Warren Gatland has upped the ante on a new front prior to his Welsh side visiting Croke Park in early March for their Six Nations match against Ireland.
Gatland, the Ireland head coach immediately prior to Eddie O'Sullivan, yesterday said he believed he was better-placed to coach the British and Irish Lions than Graham Henry, another New Zealander who coached Wales and the Lions, and questioned whether the Lions should select a home-grown coach.
Gatland has been linked with the job for the 2009 tour of South Africa, and the Welsh Rugby Union confirmed they would consider any approach from the Lions. He has entered the frame on the back of victories over England and Scotland but also because there appear few obvious European options.
The England head coach, Brian Ashton, has already declared himself unavailable.
O'Sullivan continues to be judged on Ireland's poor World Cup campaign in France and a lukewarm start to this year's Six Nations Championship.
"Probably an advantage . . . over Graham Henry is that I have been in the Northern Hemisphere for so long - perhaps I understand England and Ireland," said Gatland. "The Lions need to consider whether they go for someone local. It's flattering to be talked about. I suppose if we (Wales) win a few more games everything is possible."
Currently Wales do not have a senior tour arranged for summer 2009. Another significant move is that the highly regarded Wasps head coach, Shaun Edwards, has taken up a part-time role with Wales to further his ambitions of being involved in the 2009 tour.
Pertinently, Edwards and Gatland would have already established a close working relationship when the selection is being made in May of this year.
"It's one of the reasons he (Edwards) has taken the position here, because he'd dearly love to be involved with the Lions," added Gatland. "It will obviously help that we play South Africa on a couple of occasions before the Lions tour. At this stage it's more important to get Shaun involved with the Lions than myself."
Meanwhile France coach Marc Lièvremont has called up the locks Pascal Pape and Romain Millo-Chluski to strengthen his pack for their Six Nations match against England on Saturday week at the Stade de France.
In a third change to the 22-man squad that defeated Ireland 26-21 last weekend, Lièvremont has also recalled the fullback Clément Poitrenaud.
"We wanted some continuity after our two wins over Scotland and Ireland but we still made three changes," Lièvremont said.
Poitrenaud takes over from Anthony Floch, while Millo-Chluski and Pape replace Arnaud Mela and Loïc Jacquet respectively.
Millo-Chluski, who plays club rugby with Toulouse, won his only cap in a 30-30 draw with South Africa in June 2005.
Poitrenaud and Pape are more familiar faces. The Toulouse fullback has 34 caps and the 18-cap Pape, now with Stade Français, captained France when they toured New Zealand in June 2007 without the players whose clubs had qualified for the semi-finals of the French championship.
Coach Bernard Laporte, now moved on, was heavily criticised by French media when he left Pape out of his Word Cup squad to include Sébastien Chabal.
"Poitrenaud was on our list from the start just behind Cedric Heymans," Lièvremont said. "We have been following Millo-Chluski for a long time.
"There is no need to introduce Pape."
French squad
Backs:Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Morgan Parra, François Trinh-Duc, David Skrela, David Marty, Damien Traille, Vincent Clerc, Cedric Heymans, Aurélien Rougerie, Clément Poitrenaud.
Forwards:Julien Brugnaut, Lionel Faure, Nicolas Mas, William Servat, Dimitri Szarzewski, Pascal Pape, Romain Millo-Chluski, Lionel Nallet, Julien Bonnaire, Thierry Dusautoir, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Louis Picamoles.
