Murray Kinsella reports from Wellington
WHILE WARREN GATLAND understands how motivated his players will be to bounce back against the All Blacks in the second Test, it seems unlikely that the entire starting XV will survive after the first Test defeat in Auckland.
Changes are on the cards and speaking after the Lions had arrived in Wellington ahead of Tuesday’s clash with the Hurricanes and the second Test in the capital city, Gatland name-checked Maro Itoje and Sam Warburton as two possible inclusions this weekend.
Both players came off the bench in the first Test and Gatland stated his approval of their impact on the game.
“We might have to shake it up a little bit,” said Gatland when asked how the Lions would approach selection for the second Test.
“I think someone like Maro Itoje made an impact coming off the bench and was very physical. I thought Sam Warburton was excellent as well at the breakdown when he came on.”
Gatland also pointed out that players involved against the Hurricanes on Tuesday could force their way into the Test 23, with Liam Williams and Elliot Daly having achieved as much with impressive performances against the Chiefs last week.
“We’re not set in stone at the moment,” said Gatland. “We know that there’s potentially a couple of changes that we need to make and we want to see how the team performs on Tuesday night, and those guys are given the opportunity to perform on Tuesday night.
“That’s a big game for them, but we felt that we may need to make a couple of changes up front and give some other players a chance to impress in the backline as well.”
The obvious way to introduce the dynamic Itoje into the starting XV would be as a direct replacement for Alun Wyn Jones, who struggled at times against the All Blacks on Saturday.
However, the inclusion of George Kruis on the bench for Tuesday night suggests that his starting position is not 100% safe either, with Courtney Lawes and Iain Henderson offering further options in the second row.
While Itoje is not recognised as a frontline lineout caller – he led England’s set-piece against Ireland in the Six Nations this year – Gatland says the Saracens man has been calling lineouts in training and it wouldn’t be a huge issue.
In the back row, the possible introduction of Warburton could mean that first Test captain Peter O’Mahony would miss out, the Welshman having replaced the Munster captain in the second half at Eden Park.
Gatland could team Warburton up with Sean O’Brien and Taulupe Faletau in the back row as he seeks a greater edge at the breakdown, after the All Blacks dominated that area of the first Test.
“They were pretty brutal in that breakdown area and we need to match fire with fire if we’re going to do well on Saturday night,” said Gatland.
The Lions’ back three showed their class on the counter attack against the All Blacks, although Gatland rated fullback Liam Williams as “mixed” after he produced a handful of errors in the second half.
The centre pairing of Ben Te’o and Jonathan Davies was strong for the Lions, but out-half Owen Farrell looked to be short of his very best in the 10 shirt and Johnny Sexton remains an option there.
Gatland and his coaching staff have big calls to make across the park, but they are cognisant of the fact that if they back the players involved in the first Test defeat, they could well get a huge response for showing that faith.
“Look, there might be one or two changes in terms of that,” said Gatland.
“You always want, as a player, if you felt things haven’t gone as well physically as you would have liked in terms of maybe the opposition’s got the better of you, you want a chance to rectify that the following week and improve things.
“We’ve got to get the balance of those, if we do make changes, of giving players the opportunity and those who did play in the first Test to potentially redeem themselves.”
It will be a fascinating selection from the Lions and it could make or break this Test series.
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He should be rediscovering his form & fitness with Munster not with the national team. Shouldn’t be a separate rule for him no matter how good he is at his best. Just lowers squad standards….
@ℝ: Who should be in the squad ahead of him, do you think? Marmion is barely back from injury and McGrath is still out for a few more weeks.
@Conor Matthews: Cooney and Blade, the two form Irish scrumhalves by a country mile… and especially for the Italy game. The pace the pair play is perfect for an ireland game to run Italy ragged, and test their fringe defences as unlike Murray both delight at sniping runs at defences. Cooney may be light on Caps but he has loads of experience having played for three provinces and excelled at all…
Yep, no sympathy for Murray or Sexton, thats 2 games they havent performed. Get in the queue and earn your places again boys. And this is why Joe should be rotating the squad more often. Like it was mentioned above, get your game time at the provinces…..and then bring that game to the national team, if youre good enough. Class is permanent, Joe says, yeah but who puts BOD (no disrespect meant) in at 13 these days. Form…form…form
@Trev: sexton was poor v England but he was running the game v Scotland until he got injured. We’d have won by 30 if he’d have stayed on.
@Chris Mc: complete tosh. Apart from the assist to stockdale sexton was bang average. Kicking out of hand was poor and his kick from the tee was embarrassing. He wasn’t as poor as Murray but don’t kid yourself if you think he’s in any better form. Last decent shift sexton put in was against NZ for club and country.
@Chris Mc: yes he got injured, is that your or my fault? No. As the saying goes……youre only as good as your last game. He’s had 2 now, & so has Murray. There is plenty of class waiting in the wings (but thats another discussion)…
Just re-read the headline, that is just pish! Either he can play at the highest level or…he cant. Simple until he gets back up there. But do not waste international minutes on him on the off-chance that he is going to take another 10 or so games to rediscover his form. Same with Sexton….Joe its time to start cracking the whip!!!
@Trev: I think Joe Schmidt will start Sexton and Murray.I also think he should
I’d really like to see the other players get a chance to prove their worth under pressure. What is going to happen in the RWC if a key member gets injured? The tournament is beyond Ireland realistically, so give Carbery etc starting roles. We don’t want a repeat of player burnout before the finals stages
Murray’s been way off it the last number of games ever since Exeter visited Limerick. Hope he rediscovers but can’t be at the expense of Ireland.