RUGBY LIONS TOUR:AFTER ALL the debate expectation, ultimately it was something of a damp squib. Not alone was there none of the over-the-top fanfare of the same announcement four years ago, there were no curve balls or rabbits out of the hat either. Instead, the 15 chosen ones fell along largely predictable lines, although not that there won't be a few question marks arising.
Lions head coach Ian McGeechan described them as the cream of four nations – which is certainly how they’ll be entitled to feel, though sadly, there isn’t a Scot in the 22. For what it’s worth, the six-man Welsh contingent outnumbers Ireland (five) and England (four), with the Ospreys having four to two each from Munster, Leinster and Bath.
Considering Jerry Flannery and Stephen Ferris would probably have made the starting XV, and Tomás O’Leary at least a place in the 22, it’s not a bad haul. Furthermore, Donncha O’Callaghan, Ronan O’Gara and Rob Kearney make the bench.
This team features 13 of the side that kicked off the 74-10 win over the Golden Lions in the tour’s second match – the exceptions being Paul O’Connell and Lee Byrne – and 11 of the starting team which patiently wore out the Natal Sharks and won 39-3.
What’s more, 10 of them have had had no involvement in the subsequent two matches. For all the speculation, this team had been well-flagged and, relatively speaking, wrapped in cotton wool.
McGeechan, giving little away, maintained they went through every position over their two-hour plus meeting on Wednesday morning before informing the players prior to going out for a meal en bloc that evening. Nonetheless, one imagines number seven, and possibly as an extension number six, along with 10 and 11, caused most discussion.
It was no surprise Ugo Monye (having joined Tommy Bowe as the squad’s joint highest try scorer on tour with his fourth touchdown on Tuesday) won the nod over Luke Fitzgerald and Kearney.
Fitzgerald probably paid for his poor kicking, as the rest of his game has looked sharp, while Kearney’s mule of a left boot must have been considered as an option there.
Monye is being asked to play his third game in eight days, but as a 26-year-old winger that shouldn’t bother him. O’Callaghan’s display as captain last Tuesday has meant he won the three-way battle as lock cover on the bench despite also playing in Cape Town last Saturday. Simon Shaw worked his proverbials off too in Port Elizabeth, but at 35 that would have been a much bigger ask.
Andrew Sheridan’s admirers would maintain he should have been picked to target converted tighthead John Smit in the scrums but perceived threats in this area rarely come to fruition. Gethin Jenkins offers so much more, not least a higher tackle count.
As the Peter Wright, Keith Wood, Paul Wallace frontrow of a dozen years ago also showed, size isn’t everything. While Lee Mears’ place is partly down to the inaccurate darts of the other hookers here, his ball-carrying also adds to the mix, as does Phil Vickery’s form, work-rate and experience. As Vickery is also less likely to last the 80, Adam Jones is understandably chosen on the bench ahead of Sheridan.
However, it is the selection of Tom Croft at blindside in addition to Alun-Wyn Jones in the second row which raises doubts as to whether this Lions pack ultimately has the grunt and graft to compete with the mighty Boks pack. Both are athletic, rangy players. Jones is more in the mould of an O’Connell-type middle of the line number five, while Croft’s pace could flourish in these conditions but Ferris was undoubtedly the best blindside flanker in the party.
Alas, in his absence there was no obvious alternative aside from Croft, which perhaps gives credence to the view expressed by the Boks’ assistant coach Gary Gold earlier yesterday that, with the benefit of their settled combinations and the Super 14 campaign, “I would much rather be in the position where we are now than if we had played three or four games and picked up three or four key injuries.”
One option could have been to play David Wallace at six, but he hasn’t played there all season and it’s probably the position he’s least effective in. As sacrificing his clearing out, carrying and tackling would have been unthinkable, they’ve gone without a true fetcher and continuity seven in Martyn Williams, who backs up from the bench. Wallace thus emulates his brother Paul, who made his Test debut in the first Test here 12 years ago.
Stephen Jones and Ronan O’Gara have each looked comfortable with Mike Phillips inside them and the Jamie Roberts-Brian O’Driscoll combination outside them, but less so when taken out of that line-up. This tells us plenty about the superiority of Phillips’ service, and perhaps also the gulf between the core of the starting team and the back-up sides.
Paul O’Connell was yesterday looking forward to the challenge: “Something we have spoken about throughout the tour is how special it is. We are proud of where we come from, the clubs we play for, the countries we play for, but for us, this is the greatest jersey we can pull on.
“I imagine it will be an emotional changing room, come Saturday, but a nice place to be.”
