ENGLAND PROP JOE Marler insists that the Lions’ final midweek game against the Hurricanes on Tuesday night isn’t last chance saloon to impress Warren Gatland before the second Test against the All Blacks.
Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
Marler will be among a number of players hoping to to force their way into the Test squad for the series-defining match next weekend, as he joins Ireland captain — and Lions captain on Tuesday — Rory Best and Dan Cole in the front row.
The 26-year-old insists that it’s about the squad as a whole, and about representing the Lions rather than making personal advances.
“I don’t see it as that [last chance to impress],” he begins. “I see it as a game against the Hurricanes which the midweek team have prepared for since last Tuesday as well as helping the Test team prepare for last Saturday.
“It’s up to Gats and them to pick their team. I can only play as well as I can and do my job for the team. At times I haven’t done that on tour but I’m fully committed to doing that on Tuesday night.
“It’s about playing for the Lions.”
In terms of bonding, and the squad coming together as a whole, he says that it was slow for him at the start, but a certain Ireland player and himself clicked from the get-go.
“For me, it wasn’t until after the second or third game that I really started to get to know them.
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“I trained with Rory Best OBE from the start and we got to know each other from then. The majority of the midweek team have stayed together from the start but it wasn’t until the second or third game that we really started gelling and we really showed that last week in getting a good win against the Chiefs.
Photosport / Bruce Lim/INPHO
Photosport / Bruce Lim/INPHO / Bruce Lim/INPHO
“It has taken a little while. Getting to know everyone has been the most difficult thing of the tour and trying to play the best way you can to beat the team you are playing at the time because everyone has different ways of playing.”
The idea that the midweek side and Test side are kept separate, Marler says it can’t be denied, but there’s still a united front and sense of togetherness.
“There is [separation] because we’re preparing at different times for different games so we’re training at different times but we’re still very much around the hotel together, going out for coffees, going out for food.
“There’s separate on-field stuff like that and there’s still a united front and yeah that sounds cheesy and cliché with it all but it is. The playing group is really good and the group is getting on.
“A lot of boys have thought I was going to be a bell and a lot of boys have gone ‘well you’ve actually turned out to be alright’. Is that a compliment?
“It’s also like the people who have asked me, is there anyone who you don’t really get on with? No, because everyone’s actually a good lad. We’ve bonded pretty quickly.
“We’re all in the same boat. It’s hard being away from home, that’s the biggest thing, but I’ve chosen to be here, we’ve all chosen to be here. We could have quite easily said ‘no I’m alright’ as I’ve done in the past.
“I want to be here, we all want to be here, we all want to be part of the Lions and want to beat the All Blacks. That’s what makes it that much easier.
Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
Marler is confident in himself, that he knows what he has to do to get into the Test team.
He spoke of how Steve Borthwick has pointed out areas he needs to improve on, but at the end of the day, it’s simple: “Get on with it and try your hardest, that’s all you can do.”
If the Lions are to make a proper series out of it, they face a mammoth task in Wellington next Saturday.
Marler is relishing the challenge that lies ahead of his side though.
“Borthwick actually said today ‘it’s a lot easier to learn from a loss’ because there’s things to pick up on. Those midweek games weren’t actually a bad thing, because we pulled our fingers out.
“But in a Test match, going down 1-0 early on in the series, we’re under the pump, we’re in a position where we have to go out and win this game in order to make the tour the entire length.
“We don’t want to go into that final week having lost the series. You’ll see a reaction this week, both in training and on Saturday, more so on Saturday.”
- Additional reporting by Murray Kinsella in Wellington.
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'A lot of boys thought I was going to be a bell. They've gone ‘well you’ve actually turned out to be alright’'
ENGLAND PROP JOE Marler insists that the Lions’ final midweek game against the Hurricanes on Tuesday night isn’t last chance saloon to impress Warren Gatland before the second Test against the All Blacks.
Marler will be among a number of players hoping to to force their way into the Test squad for the series-defining match next weekend, as he joins Ireland captain — and Lions captain on Tuesday — Rory Best and Dan Cole in the front row.
The 26-year-old insists that it’s about the squad as a whole, and about representing the Lions rather than making personal advances.
“I don’t see it as that [last chance to impress],” he begins. “I see it as a game against the Hurricanes which the midweek team have prepared for since last Tuesday as well as helping the Test team prepare for last Saturday.
“It’s up to Gats and them to pick their team. I can only play as well as I can and do my job for the team. At times I haven’t done that on tour but I’m fully committed to doing that on Tuesday night.
In terms of bonding, and the squad coming together as a whole, he says that it was slow for him at the start, but a certain Ireland player and himself clicked from the get-go.
“For me, it wasn’t until after the second or third game that I really started to get to know them.
“I trained with Rory Best OBE from the start and we got to know each other from then. The majority of the midweek team have stayed together from the start but it wasn’t until the second or third game that we really started gelling and we really showed that last week in getting a good win against the Chiefs.
The idea that the midweek side and Test side are kept separate, Marler says it can’t be denied, but there’s still a united front and sense of togetherness.
“There is [separation] because we’re preparing at different times for different games so we’re training at different times but we’re still very much around the hotel together, going out for coffees, going out for food.
“There’s separate on-field stuff like that and there’s still a united front and yeah that sounds cheesy and cliché with it all but it is. The playing group is really good and the group is getting on.
“It’s also like the people who have asked me, is there anyone who you don’t really get on with? No, because everyone’s actually a good lad. We’ve bonded pretty quickly.
“We’re all in the same boat. It’s hard being away from home, that’s the biggest thing, but I’ve chosen to be here, we’ve all chosen to be here. We could have quite easily said ‘no I’m alright’ as I’ve done in the past.
Marler is confident in himself, that he knows what he has to do to get into the Test team.
He spoke of how Steve Borthwick has pointed out areas he needs to improve on, but at the end of the day, it’s simple: “Get on with it and try your hardest, that’s all you can do.”
If the Lions are to make a proper series out of it, they face a mammoth task in Wellington next Saturday.
Marler is relishing the challenge that lies ahead of his side though.
“Borthwick actually said today ‘it’s a lot easier to learn from a loss’ because there’s things to pick up on. Those midweek games weren’t actually a bad thing, because we pulled our fingers out.
“We don’t want to go into that final week having lost the series. You’ll see a reaction this week, both in training and on Saturday, more so on Saturday.”
- Additional reporting by Murray Kinsella in Wellington.
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