It is so long since the All Blacks lost a Test at Eden Park that Maro Itoje was not even born the last time it happened. In July 1994 Wet Wet Wet were at No1 in the UK singles charts with Love Is All Around and rugby union was still, officially, an amateur
Dee Gordon Youth Jersey game. Should the British & Irish Lions win in Auckland on Saturday it really will be a special achievement.
For Lions fans in search of omens 23 years on, it could scarcely be any wetter across New Zealand’s north island than it is right now. They should also be encouraged by the side Warren Gatland has chosen: this is one that will not mind a greasy ball and has a notably hard, cussed look to it.
Picking Liam Williams at full-back and Alun Wyn Jones at lock has merely enhanced its no-nonsense physical edge, with Peter O’Mahony’s appointment as the captain further reinforcing the theme. Not starting Itoje is clearly a big call but his impact from the bench will be
http://www.authenticnewyorkislanders.com/authentic-anthony-beauvillier-jersey significant. As for Elliot Daly on the wing ahead of George North, and Owen Farrell at 10, it hardly confounds the evidence of this tour to date.
Rowntree also reckons O’Mahony would show equal commitment whether he was leading out the Lions or sitting on the midweek bench. “He’s exactly the character you need – a guy who would get on with things if he wasn’t involved in the Test squad.”
Does he ever relax? “Off the field you don’t see him growling at people in the dining room,” Rowntree said. “You need guys who can flick in and out of intensity and he has got that. This is as intense a gig as I
have ever done. We seem to have been in 100 hotels in the last week. You need to switch off.”
The matchday squad as a whole will certainly not take a backward step and should add up to more than the sum of its parts. In isolation, for example, New Zealanders will probably regard Jamie George, George Kruis, Jones, Itoje and O’Mahony as inferior to their All Black equivalents. Together, however, they could just hold the key to the Test should the Lions lineout players do more than simply hold their own.
In 2005 the lineout collapsed completely in the first Test; they lost five of their own before half-time partly as a consequence of a belated change to their calls because of fears the All Blacks had cracked the codes. This time Kruis, George and Itoje have the advantage of playing
Adidas Brock Nelson Womens Jersey together for Saracens, the European champions.
Kruis and his mentor, Steve Borthwick, reckon New Zealand will struggle to unravel their secrets this time. “The idea is to create a system that is tough to recognise and durable under any circumstance,” Kruis said. “Once you’ve analysed the opposition you tweak it but we’ve shown we’re there or thereabouts. I hope we don’t have to change our calls.”
The England forward has also been doing some intensive homework. “If you look at the stats, they’re the best in attack and second best in defence. We know they’ve got five or six good jumpers in the line. Good teams have come down here and won the ball but not provided great delivery to theirs nines and 10s. We want to be a great team and win ball and get good delivery.”
It should also concern the All Blacks that the Lions have Borthwick involved. Nobody does a more painstaking amount of homework than the former England captain and the mind spools back to Japan’s famous 2015 World Cup win over South Africa in Brighton. That was a supposedly
Bruins Youth Jersey impossible assignment, just like this one, and had Borthwick’s technical fingerprints all over it.
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It may be among the reasons why the All Blacks are rushing Kieran Read straight back into the Test arena following his prolonged absence with a broken thumb.
“In Kieran Read they have a brilliant caller, someone who identifies space incredibly well,” Borthwick said.
“That combination of Brodie Retallick, Read and Whitelock works very well together …they’ve been the best in the world for the last few years.”
For all that, Borthwick does not rate New Zealand as unbreakable. Asked if they could be put under pressure by the players at the Lions’ disposal his reply was instant. “Yes, but we’ve got to be smart and we’ve got to be able to adapt while we’re on the pitch. Play at one end of the spectrum and people know what you’re going to do. You’ve got to
http://www.officialcoloradoavalanche.com/ be able to move along that.”
Right there is the Lions’ big challenge; to keep the All Blacks guessing. Gatland’s men have the ability to do precisely that.
