Despite the prominence of many of the home nations' rugby squads in the world game over recent decades, the combination of them into the Lions has rarely led to success on tour. As being selected is seen as the highest honour in international rugby on the these shores, surely the players cannot be accused of being mercenaries like their footballing compatriots. However, a couple of things that perhaps could be laid at the door of many of the Lions players is either they have a 'Lampard and Gerrard' inability to work together when the nations unite, or perhaps they are too afraid of losing their place in the presitigious line-up to put themselves out there and perhaps make mistakes? Whatever the reason, the fact remains that the Lions have only won 2 test series in the previous 36 years, showing that there is clearly a problem.
Discovering this problem is currently the job of Warren Gatland. The ex-Wales boss impressed as manager of the dragons, leading them to two Six Nations Grand Slams in 2008 and 2012, and the World Cup semi final in 2011, where they were cruelly denied a place in the final after captain Sam Warburton was wrongfully dismissed against the French. As head coach of the Lions, his first job has been assembling a squad capable of winning a test tour, a job that has been shown to be incredibly difficult in the past. Fortunately, the new coach has a wealth of talent to select from. Having an excellent knowledge of Welsh talent is particularly important, especially as they are the current holders of the Six Nations, and they correspondingly had the most representatives in the initial squad. The first announcement of the Lions squad was made on the 30th April 2013, where the squad was made up of 15 Welsh players, 10 English, 9 Irish and just the 3 from Scotland. However, as is often the case in rugby tours, withdrawals and injuries are common. As a result, the make-up of the Lions squad has changed somewhat over the last few weeks. Correct at time of publishing, the Lions contained 15 Welsh players, 13 English, 10 Irish, and 4 Scots, with many being called up either to directly replace the injured player, or as cover in case of further injuries. Not the best start to a tour, but I suppose it was to be expected.
In assessing the Lions potential to lead a successful tour down under, it is worth looking at the warm-up games as an indication of their success. The Lions embarked on the tour in May, with the first warm up game taking place on the 1st June in Hong Kong. A comprehensive 59-8 victory against the Barbarians eased the Lions into life on tour, and gave them a morale boosting victory to start the campaign off. Having taken a brief stop in Asia, the Lions moved to Australasia, playing their second warm up game in Perth on June 5th. An even more emphatic win followed, with a 69-15 success over Western Force. Unfortunately, the match was marred by two incidents involving Cian Healy, with the Irish prop firstly being accused of biting an opponent (a charge that was subsequently dropped), and then suffering a tour-ending injury. His absence, coupled with the fact that the Lions had played 3 games in a week, meant that they had a much tougher game against the Queensland Reds in Brisbane. Winning only 22-12, and suffering a number of high profile casualties (Tuilagi and Bowe), the Lions were uninspiring in victory, giving Gatland his first cause for concern.
He needn't have worried about the Lions performances. A whitewash in their next game in Newcastle against the Combined New South Wales-Queensland Country on June 11th saw the Lions return to full form, winning 64-0. Another convincing victory followed, with New South Wales Waratahs dispatched 47-17 four days later in Sydney. However, once again injuries ruined an impressive display, with Jamie Roberts hobbling off. Having looked confident and ready for the start of the test series, the Lions then suffered a sucker punch, losing their final warm-up game 14-12 against the ACT Brumbies in Canberra. This threatened to undo all of the good work of the past two weeks, and potentially undermine the confidence of this injury plagued squad.
If Warren Gatland wanted his initial selections to all be fit for the start of the first test, and therefore selected his best squad, perhaps participating in 6 pre-test warm-ups was not the wisest move. Whilst it is traditional for tours to last longer than simply the test series, to expect that no injuries would be suffered is highly unrealistic. It has been argued that these warm-up matches are essential in enabling the team to gel and get match practice and fitness before the big test games, however, there have been accusations made that the matches selected were far too easy for the Lions, meaning that little match practice was actually gained from them. Even worse, it means that the injuries that have happened whilst on the tour are ultimately for nothing, as they were initially seen as a risk worth taking for match practice. These injuries can certainly partially explain the loss in the final warm-up game, as with a weakened side very few teams would fare well. Equally, the fact that none of these replacement players have been given sufficient time to gel puts the Lions almost back to the same position they were in when they began the tour.
Whilst I agree that warm-up games, in any sport, are necessary and positive, a few general principles must be applied. Firstly, always make sure you have sufficient rest time. You cannot legislate for certain injuries in games, however, you risk exacerbating the situation by playing so many games in such a short space of time, especially in a physical game like rugby. Therefore, perhaps four warm-up games would have been sufficient, giving the players with minor knocks time to recover before exerting themselves once again. As I mentioned at the top of the post, all home nation rugby players are desperate to be involved in the Lions setup, and therefore will not want to hand over their jersey once selected. This leaves them at a much greater risk of suffering serious injury, as their desire to keep their place often overwhelms their self-preservation instinct. Secondly, make sure you select sides that will test you. It is pointless playing a Sunday league side that you will score treble figures against in a glorified training exercise. If you want to allow your players to effectively gel and gain match practice and fitness, you have to be involved in a competitive game. Otherwise there is no pressure on the players to perform. Certainly, there are elements of this in the current tour, however, it is worth noting that two of the 6 games have been very close contests, with the Lions victorious in one, and defeated in the other.
As for what this indicates about the upcoming test series, I fear for the Lions. It is a strange one, as each of the home nations are capable of beating the Aussies on their day. Therefore, you wold expect that a side of the best players of each nation combined would whitewash them. However, rarely does this seem to be the case, and with the injuries that have been suffered by the Lions in the run-up, their chances of bringing home a series victory have been cut. That being said, Warren Gatland is a fantastic coach, and if anyone can get the best out of the players they have at their disposal, he can. I will be watching, more in hope than expectation, to see if the Lions can pull off an historic victory on Saturday to give them momentum going into the second test.
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