Graham Rowntree lands assistant coach role for Lions tour to New Zealand

Former England forwards coach Graham Rowntree is to be handed a key role on this summer’s Lions tour to New Zealand.

Standard Sport understands details of Rowntree’s release for the tour by Harelquins, where he occupies the same role, are currently being finalised, with an announcement due next week.

Rowntree, a former Lions player and a coach on two previous tours, will be appointed as one of head coach Warren Gatland’s assistants, with equal status to his former England colleague Andy Farrell, now defence coach with Ireland, England’s Steve Borthwick and Wales’s Rob Howley.

A kicking coach is yet to be announced, although it would be a major surprise if Welshman Neil Jenkins does not continue in that role. It would mean Gatland sticking with the same backroom team that masterminded the winning tour of Australia four years ago.

The squad, which will be announced on April 19, depart for New Zealand two days after the Premiership Final on May 27, with the first match of the tour against an invitational XV on June 3. The first of three Tests follows three weeks later in Auckland.