Tour games against provincial sides are, ultimately, footnotes in history, and history has duly proven this. Traditionally, the Lions have always been exposed to more competitive matches when touring South Africa and New Zealand, and Warren Gatland was always of the view that it was preferable for the tourists to be more battle-hardened.
True, Rassie Erasmus held back his Springboks from the two Lions games against the Sharks and one against the Stormers, but the tourists were still beaten by the South African A side.
Four years previously, New Zealand sides did not hold back and the Lions were severely tested in every game. A bleary-eyed, jet-lagged Lions even struggled against a less than mighty New Zealand Barbarians side before losing to both the Blues and the Highlanders ahead of the Test series, which they ultimately drew.
Who needs to make an impact on Ireland’s summer tour?
On their last trek to Australia 12 years ago, the Lions had five relatively comfortable wins ahead of the week of the first Test, albeit the Reds died with their boots on in a rip-roaring 22-12 defeat. Whereupon the Lions lost to the Brumbies four days before beating the Wallabies in the series opener in Brisbane and ultimately won the series 2-1. But who remembers that Brumbies loss now?
In 2001 the Lions ran up scores of 116-10 and 83-6 against Western Australia and Queensland President’s XV and also had commanding 42-8 and 41-24 wins over the Reds and the Waratahs. Yet they did have their noses bloodied by an Australian A side which beat them 28-25 a week and a half out from the first Test, which they also won in Brisbane.
The Lions’ last two games against the Brumbies have been two-point affairs and the feeling lurks that next Wednesday’s meeting in Canberra will be the toughest of the tourists’ games against the Super Rugby provinces. Hence, perhaps, it will be the most meaningful Lions selection in terms of offering hints for the first Test.
The body of evidence towards the Test selection will not be that weighty and time is suddenly running short, with Saturday’s game against the Waratahs the first of three over the ensuing eight days before they meet the Wallabies in Brisbane in a fortnight.
In some respects many of those chosen for the Waratahs game appear to be playing catch-up given next Wednesday’s game in chilly Canberra against the Brumbies – the pick of the Australian sides in Super Rugby Pacific – has the look of a dry run for the bulk of the first Test side.
The honour of captaining the Lions on Saturday could therefore be interpreted as a mixed blessing for Tadhg Beirne, in what will be his third start of the four matches to date. By contrast, his secondrow partner James Ryan has thus far been restricted to just the last quarter against the Reds in what must have been a slightly frustrating first Lions Tour for him to date.
As both Maro Itoje, the captain and real man-of-the-match against the Reds, and Joe McCarthy have laid down their markers, Beirne and Ryan especially have ground to make up among the six locks in the squad. Albeit Beirne could well be accommodated at blindside, or at least that could enhance his claims for a place in the 23.
Josh van der Flier and Jac Morgan have stood out in the last two games, but the former needs another strong outing. If Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong, McCarthy, Jack Conan, Jamison Gibson-Park and James Lowe are all being held back to start against the Brumbies, that would seem to augur well for them.
Ditto Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose, who have yet to start together, as Andy Farrell has tried four different midfield combinations including a first sighting of the Sione Tuipulotu-Huw Davies, Glasgow/Scotland centre partnership also known as ‘Huwipulotu’. But you get the feeling Saturday is the first of two Scottish and Irish auditions.
Farrell has certainly kept everyone guessing, having made 13 changes in personnel, and two positional, for the Force match, then another 13 changes against the Reds and 14 to face the Waratahs in his starting selections to date.
Then again, we could all be reading too much into all of this. The best laid plans and all that.
“I keep saying it but we have teams laid out and think we could go that way, but it changes,” said Farrell on Thursday. “Honestly, it changes daily because it isn’t just what happens in the games. Injuries, form, what you would like to see; it changes daily in regards to such a body can’t train, he’s been ill.
“You’ve got an outline and tend to stick to that. But, as I’ve been saying all along, I 100 per cent stay open-minded to let people find their way as well.”
