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The Lions will leave the sparkling rugby to All Blacks when they arrive in New Zealand – but the tourists could well win the work-rate battle, writes James Harrington.
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His Imperial Galactic Rugby Overlord Steve Hansen wasted no time in laying into Warren Gatland’s Lions’ squad for the looming tour of New Zealand.
Within hours of the reveal of the Lions at Syon, Hansen had questioned the omission of Dylan Hartley. He later suggested that there were no surprises in the 41-man selection.
Gatland, he said, had shown his hand – and we all have a season of Warrenball Redux to look forward to.
Which would be depressing.
At first glance, it’s hard to argue. Sixteen of the 41 players – a shade under 40% of those on Gatland’s squad sheet – were also on the plane to Australia back in 2013. That’s a big number, especially over the four-year Lions-tour cycle. Equally, there are some big, big guys in the party, all ready to squeeze their massive frames into XXL or larger Lions jerseys. And few of them are Beauden Barrett-subtle in their rugby style.
And yet, this is not a reboot of 2013 squad, and Hansen knows it. Yes, the Lions circa 2013 was pure smash-and-smash-again-then-grab rugby that worked for long enough to beat Australia.
Fast forward to 2017. New Zealand are superior in every conceivable way – and innumerable inconceivable ways – to Australia four years ago. Even the tourists’ dirt-tracker midweek games are against opponents superior in every conceivable way to Australia four years ago.
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As a result, Lions tactics must be better in every conceivable way to Australia four years ago. So there’s no wonder that, with preparation time farcically short, Gatland has assembled a squad of strong characters in both mind and body. Those players who pass for rugby wizards in the English, Welsh, Irish and Scottish game have been left behind in favour of fighters and grafters and never-say-diers.
Look at the clubs the players come from. Only Elliot Daly plays for Premiership leaders Wasps, a side that picks up try-scoring bonus points for fun and boasts the competition’s leading try-scorer in Christian Wade. Hell, even Eddie Jones has left most of Wasps’ backline brilliance at home for England’s tour of Argentina.
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There’s a reason for the double snub. Wasps rely on their ability to score a shit-tonne of points and hope they concede no more than a shit-tonne-minus-one. It makes for exciting, thrill-a-minute club rugby at the Ricoh, but it ain’t going to work in internationals. And it really, really ain’t going to work against the All Blacks.
If you want to see what this year’s Lions will be like, look instead at Saracens, who supply six of this year’s New Zealand tourists.
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They may rarely spontaneously Beaudify opponents into dazzled oblivion, but they will regularly – through sheer force of will – grind them into submission over the course of 80 minutes.
In this year’s European Champions Cup semifinal in Dublin, they kettled two-time European champions Munster from first whistle until last. The Irishmen dominated both possession and territory but grew frustrated, and then desperate, as that dual advantage failed to tell. And Saracens countered clinically.
Similar to Wasps in their pomp and circumstance era between 2004 and 2008, when they won four Premiership titles and two European crowns with a ragtag bunch of Oakland A’s-style misfits, or Leicester from a few years’ earlier still, when Martin Johnson’s death eyebrows ruled Welford Road and the Tigers pack ruled everyone else, Saracens have distilled something that smells like team spirit.
It’s that selfsame will that Gatland wants imprinted on his players’ souls. It’s almost All Blacks-like in ethos, but very typically English in character.
The Lions will leave the individual brilliance to their opponents – who are far better suited for that role, anyway. But they will work as a unit to stifle as much of it as possible from can ’til can’t.
Hansen knows that New Zealand will face a team stronger than any they have played since long before the 2015 World Cup. He comprehends full well that the Super Rugby sides lined up for the dirt-tracker games will face a team less willing to give up yards, feet or inches than any they usually meet. That will fight for every blade of grass.
Gatland’s Lions will be an immoveable object in New Zealand. We’ll find out what happens when they meet the All Blacks’ unstoppable force.
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