Selection hints at team for first Test

RUGBY Lions Tour: Otago v The Lions, Carisbrook, Dunedin. Tomorrow, 8.10am on TV: Sky Sports 1

The great Lions' Test team debate, which has been at full throttle for the best part of six months, appeared to become clearer than ever yesterday.

Admittedly, this was on the premise of the team Clive Woodward announced to play Otago tomorrow and his subsequent comments - or, at any rate, reading between the lines.

Naturally, Woodward made all the correct sounds when he maintained there was no need for second/third-string players to resign themselves to a dirt-tracking role for the remainder of the tour.

"I've never known a dirt-tracking team on a Saturday. Clearly there will be players involved on Saturday who will be in the Test team. Absolutely. We've got to get rid of that kind of lingo of 'dirt-trackers'. Every game is a real opportunity to stake a claim for the Test team."

That said, it would seem clear the bulk of the Test team started in Wednesday's win over Wellington; none of them have been picked to play in Carisbrook's "House of Pain". They are now preparing exclusively for the first Test against the All Blacks in Jade Stadium on Saturday week, as they also bypass Tuesday's meeting with Southland.

This would seem an inevitable product of picking what always looked like a shadow Test team to play Wellington, for whatever reasons, perhaps because Woodward, O'Driscoll and the rest of the management, or other leading players, targeted that game and had planned a 10-day lead-in to the Test.

In any event, Geordan Murphy and Gordon D'Arcy, who do play tomorrow, might, at best, be pushing for a place on the bench, but it's hard to see many others in the mix, with the possible exceptions of some of tomorrow's group such as Steve Thompson and Danny Grewcock.

This is with the first Test in mind at any rate, even if Woodward was at pains to maintain that Charlie Hodgson, for one, was in contention, albeit when directly questioned about him.

This would mean a number of players starting only one match on tour prior to facing down the haka on Saturday week, such as Jonny Wilkinson, Jason Robinson, Gareth Thomas and Neil Back.

Wilkinson would appear to need games. His tackling was reasonably good, if not quite the vintage of old, and the two missed penalty kicks against Wellington may have been a blip. He didn't play badly at the Westpac Stadium on Wednesday, but his running and distribution lacked precision and zest, while his kicking from the hand seems unable to clear the wingers (particularly risky against the All Blacks) and leaves him resorting to low-risk, percentage kicks down the middle. He's better than that.

As for the other three, their lack of game time was due to reasons beyond Woodward's control, but, significantly, the Lions head coach repeatedly referred to the need for a "fit, fresh and injury-free" team lining up in the first Test.

Having pointed out that the All Blacks were wrapping their team in cotton wool for longer, he said modern demands meant "doing it slightly differently".

Such thinking would tally with the apparent selectorial policy of giving them a 10-day run-in to that first Test.

"It's also the end of a long season and we have to look at every individual player," he said, vowing: "I've always said that when Brian O'Driscoll runs out in the first Test he'll have behind him a well-prepared, fresh team, and I think I'm on course to do that."

So, we know O'Driscoll will be playing. Intriguingly, one could read into the signals from the team's base in Christchurch yesterday that Wilkinson might well be his midfield partner.

Woodward praised Wilkinson's performance against Wellington and explained he wanted to see Stephen Jones play in a scenario where he wasn't on the back foot, as he had been against the Maoris.

He also seemed almost too keen to praise Gavin Henson after revealing he had explained his decision in person to the Welsh star to take him off for the second time in succession.

"I've been really impressed with this guy, in every aspect of his play and his work, on and off the pitch. He's been a real pleasure to work with," said Woodward, and just in case we didn't hear him, Woodward repeated the sentiments almost word for word later in the press conference. Such love-bombing was reminiscent of the accolades heaped on Ronan O'Gara after the Bay of Plenty game: almost too gushing.

Similarly, methinks Clive doth protest too much and Gav is out of the frame.

This selection looks tough on Donncha O'Callaghan too, and Denis Hickie, but most of all on Murphy. As with outhalf and inside centre, were it a form pick he would be in the Test team ahead of Robinson, who hasn't scored a try in 15 games. But one senses it mightn't be.

If so, a Lions Test XV might read: Lewsey; Thomas, O'Driscoll, Wilkinson, Robinson; Jones, Peel; Jenkins, Thompson, White, Grewcock, O'Connell, Hill, Corry and Back, with a bench of Sheridan, Byrne, Kay, Moody, Dawson, Henson and Horgan.

At face value, Otago don't appear as strong as the Lions' provincial opponents have been up until now, given they finished eighth in last season's NPC. However, with 13 Super 12 Highlanders in their team, they actually look a notch above Wellington, and both ancient and recent history have taught us that when there's a big emotional investment in a fixture such as this, Otago usually flourish.

Certainly history shows us that the Lions are more entitled than most to call Carisbrook "the House of Pain". Dunedin, albeit the Caledonian Ground at the time, was where it all started for the Lions as the pioneers of 1888 opened their marathon tour there with two narrow victories over Otago. But in eight subsequent visits to Carisbrook, the Lions have lost five times to Otago.

Under Vic Cavanagh, the coaching genius of the 1940s, Otago pioneered the science of the ruck. They caught the Lions completely unaware in 1950 when winning 23-9, and nine years later repeated the dose 26-8.

A third successive win followed in 1966, and although Barry John and Phil Bennett in turn kicked Lions sides to wins, the pain returned in 1993.

Then, as now, Otago were unfancied facing the Lions on the Saturday before the opening Test. With a backrow of Arran Pene, Jamie Joseph and Josh Kronfeld dominant, Otago recovered from a 13-18 half-time deficit to run away with a 37-24 win.

OTAGO: G Horton; H Pedersen, N Brew, S Mapusua, M Saunders; N Evans, D Lee; C Hoeft, J Macdonald, C Dunlea; F Levi, T Donnelly; C Newby (capt), J Blackie, G Webb. Replacements: J Vercoe, J Aldworth, A McClintock, A Soakai, C Smylie, R Bambry, J Shoemark.

LIONS: G Murphy (Leicester Tigers, Ireland); D Hickie (Leinster, Ireland), W Greenwood (NEC Harlequins, England), G D'Arcy (Leinster, Ireland), S Williams (Ospreys, Wales); C Hodgson (Sale Sharks, England), C Cusiter (Borders, Scotland); G Rowntree (Leicester Tigers, England), G Bulloch (Glasgow, Scotland, capt), M Stevens (Bath, England); S Shaw (London Wasps, England), D O'Callaghan (Munster, Ireland); L Moody (Leicester Tigers, England), M Williams (Cardiff Blues, Wales), R Jones (Ospreys, Wales). Replacements: S Thompson (Northampton Saints, England), A Sheridan (Sale Sharks, England), D Grewcock (Bath, England), S Easterby (Llanelli, Wales), M Dawson (London Wasps, England), O Smith (Leicester Tigers, England), R O'Gara (Munster, Ireland).

Referee: Lyndon Bray (New Zealand).

Previous meetings: (1888) Otago 3 Lions 8; (1888) Otago 3 Lions 4; (1888) Otago 0 Lions 0; (1908) Otago 9 Lions 6; (1930) Otago 9 Lions 33; (1950) Otago 23 Lions 9; (1959) Otago 26 Lions 8; (1966) Otago 17 Lions 9; (1971) Otago 9 Lions 21; (1977) Otago 7 Lions 12; (1993) Otago 37 Lions 24.

Odds (Paddy Power): 6/1 Otago, 33/1 Draw, 1/12 Lions. Handicap odds (= Otago + 16pts) 10/11 Otago, 33/1 Draw, 1/12 Lions.

Forecast: Otago to win.