Andy Farrell would be interested in another stint as the British & Irish Lions head coach after his side\u2019s series victory over the Wallabies. Farrell said he had hugely enjoyed his squad\u2019s successful campaign in Australia and hinted he would consider doing the job again in New Zealand in 2029.<\/p>\n
Despite the Lions\u2019 22-12 third Test defeat<\/a>, which ended the squad\u2019s ambitions of a 3-0 series sweep, Farrell did not sound remotely like a man who has coached his final Lions Test. \u201cEveryone knows what I think about this concept,\u201d said Farrell, reflecting on the Lions\u2019 first series victory since 2013.<\/p>\n \u201cI love everything that the Lions is about and I\u2019ve thoroughly enjoyed the last eight weeks. There\u2019s always ups and there\u2019s always downs but the inner circle is a special place to be.\u201d Asked if that meant he would be keen to coach the Lions again, Farrell smiled and told reporters to \u201cread into that what you want\u201d.<\/p>\n In the shorter term he will be returning to his role as Ireland\u2019s head coach but made a point of paying a fulsome tribute to the staff and players involved in \u201can unbelievably special\u201d series victory that \u201cwill stay with us forever\u201d.<\/p>\n Farrell did concede the series had ended on a \u201cfrustrating\u201d note but made clear Australia had fully deserved their win. \u201cWe said all along we wanted to win every game but the best team won on the night today. I have just said to the lads that on reflection it might take one or two beers, but they will be unbelievably proud of what they achieved throughout this tour.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all know how hard it is to be successful on a Lions tour against a good side like Australia. When we get a bit of time to ourselves we will be unbelievably proud of what we have achieved. Lions tours are tough. The coaching staff have been great and we created a special memory together. The legacy for us is in that changing room. The togetherness of the whole group has been an absolute delight.\u201d<\/p>\n Dan Sheehan (right) said the final Test defeat against Australia was gutting for the Lions. Photograph: Robbie Stephenson\/PA<\/p>\n The playing squad are already hatching plans to regather in Australia in 2037 and the player of the series, Tadhg Beirne, said all concerned had enjoyed their time in Australia. \u201cIt has been such an incredible journey, we have loved every single moment of it,\u201d said Beirne. \u201cWe have said we will be having a reunion here in 12 years\u2019 time. We are going to start a kitty and make sure we are all back here to celebrate this series win. Everyone got on from day one and everyone has loved every minute of it. Ask anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week’s action reviewed<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Dan Sheehan, who took over as captain after Maro Itoje failed a head injury assessment, made clear, though, that the Lions would have some regrets about their performance in Sydney. \u201cIt\u2019s gutting, to be honest,\u201d he told Sky Sports. \u201cThe aim of the tour was a 3-0 victory but fair play to the Wallabies. It is disappointing, especially in front of the amount of people who have travelled here to support us. It\u2019s just not what we wanted tonight and it leaves a sour taste.\u201d<\/p>\n Farrell, meanwhile, has brushed aside suggestions the Lions missed a trick after lightning storms in the local area forced the game to be delayed for 38 minutes in the second half. The Lions opted to warm up back on the field for five minutes fewer than their opponents and the Wallabies coach, Joe Schmidt, felt his side had responded better to the hiatus. \u201cWe had been warned there might be lightning so we had a little bit of a plan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Schmidt also praised the way his players bounced back from the disappointment of losing the first two Tests. \u201cThat first half in the first Test was as good as I\u2019ve seen [the Lions play],\u201d said Schmidt. \u201cThey\u2019ll judged as winners because that\u2019s what happened. I tip my hat to what was a highly successful tour. But I couldn\u2019t be prouder of the way the players rebounded.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Farrell would be interested in another stint as the British & Irish Lions head coach after his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-313265","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114962125974522480","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}