KEY POINTS:
The assumption that Ian McGeechan will head up next year's British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa - with his Wasps colleague Shaun Edwards in tow as a browbeating No 2 - was undermined today when Warren Gatland, the Grand Slam-winning coach of Wales, threw his hat,
or at least part of it, into the ring.
"If there's a chance of getting involved at some level, it would be a huge honour," Gatland said.
Only last month, the Welsh Rugby Football Union group chief executive, Roger Lewis, said Gatland's participation was "not on the radar", adding that the interests of the Red Dragonhood would be paramount.
But the New Zealander's success in the Six Nations has put his name back into the frame.
Lewis will find it difficult to prevent Gatland squaring up to the world champions if Gerald Davies, everyone's favourite Welshman and the manager of the 2009 tour, requests his services.
It might be that Gatland would settle for a role as forwards coach, working under McGeechan and alongside Edwards. This would suit those who would view a foreign head coach with suspicion after the ill-starred trip to Australia led by another New Zealander, the current All Blacks coach, Graham Henry, in 2001.
McGeechan, a Scot who masterminded victories over the Wallabies in 1989 and the Springboks in 1997 and also ran an unbeaten "midweek" side in New Zealand three years ago, remains the favourite.
There is no viable English candidate.
Brian Ashton, the red rose army's current top man, has enough on his plate. Today, he is scheduled to meet Rob Andrew, the director of elite rugby at Twickenham, for what has been touted as a "make or break" discussion over his future following a flurry of reports that he is about to be replaced by Jake White, who guided the Boks to their second world title last autumn.
While the reality is somewhat different - the meeting, long in the diary, involved the full-time coaching staff in a planning forum ahead of the new club-country agreement on player release - Ashton is keen to gauge the level of support he can expect from Andrew, conspicuous by his silence since the end of the Six Nations.
The latter is expected to make his post-tournament recommendations to the Rugby Football Union next week.
Simon Easterby has announced his international retirement two days after winning his 65th cap for Ireland.
The former Lion, who turns 33 in July, won his last cap as a replacement against England at Twickenham on Sunday.
- INDEPENDENT
