Ian McGeechan plotting a Lions comeback
Right then. Crunch time. Do or Die. Must Win. Whatever you want to call it.
This is the situation that the Lions face now. Having lost the first test (I’ll come to that in a minute) the Lions know that a loss in the second test will mean that everything they have worked towards for the last few months will be for nothing. All the promise shown and the undefeated mid-week record will count for nothing. It’s all about this game. And I genuinely believe we have a real chance to snatch this. And indeed the series. First, lets begin with last week.
It’s really disappointing that we lost. And we lost it in 2 key areas. Firstly, the forwards. In the build up to this series, it was always believed that the South African threat would be at it’s greatest in the front line. It is for this exact reason that certain selections were made. It’s part of the reason why O’Connell was selected as captain. Yet, in the first test, our forwards were utterly dominated by the SA pack, and that ultimately laid the foundation for the SA win. We can argue until we’re blue in the face about the referring in the scrum, and I don’t know enough about scrummaging to tell you what is right or wrong. But I do know that we were ‘owned’ in that area. In my view, Vickery was pulled off a little late. By the time Adam Jones appeared, the damage had been done. It’s a shame Sheridan wasn’t available. I think the changes that have been made for the second test are right on the money. The inclusion of Shaw, will add some of the weight and grunt to the pack that was missing last week. And hopefully, Jones will fair better against The Beast. As the Saffers have the best line out in the world, you know that they will always steal a couple of line outs from you anyway, so at hooker, Rees’ scrummaging ability was a better bet then Mears’ line out accuracy.
The second area was goal kicking. I distinctly remember that in the 1997 series, Neil Jenkins (a fly half) was selected at the unfamiliar position of full back primarily for his goal kicking ability. And that ability went a long way towards winning the series. Now, I’m a fan of Jones. In general play, he’s definitely the bast option the Lions have, but he’s got to land his goals. He missed a couple of very kickable goals (for today’s standards) and we lost be 5 points. I think it’s harsh to judge him so, but then, this is professional rugby.
The good news, is that the back line was awesome. We out scored the Boks 3 tries to 2 and broke their line on numerous occasions. If it wasn’t for some monumental try saving tackles, the Lions would have won the game by 10 points, and in that respect, I’m disappointed that Monye has been dropped completely. Perhaps he should have protected the ball better, but he still possesses the talents that got him selected in the first place, and you can be sure that given another opportunity, he’ll finish it off. I’m not entirely convinced by Fitzgerald, and Williams is past his best. In the centres, things are looking very rosy. It’s fantastic to see O’Driscoll back to his mercurial best, and he will be a key figure in tomorrow’s game. His partnership with Roberts is lethal, and the envy of any test playing nation.
So predictions predictions. The Saffers have been quite public about their chances/expectance of winning the series and it is going to take a mammoth performance from the Lions to over turn that, particularly at altitude, but I do genuinely believe they can do it though. Providing we can provide the backs with some quality possession, they will be able to do ‘their thing’. I’m confidently going for a Lions victory, by 10 points. There are a lot of ‘ifs’ in there though.
