‘It’s A Massive Privilege’ – Goodman On His Lions Appointment

Just a week-and-a-half after the conclusion of his first Guinness Men’s Six Nations as Ireland backs coach, Goodman was unveiled yesterday in London as part of the 2025 British & Irish Lions coaching group led by Andy Farrell.

Simon Easterby, who was Ireland’s interim head coach during the recent Six Nations, and John Fogarty have also joined the Lions coaching team, along with Scotland forwards coach John Dalziel and England senior assistant coach Richard Wigglesworth.

Goodman said it was a mixture of ‘shock and excitement’ when Farrell phoned him about the Lions assistant coach role, admitting that he was stunned into silence for about 30 seconds before the Wigan man asked, ‘are you there?!’.

The 1993 Lions tour to his native New Zealand left a big mark on him growing up, as he recalled: “I was 11-years-old on the ’93 tour when the Lions came over. I come from a rugby mad family, Dad would have had me in front of the TV there.

“It was probably my first exposure to players from the northern hemisphere when I think about the Hastings brothers (Gavin and Scott) and (Jeremy) Guscott, and lads like this.

“Some of the idols I grew up watching, Michael Jones and Frank Bunce, going head-to-head, it was a great series. It was always a pinnacle Lions tour when they came down our way.

“I can feel the excitement now on this other side and I’m really looking forward to the opportunity. It’s a massive privilege to be involved.

“I genuinely understand what it is for the home nations, how important this tour is. To be a Kiwi, from the outside coming in, (I’ve) very fond memories of the Lions tours.”

It has already been a very busy first year for Goodman in the Ireland coaching set-up, rolling back to last summer when he shadowed departing attack coach Mike Catt during the drawn series with South Africa.

His involvement with the Emerging Ireland tour in Bloemfontein in October preceded a stacked Autumn Nations Series, which Farrell’s men concluded with a three-try 22-19 win over Australia in Irish Rugby’s 150th Anniversary Test.

Those experiences, coupled with what he learnt from his first Six Nations and his previous spells coaching at Tasman, the Crusaders, Leinster, and also with Samoa during the 2023 Rugby World Cup, leave him in a strong position to make a significant impact with the Lions.

Keen to hit the ground running ahead of June’s 1888 Cup match against Argentina in Dublin, and the tour itself Down Under, Goodman is understandably enthusiastic about the attacking firepower the Lions can draw on from the four home nations.

“It’s been part of the 24 hours we’ve had together already,” he said about the coaches discussing how they want the team to play. “When you think around the attack that ‘Wiggy’ (Richard Wigglesworth), myself, and ‘Faz’ (Andy Farrell) are going to have a big influence on, working together.

“The athletes that we’ve got coming in, the unique way the tour works with the games coming thick and fast at the start.

“We want to be really clear and aligned as a coaching group first, so when the players come in it’s really simple messages, they can go out and express themselves.

“We want to have an attack that excites them, we want to have an attack that excites the fans coming over, so we’re really looking forward to spending more time together and connecting around what that’s going to look like.”

Ironically, the 42-year-old New Zealander might not be in this position at all if it was not for Joe Schmidt, the current Australia head coach.

Schmidt signed him as a utility back for Leinster in 2012, and he won the Celtic League and the European Challenge Cup with the province during his two-year stay.

He returned to Dublin as a highly-rated coach in the summer of 2022, replacing Felipe Contepomi as an assistant coach at Leinster having been head coach of Tasman, and an assistant with the Crusaders during a time when they were a dominant force in Super Rugby under Scott Robertson.

Contracted with the IRFU up to the 2027 Rugby World Cup, Goodman and his family will continue to call Dublin home for the forseeable future. He is thankful to both Schmidt and Leo Cullen for recognising the talents that have led him to coaching at the top level of the game.

“That was an amazing phone call to get,” he admitted when asked about Schmidt initially bringing him to Leinster as part of a double signing announcement with second row Quinn Roux, who went on to play 16 times for Ireland.

“I was a 30-year-old chipping away as a rugby development officer in my hometown of Nelson, playing three months a year for the Tasman Mako.

“Yeah, it’s a call that changed my life, the opportunity to come over and be involved in a fully professional set-up, so I’m very grateful to Joe and to Leinster for kind of changing the pathway of my career.

“It was almost 10 years to the day that I got a call from Leo Cullen to come back and to be a part of the coaching team at Leinster.

“Very grateful to Leinster and the IRFU for the opportunities that they provided for me and my family to be over this side of the world, and now this opportunity (with the Lions).”