, followed by a tour to South Africa and then three Tests against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in the autumn.

That sounds a big enough challenge to me, even for a bloke whose first few weeks in the job have been almost faultless.

It's remarkable to think that after the dumping of Ruddock and then the sacking of Gareth Jenkins, the turmoil within Welsh rugby has been so impressively stabilised by Gatland.

It's not just the two victories at the start of this Six Nations - it has been his whole approach and particularly the message he is sending to his players and to the public.

He was swept away some of the old guard, kept every player in the squad on his toes with radical selection decisions, but also instilled huge confidence in certain players like Gavin Henson by telling them they can be the best in the world.

Henson needed that reassurance because he was plainly not trusted by the last regime, but the approach has been very different to someone like Ryan Jones.

Ryan was named skipper a few weeks ago amid much back-slapping, but Warren sent him a canny reminder that he needs to keep his performances in the top drawer by replacing him in the game against Scotland.

Italy will be tough - in case you had forgotten, Wales lost to them last year and could only draw the year before.

They have a formidably strong pack, as England almost found to their cost last week, but I'm confident Wales can win.

That would set up a Triple Crown match in Dublin a fortnight later, yet Gatland has more than enough rugby nous to know this sea change has been achieved on the back of two mediocre displays.

That's the exciting thing.

There's so much more to come!

Interview: DAVID WILLIAMS