Warren Gatland says England stars could miss Lions tour if Premiership blocks players' release
Warren Gatland has warned that he could axe England stars from the Lions tour to South Africa after Premiership Rugby threatened to block the release of players for a training camp.
The Lions head coach was already resigned to players involved in the Premiership play-offs being absent from his side's two-week training camp in Jersey. Premiership Rugby had already refused to bring forward the date of its final which takes place on June 26 – the same day as the Lions' opening warm-up match against Japan in Edinburgh.
But Gatland has claimed that Premiership Rugby wants to block the release of players from all 12 of its teams until after the conclusion of the final. Gatland estimates that up to 20 players could be affected, including all of England's Premiership contingent as well as Scotland and Wales players such as Stuart Hogg and Taulupe Faletau. Saracens, as Premiership shareholders, are also likely to be affected despite being in the Championship.
Gatland also suggested that his plans could be subjected to the “huge possibility” of players withdrawing from the tour because of Covid-19 or quarantine fears.
Speaking at the unveiling of his team of assistant coaches of Gregor Townsend, Steve Tandy, Robin McBryde and Neil Jenkins – which Telegraph Sport revealed on Sunday night – Gatland admitted the unavailability of those players for the initial training camp would compromise their chances of going to South Africa.
“We are looking at going to Jersey for a two-week camp so the last thing I’d want is for players to miss out on the tour because of [not being available for] that,” Gatland said. “I’m just hoping we can get some resolution and common sense will prevail, so we don’t have to go through the squad, start looking at 50-50 calls on players and thinking: ‘Well, he’s based in England so unfortunately he’s not going to be available to us’.
“There are some tough calls to make and I’ll be looking at it and thinking, ‘Is two weeks’ preparation for that game and the tour better than trying to put a squad together at the last minute, to get on the plane and play the following week? Is that going to be a harder challenge than actually picking players who you can work and prepare with?’”
Under World Rugby regulation 9, Premiership Rugby is not obliged to release players until the international window begins following the Twickenham final. Premiership Rugby’s intransigence is thought to be related to amount of compensation they receive, and are prepared to stick to their position even if it means costing their players the ultimate accolade in British and Irish rugby.
Negotiations are continuing this week and Gatland has pleaded with Premiership Rugby to drop their hard line stance.
“There have been agreements in the past and the Lions have always compensated clubs for the release of players – something they didn’t really have to do because the regulations allow for release on a certain date,” Gatland said.
“What we are asking for is can they be released a little bit earlier, when they’ve finished their club campaign. It's a big one for us that when those players are finished with their clubs, they are available to us.”
"If some of those players are not available for that preparation time, we can only have a small group or we’ve got to call in extra stand-by players to play in that game, then when we are doing our final selection, with the amount of competition, unfortunately some of those players may miss out."
