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Lions First Test – The Breakdown

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THE British and Irish Lions have reached the business end of the tour this week. Saturday at 2pm, Paul O Connell will lead his team out for the first test against the World Champion Springboks.

The Test will be the 44th encounter between the Springboks and the Lions since 1891. South Africa has won 21, the Lions 16 and 6 Tests have been drawn.

 The Test will also be the fourth between the Springboks and the Lions to be played in Durban. The Springboks have won two of the previous three (1924 and 1962)

and the Lions one (1997). More importantly though, the first test is at sea level meaning of all three encounters this is the one the Lions need to win most.

Every man and his dog has attempted to pick his Lions team since the squad was announced on April 20. Now, two months later, at the time of going to press, we still do not have the XV. My idea of the side is on the left there and is similar to many analyst teams at this stage. There are only a few spots in the team that are up for grabs based on lack of alternatives, (Heaslip) to outstanding performances (Bowe).

For those of you who do not watch much South African rugby let me fill you in a bit. It’s hard, it’s tough and it’s fast. Backs have the size of typical forwards and forwards have the pace of backs. The number eight for the Springboks, Pierre Spies, would be a champion sprinter if he lived in this country, factor in his 107kg weight and you can see why he will be the key player in this test series.

The winning and losing of the Test series is going to be the breakdown. The rucks and mauls. Mauls cannot be pulled down anymore, meaning O Connell will feel at home. The problem then of course if how do you set mauls up? Botha and Matfield in the second row for the Boks are the best pairing in the world. There will be competition at line out time and it may even out. However the real problem for the Lions on tour so far has been the rucks. The problem is two fold. The management team are playing a loose game. A Wasps style game. Meaning no matter who you are, forward or back you need to ruck at all times. This allows for quick ball, when it works. In my opinion it is too much of an ask for four sets of players to play that game in such a short space of time, yet Saturday will tell a lot.

The second issue at ruck time is the refereeing. The first test is being marshalled by Bryce Lawrence. The New Zealand will allow players to go off their feet and hold on to the ball a little longer than we see up here.

This means that the rucks are going to be immensely physical. The recycling of ball will be where it is won. That and stopping the South Africa midfield which normally contains two to three forwards. The rucking arts of the southern hemisphere are new to the Northern boys so expect them to try the mauls and some tactical kicking. Expect too, Fourie du Preez, the Boks number nine to box kick all day long.  This allows pressure to be put on the Lions and will make things even tighter.

Where can it be won? Well the Lions will hope that their scrum can get the upper hand. The line outs, at best for the Lions, will be even. The back lines can only function off of the forwards play, so it basically comes down, as most modern games do, to the back row.

Because Tom Croft has to play, I have gone with David Wallace at seven. He could yet be the man to stop Spies.

The game is going to be epic. The Boks play a great style of rugby and Munster fans can be proud to see Paul lead the team out. They have been waiting as long as us for this one. At least now the Lions can do something about it. Sit back, enjoy, games like these come four years apart.

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