Second Chances For the British Lions
The Test Team for the Lions’ Second Test against South Africa has just been released, with five changes in total. Scrum coach Graham Rowntree has almost made good on his threat to make changes in all three rows of the scrum, but McGeechan has restricted himself to two changes in the front-row, which will now be all-Welsh, and the introduction of Simon Shaw into the second. While Matthew Rees and Adam Jones will add a technical dimension, Shaw’s inclusion is evidently all about ballast. Hopefully the Boks will find it much more difficult to shift their maul with the twenty-stone, seven-foot giant pushing the other way.
Rob Kearney has come in for Lee Byrne, a shame for the latter, but not a particularly profound change. However, Kearney will have to be very careful about kicking, or run the ball more than he is used to if he is going to prevent Steyn and Habana exerting pressure on the Lions. There is still no certainty that Ronan O’Gara fits into the Lions ethos – unless Stephen Jones has a really poor game, I expect him to stay on the bench once again. Replacing Monye with Luke Fitzgerard was not exactly an expected move, but it is a less risky decision than including Shane Williams from the start. Fitzgerald is perfectly competent going forward and will link up well with Bowe if either come off their line. However, I worry that he might struggle defending against Habana, who will, no doubt, be a stiffer challenge he was than last Saturday.
Williams has achieved a victory of sorts in gaining a spot on the bench for the Test after a sodden game against the Emerging Springboks which yielded a poverty of chances. In the First Test, Williams might have provided a real spark. In those desperate last five minutes, it seemed that the Test could go either way. While Monye doesn’t deserve blame for the teams failure to finish – Morne Steyn did exceptionally by any measure to deny him – having Shane Williams in the arsenal does put the Lions more in charge of their own destiny, provided that the score is still close and Roberts and O’Driscoll continue their practically legendary dismantling of the South African defence.
If only all that was needed was a more perfect run-through of the First Test! Instead, the Lions will have to cope with a more alert and fitter defence, not to mention the most dominating pack in world rugby. Some South African commentators considered the first half performance by the Springboks to be one of the most perfect in history. I certainly agree with regard to John Smit’s try. If the Lions have to face those waves of attacks over the course of eighty minutes, they will lose. If however, they can control the game by winning their set-pieces, keeping the ball in the tackle (which they did brilliantly in the First Test) and putting points on the board, they have every chance to win.
O.D.: Here’s something I just learnt about Simon Shaw – he is the only lock in the history of the English Premiership to score a drop goal (against Bath in 2000). Jeremy Guscott considers him one of the best locks currently playing. Putting two and two together, you get one million; that Shaw will repeat Guscott’s feat of twelve years ago, winning the Second Lions Test against South Africa with a drop goal. At least, I reckon the odds are a million to one!
Josh Black
http://joshblack2.wordpress.com
