No test what comes up

Wales coach Warren Gatland is available to guide the British and Irish Lions when they tour Australia in 2013.

Gatland scheduled a five-month break that year as part of the contract extension he signed this week with the Wales Rugby Union.

He and the WRU have also agreed to allow him to appoint replacement coaches when Wales play in Japan during the Lions tour.

Gatland said on Friday the clause was inserted so he could take a break in his New Zealand homeland, and not to accommodate the Lions.

But the former All Blacks hooker was open to leading the Lions, after being their forwards coach in the 2009 series against South Africa.

"For a Lions team to be successful is incredibly hard," Gatland told the Press Association.

"It was a fantastic experience and an honour and a privilege to be involved with the players. To do it again? We'll just have to see."

Lions manager Andy Irvine said when he was appointed this week that Gatland and 2009 coach Ian McGeechan were his leading candidates for 2013, after doing a superb job in South Africa.

McGeechan, a four-time Lions coach, said this week he was willing to consider another tour.

But Irvine added that none of the home nations coaches would be considered unless they could get at least a partial release from the 2013 Six Nations.

"We'll be speaking to the WRU to see what level of commitment [Gatland] must give to them as opposed to the Lions," Irvine said.

"It's theoretically possible to coach the Lions and be the head coach of a national side in the Six Nations immediately prior, but it's unlikely.

"If we weren't looking for a complete release of Warren by the WRU, then certainly a partial release."

Gatland received support from Phil Vickery, the two-time Lions tourist and England prop.

"Warren would be a fantastic candidate to do it again, and I hope he does," Vickery told PA.

"He's a typical Kiwi. He's honest, sometimes brutally, but you can be honest back. He gets the guys together and gets the best out of people. I really hope he does it again because it's very, very special."

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