A fortnight of introspection while isolating in New Zealand will go a long way towards determining whether Warren Gatland will throw his hat into the mix to remain involved with the British and Irish Lions when they next see action against Australia four years from now.
It is hard to see how the coach will remain on as Lions coach when he has effectively returned home to his motherland. He will continue as coach of the Chiefs in Super Rugby going forward, and will be much further removed from what is happening in the UK and Irish game than he was when he was coaching Wales.
But he says that he will be thinking about his Lions future when he is holed up in a New Zealand hotel in isolation as per the quarantine requirements after his flight home on Sunday.
“In terms of (Lions) involvement, there’s a lot of water that can flow under the bridge in the next four years, I’ve loved my time with the Lions,” said Gatland at the post-match press conference following the Springboks’ 19-16 win in the third and final test.
“A long flight and then 14 days isolation in a hotel, that's the least of what I'm looking forward to doing (after losing this series). It’s going to be tough having been in isolation already for the last eight weeks. So there's another challenging couple of weeks ahead. And I think that time on my own will be a good chance to think what the next chapter of my life is going to be. I'm not someone who plans too far ahead, I'm a great believer in what will be will be.”
RUSSELL SHOWED WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
That’s a good philosophy but during his time in isolation, Gatland is sure to reflect on what could have been different in the series against the World Cup champions had his own actions been different. Scotland flyhalf Finn Russell was injured earlier in the tour but was available once the series began and while it needs to be noted that the Lions still didn’t exactly score a shower of tries, they did enjoy more scoring opportunities than they had in previous tests.
Taking the ball close to the line, Russell brought the centres and the other players around him more into the game, he wasn’t afraid to be innovative and instead of being in control like they were the previous week, the Bok defence, although well organised and committed, had to scramble a lot more to keep the visitors out.
Just like Lions captain Alun Wyn Jones might spend the rest of his life lamenting his decisions to go for the touchline with four kickable penalties - admittedly his team did get seven points from that policy as they scored their only try that way - so Gatland could end up rueing a few selection decisions.
There were calls from sections of the UK media and former players for him to select Russell for the final test ahead of Dan Biggar, who got injured early on, but as Russell himself suggested, the Lions might have had a better chance of winning the series had he been at pivot in the earlier tests too.
“For me, when I’ve been watching the games, the way I play is slightly different. So I’ve been watching it and thinking if we do one or two things differently, we could maybe have had different outcomes – the South Africa A game and the second test,” said Russell.
SEXTON/FARRELL COMBINATION DID WELL IN 2017
It need not have necessarily been just Russell who could have made a difference, and while there was a feeling among some critics that Jonny Sexton might now be a bit past it, at 36 he is one year younger than Morne Steyn, who kicked the penalty that won the series for South Africa. Sexton and Owen Farrell in the 10/12 axis were a key part of the Lions’ relative success in managing to draw the series against the All Blacks four years ago.
Farrell, the England captain, never got to start a test in the series, and was omitted completely from the group that was on duty for the deciding game. Sexton wasn’t there at all because he was left out of the initial tour squad. Had they been paired up like they were in 2017 it is not hard to imagine that the Lions might have been more troublesome to the Boks as an attacking unit.
Centre was one area that Gatland really struggled to get right. He used seven different combinations and then finally returned to the pairing that started the tour in the test the Lions played against Japan in Edinburgh on the eve of their departure.
Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw play together as a combination for Ireland and it would have made sense to play them together.
A GAMBLE THAT MAY HAVE FAILED
Before the series, it was felt that Gatland had gambled by not playing his first-choice team together in the warm-up games and maybe it was a gamble that failed. Other mistakes he may have made included the omission of Welsh fullback Liam Williams until the last test, along with wing Josh Adams.
Gatland’s preference for South African-born Scot Duhan van der Merwe for all three tests was also odd. Van der Merwe is a big strong wing but the Boks don’t tend to get troubled by that sort of player and it is hard to remember a really positive contribution from him other than a dangerous run where he broke a few tackles in the final test.
But of course, it wasn’t at the back that the Lions lost the series, their biggest failing was their inability to front physically at key moments and their complete fade in the scrums in the second test.
When it comes to the scrums, Gatland can’t really be blamed but it was obvious in the last game that Wyn Jones, injured at the 11th hour before the first test, was missed. He and countryman Ken Owens gave the Bok front-row problems when they played against the Lions as South Africa A ahead of the series and they did so again when they were reunited alongside the impressive Tadhg Furlong for the last test.
Indeed, it was when Jones injured his back towards halftime of the final test that the Lions surrendered their earlier scrumming ascendancy and it went completely when he left the field for good.