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Those ancients like myself, through copious reading and watching, have an idealised picture of the British and Irish Lions that sees the side as an examplar of brilliant and thrilling back play generated by some of the greatest halves in the history of rugby.
Oh my Roger Spong, Jackie Kyle, Cliff Morgan, Gareth Edwards, Barry John, Phil Bennett and Gregor Townsend of yesteryear…
The one thing that sticks out like a large club trying to be hidden in a jacket is the fact that the 2013 British and Irish Lions is big, very big in fact, on power players and short of the gliding, stepping, twinkle-toed, electric, flamboyant assassins (and include the wraithlike England winger Peter Jackson in the club of devastating steppers, too) of the past.
In the halves with have three journeymen players, Conor Murray (Ireland), Ben Youngs (who can very occasionally make a break playing for England) and Mike Phillips (the Welsh player who is built like a loose forward and plays his halfback position as if he were one).
Max Boyce, the wonderful rugby Welsh singer, has songs and stories about the ‘Welsh flyhalf factory.’ But the factory has gone out of business for some time. The Lions flyhalves are both essentially kickers.
Owen Farrell has shown some poise as a youngster for England, especially in their splendid win over the All Blacks. But he was found wanting for flair, inspiration and leadership in the Wales 30 – England 3 Six Nations rout at Cardiff that gave the home side the championship.
Jonathan Sexton is a neat and tidy player. He is, like Farrell, still a long way off being a controller of the game.
The selection of these halves suggests to me (and to Robbie Deans, as it happens) that the Lions are going to play an attritional and confrontational game, with power rather than speed and skill being the engine of progress, until or if (and hopefully it won’t happen) the Wallabies are smashed at the collisions.
On Wednesday, before a meeting with his selectors to consider their possible Wallaby selections, Deans had a media conference with the rugby journalists of print, online and television. Generally, media conferences aren’t worth going to. But Deans was unusually frank in his assessments about the Lions.
A journalist asked him specifically about what he made of the fact that only two number 10s were selected. Deans replied along the lines that this was no surprise to him. He felt their steady qualities fitted what he believed would be the Lions game plan which would be ‘brutal’ and ‘confrontational.’
All the selections, backs and forwards, suggested to him that the Lions would be “gain-line oriented.” He couldn’t see his opposition doing much with the ball “until they mastered the gain line.” Once this ‘gain-line rugby’ got an ascendency (if the Wallabies allowed this), once “they got behind the gain line” then they “might play some rugby.”
Their tactics, he said, would be all about “earning the right to play.”
As far as he could work out, the crucial game in the selection of the Lions was the Wales – England encounter. England were monstered. They were playing for a Grand Slam but were thrashed by a Wales side (the ultimate winners of the tournament) which two years ago had won the Six Nations Grand Slam; then had fallen away; and then come back with a vengeance.
Deans pointed out that two years ago everyone expected the bulk of the 2013 Lions side would come from Wales. And now this had happened, which has its upside for the Wallabies.
The Wallabies coaching staff have a good idea of how the Lions are going to play from all of this. And with the handful of lead-up matches the Lions are playing before the Test, they’ll be able to see if there are things in their game that can be countered or exploited.
Throughout the Super Rugby tournament, the Wallaby coaches have been thinking about their team. This constant exercise, he said, was slowly but surely producing some clarity in their thinking, although there were a number of Super Rugby games still to be played before the Wallabies contest the first Test.
He said that a squad of 22 will be selected on Sunday May 19. This squad will come together on June 3. Then on June 11 another six players will be added to the squad with the first Test looming up.
The Wallaby selections will be on form. But in the 50/50 categories, the selectors would go with the players with experience of the Wallaby systems: “In Test rugby you don’t want too much learning to be required of the players.”
And this is especially true of a Lions series. He said that in his opinion the Tests against the Lions would be a more intense rugby experience than the Rugby World Cup tournament: “Don’t be surprised by the passion. This is the ultimate rugby experience.”
He said that when he played film of the 2001 series, even experienced members of the Wallaby squad were amazed at the intensity of the play and the pressure of the Lions supporters who “make a noise for their team that no one in world rugby can equal.”
On individual players, Deans was (predictably and correctly) quite cagey. I got the impression (and it was only this) that he is looking to Israel Folau perhaps in Tests after the Lions series. If Folau stayed on in rugby, Deans said, he had no doubt he will become “a legend in the game.”
Quade Cooper? “He is working hard on his game. There is a lot of competition there in his position.” I would take this as possibly a ‘maybe no.’
Kurtley Beale? “He is training hard and is in good shape… He has been part of defining moments for the Wallabies in the past, so he might be one of those 50- 50 choices… We’ll watch him with interest when he comes back.” I took this to be a ‘maybe yes.’
In general, Deans said: “we’re in a better shape in terms of player capability, even though David Pocock and Lachie Turner are out, than we were last year.” The players “across the board” were in “better shape physically” than they were last year.
This was a media conference, and as I have noted coaches don’t usually give much away on these occasions. But there was a level-headedness and honest insight about Deans’ presentation and thoughts that should be consoling for Wallaby supporters.
“Battles are won before the battle by knowing your enemy,” the Chinese military strategist Sun-Tzu claimed.
There is no doubt in my mind that Deans has a deep insight into what the Lions will be trying to do on the field in the coming Test series.