Lions will need to stage their own full-on scrum sessions
BRENDAN GALLAGHER VERDICT
LIONS trips to South Africa are glorious in so many ways but one or two myths emerge that need correcting.
Although the Test matches are without fail thunderous, epic and often historic – as good as this sport or ours can produce – the provincial games can be big letdowns and much less competitive than you might imagine or want.
Yesterday's 56-14 stroll against the Sigma Lions at Ellis Park –and surely an empty floodlit Ellis Park is the most forlorn sporting sight of this entire Pandemic nightmare – was entirely in keeping with action away from the Tests that has become the norm in South Africa.
Let's just take the last 50 years or so, the last five tours. In the 62 non-Test games thus far – including last night – the Lions have won on 59 occasions. There was a 14-6 defeat against Transvaal in 1968 and a 35-30 loss to the Blue Bulls in 1997 while they drew 13-13 with the Emerging Springboks last time out in 2009.
Outwardly that's an incredible record but the opposition has often been surprisingly poor considering South Africa produce more quality rugby players than anywhere on earth. Throughout the last two tours South Africa didn't allow any Springboks squad members to play for their Provinces or Super Rugby sides and indeed that was periodically the case in previous trips as well.
And sometimes you never really know who you are playing. The South Afican Lions used to be Transvaal, a name we can all conjure with, but then became the Gauteng Lions which sounds vaguely like a chocolate bar. At one stage the Lions changed species altogether and became the Cats – as opposed to the Cheetahs over in Bloemfontein – before they restyled themselves as the Lions pure and simple. Until this week that is. In a splendid bit of business the financial services company Sigma – and if they can't sniff a nice little earner who can? – decided to back the home side for this game which was lapped up by the TV audience over here, thus ensuring a torrent of namechecks from the commentators and pundits needing to differentiate between the two prides on view.
The downgrading of these pre- Test matches in recent decades is one of the reasons why the idea of splitting a ‘South Africa tour' with Argentina and playing three of four games on the other side of the south Atlantic has often been mooted. It's why in 2009 the attendances outside of the Tests were so disappointing and that's despite the presence of advance platoons of Lions supporters.
“I'm beginning to think Courtney might well be front runner at blindside”
Don't expect any major challenge to the Lions prior to the first Test on July 24 which is possibly a mixed blessing. They will have the opportunity to build a winning momentum but some of their combinations will not have been tested in the white heat of battle.
But the Lions need to make these first five games work for them, identify exactly what they are looking for, what moments are relevant and count towards the Test series. The scores frankly are irrelevant.
What to make of last night? There are a good number of positives. Josh Adams' continuing excellence and that one early glimpse of Louis Rees-Zammit before his supply of ball curiously dried up. There was Courtney Lawes' versatility at blindside flanker and after a long and impressive shift against Japan last week I'm beginning to think the Saints man might well be the front runner at blindside flanker.
Hamish Watson did what Hamish Watson has been doing for years now, it's just that in an erratic Scotland side some critics haven't noticed his world class contributions. Tom Curry, when he finally makes his tour debut, will have to be at his stupendous best to claim a starting place ahead of Watson.
Finn Russell pulled the strings nicely at ten and unleashed a couple of trademark kick-passes with consummate ease but his combination with Owen Farrell didn't look overly slick. That 10/12 combo is possibly the most difficult to forge for a scratch Lions side on a new modern-day quickfire Lions tour yet it's often the most important.
Farrell is not a crash ball runner – certainly not against Boks defenders – so the Lions need to stop that nonsense straight away with him but he is a thoroughly competent all round centre and the best goal-kicker in the party, better even than Dan Biggar.
So how badly does Gatland want Farrell in the team? My gut feeling is that it depends on who gets the nod at ten. If Dan Biggar starts I can see the big units Robbie Henshaw and Bundee Aki getting the nod with Farrell on the bench. If he goes for Russell, Farrell is more likely to start at 12 with Henshaw moving to 13 and just getting the nod ahead of Chris Harris who is a real bolter for Test selection. All still to play for.
Another little pointer, tactically, for me was a flurry of long throws over the top from Jamie George. The hookers normally enjoy South Africa at lineout time – dry ball fizzing through the thin air at altitude – and it looked to these eyes that the Lions were trying something out.
“That 10/12 combo is the most difficult to forge for a scratch Lions side”
If you have big units to collect the ball when you throw long why not? It moves the ball away from the Boks' gargantuan pack and frees up a little space. Two of England's great modern-day wins –Ireland in Dublin 2019, New Zealand in Japan at RWC2019 – were kick-started with long throws over the top in the early minutes to get Munu Tuilagi involved.
All this is good and encouraging but one of the problems with these preliminary matches is that the areas where South Africa are strongest – scrummaging, front five physicality – and where the Lions need testing all the time are invariably the areas where they meet only token resistance.
You fancy the Lions will have to stage a couple of full-on full contact, look away now, scrummaging fests in training. It would go slighty against the current calls for less contact training but these Lions need to be fully prepared.
