Gerald Davies named Lions Manager

[An Tarbh]

Gerald Davies will be the Lions manager for the 2009 tour to South Africa.

Davies twice toured as a Lion in 1968 and in 1971 and will replace Bill Beaumont who is now working with the IRB.

A sponsorship deal with HSBC worth â'¬6 million is expected to be announced tomorrow as well at their headquarters in London.

Speculation will now be mounting as to who will coach the touring party. Somehow I doubt Eddie O'Sullivan will be exercising the clause in his contract allowing him to coach the Lions after his shambolic efforts at the world cup.

The question is though who else is in the frame???

 

[Prestwick]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7103531.stm

Well while the coach won't be chosen until after next years Six Nations, the Lions have chosen their manager, introducing Gerald Davies!

Now, I think the meat in the pudding will be who they will choose as coach but the manager is still significant off of the pitch, what do you guys think about this?

 

[Prestwick]

Come on guys! This is the bloody Lions we're talking about here!!!!!

Surely someone in Wales has an opinion on him? RC?! SmokeyMonkey?! Anyone?!?!?!?!

 

[SmokeyMonkey]

I really have no idea. 'Manager'? I dont even remember a 'manager' last time around! It'll help that he's been on a few Lions tours before, but the coach is much much more important. Ian McGeechan sounds like a good choice for coach, anyone except Eddie O'Sullivan!

The fixtures (which I assume are official):


May 30: Highveld XV, Rustenburg
Jun 3: Golden Lions, Johannesburg
Jun 6: Free State Cheetahs, Bloemfontein
Jun 10: Blue Bulls, Pretoria
Jun 13: Western Province, Cape Town
Jun 17: Coastal XV, Port Elizabeth
Jun 20: First Test, Pretoria
Jun 23: Junior Springboks, Cape Town
Jun 27: Second Test, Durban
Jul 4: Third Test, Johannesburg

I still don't understand why they are playing vs Provinces, surely the Super14 teams are at a higher level!
Anyway, by then I'll be 18 so maybe I have a chance of going to South Africa! I'll be looking forward to it anyway! :cheers:

 

[Prestwick]

Yes, yes I know! I would have thought they'd have taken on the Super 14 sides too!

But Gerald Davies! What kind of guy is he in Wales? Is he good? Bad? Dire? Prone to drunkeness? Superb? Would he make a good manager of the tour? Does he have the organisational skills? The media management skills? The personality to make the tour fun for the players involved?

 

[feicarsinn]

whats with the lack of a midweek game for the last week

 

[An Tarbh]

They might stick one in, I think something similar happened in New Zealand last time out.

 

[Incredible Schalk]

Looking forward to it, i dont support the Lions because of the farcial lack of Scots in the team. Was it 2001, when they finished 3rd or 4th in the 6 nations and only got 2 players in the team. Anyway im a BokScot, so i will happily watch the Springboks destroy the Lions. Rant over

 

[An Tarbh]

I don't agree with sticking nationalities in the team for the sake of it, if that's the case you could have made a case for more Irish players to be included in 93, we beat both England and Wales in the championship and would have had a triple crown if we'd had the sense to pick Elwood from the start of the season, but only ended up with Popplewell in the test side, whereas we were pants 4 years later and but for Miller crying off sick on the eve of the first test we would have had half the starting pack.

 

[leicester fox]

Steve McClaren will be the coach long way off yet I guess but I think we've got a lot of talent comingthrough to stand a chance.

 

[feicarsinn]

capitan Brian?

 

[fcukernaut]

What exactly does the manager do? Is the manager of players and the football side of operations? Or is he more about the booking of hotels, tours to historical sites, etc.?

 

[An Tarbh]

seems to be more of a figurehead role, God knows Beaumont did **** all last time although in fairness Woodward was never really a proper coach more of a manager so that's probably why it was such a redundant role 2 years ago.

There's the media side of the job but I don't think he'd have to much input into the rugby side of things.

 

[fcukernaut]

So why not save the salary and give the coach the managers role as well?

 

[polonius]

An excellent appointment. A superb player in his day and a highly respected journalist when he retired from rugby.