Henderson's Test chances take a hit

Graham Henry yesterday unveiled the skeleton of his Test side with what he hopes is a bit of meat on it for Saturday's last significant warm-up game, against the New South Wales Waratahs. Not only is it probably more skeletal than he would have liked at this stage, there is a question mark over part of the team's backbone.

Compounding the Lions' woes, Dan Luger is doubtful for the first Test on Saturday week after the English winger was ruled out of the Waratahs game in the Sydney Football Stadium. Luger suffered a facial injury in an accidental training ground collision with Neil Back yesterday.

Jason Robinson is promoted from the replacements' bench, where his place is filled by Ben Cohen. The worst-case scenario is Luger suffered a fracture or concussion, in which case he would be ruled out of at least the first two Tests.

Henry and Andy Robinson would like to have Lawrence Dallaglio as an integral part of the Test team, but after his undistinguished and ill-disciplined performance on Tuesday, Dallaglio now not only needs another game but he needs a big one. Significantly, the other two of Tuesday's team retained are Scott Quinnell and Will Greenwood, who are probably on trial as well.

Admitting the omitted Richard Hill has played "exceptionally well" on tour so far, Henry confirmed his back-row selection was not cast in stone.

In any event, Henry said that including at least one from Hill, Dallaglio and Corry was imperative so as to provide an option at the end of the line-out. "If somebody can get the ball to him," whispered one Welsh wag, in reference to Tuesday night's throwing, more scud missiles than darts.

In that regard, Martin Corry's inclusion as additional second-row cover on the bench as well as Hill doesn't augur well for the chances of Malcolm O'Kelly or Jeremy Davidson making the Test 22 - nor Scott Murray for that matter.

The prospects of Rob Henderson nailing down a first Test spot inside O'Driscoll seem to have receded. Not only has Greenwood been retained for his fourth start of the tour as against Henderson's two (one of which was at inside centre) but Henry yesterday admitted it was "highly likely" Scott Gibbs, who has been called up as a replacement for the injured Mike Catt, will start against NSW Country, leaving Henderson idle come kick-off for the third game running. Though Greenwood hasn't demonstrated the same penetration in attack heretofore as Henderson, the ball is now in Greenwood's court.

Rob Howley is almost recovered from his rib injury, but the management thought playing him on Saturday was an unnecessary risk. Even so, he looks favourite for the first Test ahead of Matt Dawson. The main bones of contention, as it were, would appear to be back row, loosehead, inside centre, perhaps, and, at a push, the problematic right wing and, by extension, full back situation. However, Dafydd James' third selection on the right wing suggests alternative options such as Balshaw, Robinson or Austin Healy are not being considered. Thus, accommodating Hill apart, this could be the Test team en bloc.

What with the first Test looming on Saturday week, Tuesday's encounter with the New South Wales Country Cockatoos ain't exactly going to be Henry's priority in the coming week. "We think we need to put our eggs in the Test match basket now so we'll be spending a lot of time with the nucleus of that side and preparing it for the test match on Saturday week," he said.

Therein lies a potential problem, of course, in how best to ameliorate those outside the Test 22. "I think we just need to communicate," ventured Henry. "We've told the team this morning the two teams who play against New South Wales on Saturday and New South Wales Country are all in line for Test selection and we've just got to prioritise our training runs to make sure the guys are fully up for the Test match."

Watching the almost lethargic performance of Malcolm O'Kelly, in particular, the point that the squad have been overtrained and that fatigue might even be a factor could have some validity. "I think there's probably an element of that but I don't think it's an absolute major," said the coach, adding that training was tapering off each week.

One undoubted legacy of Tuesday night's encounter was the pedantic and domineering performance of New Zealander Paul Honiss, who as usual demonstrated no real feel for the game, seemingly believing the 17,000 spectators and two teams had come along to hear him give a lecture on the laws of the game.

His two biggest bugbears were the scrum and the breakdown, with Henry more concerned about the former, where the constant whistling and lack of any real competition fuelled pre-tour beliefs that by hook or by crook, the Aussies will negate this perceived Lions advantage.

"It's very important we get clarification at scrum time of what the referee is going to be doing there. The scrum is a concern to us. We want it to be a contest and we'll need to sit down with the referee and work out what is allowable and what is not."

By contrast, Henry admitted the Lions "lacked discipline" at the breakdown, stepping offside around the fringes of rucks and mauls and also holding onto the ball in the tackle. "I'd say the vast majority of the rulings there were fine. It's just important the ruling is consistent on both sides. That's all I would ask, that there's consistency on the rulings."

This sounded like doublespeak for saying Honiss allowed the Australian A players more liberties when it came to "fringing" or lying on the wrong side of ruck ball, in which case he seemed to have a valid point.

Lions V New South Wales

I Balshaw (England); D James (Wales), B O'Driscoll (Ireland), W Greenwood (England), J Robinson (England); J Wilkinson (England), M Dawson (England); D Morris (Wales), K Wood (Ireland), P Vickery (England), M Johnson (England, capt), D Grewcock (England), L Dallaglio (England), S Quinnell (Wales), N [R O] Back (England).

REPLACEMENTS: T Smith (Scotland), R McBryde (Wales), M Corry (England), R Hill (England), A Healey (England), R O'Gara (Ireland), B Cohen (England)

NEW SOUTH WALES WARATAHS: A Baxter, P Besseling, C Blades, T Bowman, B Cannon, E Carter, M Edmonds, L Green, S Harris, D Hickey, L Inman, D McCrae, R Moore, P Noriega, S Payne, S Pinkerton, S QauQau, S Sinau, S Staniforth, R Tombs, P Waugh, J West.