Former Bath, England & Lions centre

The Lions unveiled their coaches this week and I think they are a great selection.

There's a clear synergy there, with all of them having coached together at one time or another at Wasps.

But I don't see it as a Wasps thing - McGeechan is Scottish, Edwards is English, Howley is Welsh and Gatland is a Kiwi, but he knows so much about what the Lions is about.

The 2009 Lions coaching team was unveiled in Dublin

I think they are trying to get the tradition of the Lions back after Sir Clive Woodward took a very different approach in 2005.

He set out with a professional approach but it wasn't just professional, it was also English, and that was the wrong thing to do because the Lions embraces four countries.

You have to understand all the nations and the different cultures - the Lions has always embraced all of those and you can see McGeechan and Gerald Davies get that in their choice of coaches.

You only have to listen to Rob Howley talk about the Lions - he understands the values and what it means to be a Lions player, as do McGeechan and Davies.

Shaun Edwards has written about listening to Barry John score four tries in the early hours of the morning on the radio as a youngster in 1971 and he sees it as one of the pinnacles of his career to coach the Lions.

606: DEBATE Have the Lions got their coaching team right for South Africa in 2009?

There's some trepidation because the Lions aren't always successful - just four series wins in 40 years - and they know they're up against it.

Mentally it's tough because you've got a few weeks to put together a scratch team and take on the world champions, and that's nigh-on impossible.

But McGeechan has been successful before, winning two of his three tours as coach and one out of two as a player, so he knows what's required.

It's very simple. You have to bond the side and make every player believe that while they're going there to do one thing - win the series - they each have every chance to get in the Test team.

The Lions is going back to what the Lions is really about because they're getting back to basics - what happened in New Zealand was a blip.

Simpson-Daniel was Premiership player of the season last year

It's like Jonny Wilkinson, who has also picked up more than his fair share of injuries, because they were both getting back to great form.

Simpson-Daniel was playing so well you couldn't have left him out of the England starting line-up.

You would have had to have fitted him in somewhere because he's like Wales winger Shane Williams; every time he gets the ball something magical seems to happen.

He must have been so looking forward to establishing himself in the England team and every time he seems to get his foot in the door it's slammed in his face by an injury.

To have as many comebacks as he's had is difficult, but each time he's come back he's been better and I hope the same happens this time.

We also said farewell to Stradey Park on Friday as the famous old venue hosted Scarlets v Bristol as its final ever game.

The sun has set on Stradey Park's rich rugby history

Welsh crowds appreciate their rugby and I enjoyed the experience because it was always intense down there.

It was a great ground to play at with loads of history and I'm sure it will be sorely missed.

There's a lot of tradition between Bath and Llanelli, with the rag doll the two sides play for when ever they meet, and when I played for Bath you looked down the fixture list to see when you would be playing, home and away.

It is one of the bedrocks of Welsh rugby and I hope it gets the appropriate send-off.

The big game this weekend is the EDF Energy Cup match between Cardiff Blues and Leicester, and I'll be in Wales to help cover it for BBC One.

I'm looking forward to it because the two teams have been scoring points for fun in the Heineken Cup.

They've had some massive victories playing fantastic rugby.

I thoroughly enjoyed Cardiff's win over Gloucester at the weekend, which I spoke at length about in the last column - it was a great contest.

Cardiff's skill levels have been good and, apart from the first time I saw them, Leicester have been performing well.

If both teams continue in the same vein from last weekend then we're in for a cracking game on Saturday with lots of tries.

Users questions from 606:

As a Bath man... do you think any Bristol players are capable of getting into to the England spotlight?
littl3-l3fty

There's nothing in Bristol's make-up at the moment which would suggest a player getting in the England team.

The players have got bigger things to worry about at the moment, like surviving in the Premiership.

You comment on how awesome Fiji winger Napolioni Nalaga is, and of course they also have Rupeni Caucaunibuca. Bearing in mind how close Fiji ran South Africa at the last World Cup and the other great players they produce, do you ever see Fiji (or Samoa and Tonga for that matter) challenging the established nations on a regular basis. And, if not, what can be done to bring it about?
TarantiniDust

I don't see them challenging on a regular basis purely because Fiji, Samoa and Tonga lose a lot of their best players because they go to school in New Zealand or Australia.

If the IRB could support those countries to enable them to keep their players then there's more chance of them competing on a more regular basis, but there's a strong draw in playing for provincial teams in Australia and New Zealand, and that will always be there.

The Cardiff v Gloucester game might have been a cracker to watch, but would you not say that the highest quality game on show last weekend was the Sale v Munster clash?
MBTGOG - A Plastic Lovist

There are always going to be different opinions.

In terms of attractiveness I thought the Cardiff v Gloucester game was great, while in terms of intensity the Munster v Sale game was a huge battle.

However, in terms of flair it didn't shine above the Cardiff v Gloucester game for me.

Jeremy Guscott was talking to BBC Sport's James Standley

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