It’s almost upon us – the first test of the long-awaited British and Irish Lions game against Australia and I’m intrigued as to how this might go.
I’ve got to admit, our first warm-up match against Argentina didn’t exactly fill me with confidence – we just weren’t at the races and it showed we made some silly mistakes and ended up losing 28-24 against what is a good side. Despite this though, we are more than capable of beating them on our day and I think we were a little complacent.
The games that have followed have been against much weaker opposition who we have steamrolled, so the first test will certainly be interesting.
Australia Not The Force They Once Were
Now after the last few games, we appear to have got into our groove. Coach Andy Farrell will likely have a clearer idea of how he wants to line up and there have been some very encouraging individual performances and partnerships developing.
Against Australia this will be crucial – especially as they will be up for it on their home turf and, while they are not the team they once were, if we’re not careful they could still spring a surprise.
Wallabies coach, Joe Schmidt has named an admittedly under-strength side, with calf injuries both sidelining poweful lock Will Skelton and flanker Rob Valentini, though, Nick Champion de Crespigny is set to make his debut at number six.
Harry Wilson will skipper Australia at number eight and Nick Frost and Jeremy Williams make up an encouraging second row. I think we will need to be on guard against an exciting midfield partnership of Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and Len Ikitau.
What Can We Expect From The Lions?
For me, it is all about how we start and silencing what will likely be a raucous home crowd as early as possible. Making sure we eradicate simple errors and communicating well in defence will be key to keeping the Wallabies out – something that cost us dearly against a slick, well-drilled Argentina side.
Australia have similar tools in their locker, though I think in the three games that followed the Argentina match, we have improved and, certainly going forward, we should have no problem creating chances.
I’m not at all surprised to see that Farrell has named Scot, Finn Russell at fly-half, though the most intriguing talking point was who would take the open-side flanker berth. This has gone to England’s Ben Currie, though there is great depth off the bench from Ireland’s Josh van der Flier and Wales’ Jac Morgan.
Ireland have eight starters (seven from Leinster) – notably the ever increasingly impactful, Garry Ringrose, with four from England and three from Scotland.
There is no doubt that this is a talented squad and if we click, then we could see a record points tally. I’ll be watching this with interest.