Let Schmidt and Johnno lead the Lions in New Zealand

England’s World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson should join forces with Ireland‘s Joe Schmidt to form an inspirational British & Irish Lions coaching team in New Zealand, according to England and Lions lock Ben Kay.
Johnson, 46, has not coached in mainstream rugby since England’s World Cup quarter-final exit in New Zealand five years ago. But, with doubts surrounding Warren Gatland‘s reappointment for a third tour of duty after a series of disappointing results with Wales, Kay believes his old second-row partner is the perfect man to lead the Lions in 2017.
Kay told The Rugby Paper: “It would be a fantastic call for the Lions to get Martin involved because he’s still revered down in New Zealand.
“One of the problems with the Lions is bringing all those guys together and getting them to buy into the, ‘Wow, this is the guy I want to follow’.
“Ian McGeechan had that because of his past and Warren managed it in 2013, but I still think any Lions player, regardless of how big a name they are, if they walked into that first meeting and Martin Johnson was at the front of the room, they’d immediately say to themselves, ‘I want to play for this guy’.
New Zealander Schmidt is expected to stand down as Ireland head coach and is seen as a strong contender to lead the Lions against his own country.
Kay wants to see him team-up with Johnson, however, adding: “Joe Schmidt is an exceptional coaching brain and the outstanding thing about him is his ability to understand the strengths of the teams he coaches.
“If you look at how Leinster played under Joe and then how Ireland have been playing, they’re totally different styles of rugby under the same man.
“They’re equally effective, though, and when you have a totally scratch side coming together like the Lions, you need to be able to recognise things quickly.”
Meanwhile, Kay has challenged Eddie Jones to prove his rejuvenated England side is no flash in the pan by winning all four autumn Tests.
England face South Africa, Fiji, Argentina and Australia having moved to second in the world rankings following their 3-0 whitewash of Australia.
Kay said: “They don’t play New Zealand for a while, which could be a good thing because they’re streets ahead of everyone else at the moment.
“England will close the gap, but how quickly they can do it over the next two or three years will be the acid test because Eddie’s got a magnificent player pool.
“England should be looking to win all four autumn internationals and if they do that it will be 13 wins out of 13 for Eddie – not a bad start to your career!”
NEALE HARVEY