Lions spring surprise by turning to Scotland coach

John Dalziel about to catch a ball in training — John Dalziel hails from the Scottish rugby heartland of the Borders - Focus Images Limited/Jamie Johnston

Lions head coach Andy Farrell has made a surprise move by bringing Scotland’s John Dalziel on board as forwards coach, Telegraph Sport can reveal.

Dalziel has been Scotland’s forwards coach under Gregor Townsend since 2020, having performed the same role at Glasgow Warriors. Farrell will confirm his coaching team in London on Wednesday morning.

It is understood that Farrell turned to Dalziel after Paul O’Connell, the Ireland forwards coach, pulled out of the reckoning for this summer’s tour of Australia. While Dalziel lacks the profile of former Lions captain O’Connell, he is highly rated within coaching circles and Scotland won more line-out ball than any other country in the Six Nations this year.

Dalziel hails from the Scottish rugby heartland of the Borders and represented London Scottish and Borders Reivers during the professional era. He started coaching 20 years ago at Melrose and has acted as head coach for Scotland Under-20s and the Scotland sevens team.

Dalziel will join a coaching team that includes John Fogarty, the Ireland scrum coach, Richard Wigglesworth, who runs England’s attack, and Simon Easterby, who was acting as interim Ireland head coach during Farrell’s absence. Easterby is likely to be given responsibility for running the defence, the role that he performs under Farrell, although he has previously served as forwards coach for Ireland. With Fogarty looking after the scrum, Dalziel will take charge of the line-out.

The addition of Dalziel and Wigglesworth will ensure a healthy diversity of thought when Farrell comes to select his touring squad on May 8.

Initially, it looked like Farrell was going to turn to his tried-and-trusted lieutenants from within the Irish set-up. Following the conclusion of the Six Nations, England head coach Steve Borthwick indicated that he had received no contact from Farrell about bringing any of his assistants on board. However, it is understood that Farrell subsequently spoke to Borthwick about bringing in England senior coach Wigglesworth, a former team-mate from Saracens.

The Lions face Argentina in Dublin on Friday June 20 before the squad travel Down Under for five warm-up matches. They then face the first of three Tests against the Wallabies on July 19 in Brisbane. The second Test is in Melbourne on July 26, with the third in Sydney on August 2.

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