Andy Farrell is again likely to make a sprinkling of changes to the British and Irish Lions matchday 23 when unveiling his side to face the Wallabies in Saturday’s concluding third Test in Sydney’s Stadium Australia. But it will be a measure of his and his team’s intent to complete a landmark 3-0 series whitewash that the core of the Lions’ starting XV is likely to remain intact.
The Lions selection is scheduled to be announced on Thursday in the early afternoon in Sydney – early morning Irish time – and, on foot of confirmation that Joe McCarthy and Mack Hansen have resumed training and will be in consideration for selection, it would be surprising if the former was not restored to the secondrow. McCarthy had a strong 45 minutes in the first Test before being forced off with the foot injury that ruled him out of last Saturday’s dramatic 29-26 win in the MCG.
It will also be hard to omit James Ryan given his impactful 25 minutes off the bench.
Hansen was a strong candidate for the first Test in light of his all-action display in the 48-0 win over an AU/NZ Invitational XV in Adelaide and could well be named in the 23 for his Lions Test debut.
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Assistant coach Andrew Goodman hailed Hansen’s “work-rate, kick-chase, scramble defence” and communication skills. “He grew up playing a lot of 10 so he’s really smart around what he sees and making the right calls off the back of that,” said Goodman.
All in all then, without being too parochial, it certainly looks as if the Irish representation in the starting XV might even exceed last week’s record of nine, and the 11 named in the matchday squad may also be surpassed.
After all, there seems no reason to change the composition of both the starting and finishing frontrow, which maintained the scrum power that has been a feature of this tour.
No less than Maro Itoje, Tadhg Furlong deserves to start all three Tests in a row again – in his case for a third successive Lions series. Ditto Jack Conan for a second series in a row, while Tadhg Beirne has been immense to date, and so too has Tom Curry, albeit there is fierce competition at openside from Jac Morgan and Josh van der Flier.
It’s hard to believe that the Jamison Gibson-Park and Finn Russell partnership won’t be retained, and while Blair Kinghorn could also come into consideration for the left wing slot after his telling impact there, James Lowe’s left boot is an option Farrell and Co won’t discard easily.
“Cohesion versus freshness,” as Goodman admitted. “You’ve also got to reward form when guys have been playing well and are match-hardened in those Test matches. It is a balance and I’m sure we’ll have some good discussions as we always have around selecting the best 23 for the group.”
Alas and alack, as feared and as expected, the one player who has been ruled out of consideration, and for the third Test in a row, is Garry Ringrose. One of last Saturday’s more poignant sights was that of Ringrose cuddling his son Freddy on the day of his first birthday.
“He’s disappointed, as you can imagine,” said Goodman. “Garry was playing some amazing rugby through this tour ... It’s been a dream of his for so long to represent the Lions and he’s managed to do that. But he wanted to be a Test-match Lion so it’s been devastating for him.”
Asked about the influence of Farrell, Goodman spoke of his motivational skills and unifying the group
“He’s had his finger on the pulse the whole time. A big part of his philosophy as a coach is just that, to make sure everyone is all-in, all the time in terms of what we do on the field and off the field, you always add to the group. You’re always preparing the group as best you can whether you’re starting, on the bench or not involved. He’s constantly on that and he’s constantly on us as coaches to make sure we’re driving that.
“He’s a great man motivator, he’s a great man around connecting the wider staff and management group as well. I’m learning stuff off him every day, he’s an amazing coach and it’s a privilege to work underneath him.
Goodman also cited Farrell’s capacity to make training fun.
“Today we got down to training and he’d sent Fogs [scrum coach John Fogarty] down early to set up the Squid Game mini-team challenge, the whole field was covered in equipment.
“The staff were dressed up in all that kit, the speakers were all set up, a bit of fun, stuff like that to get a bit of energy back in the group.
“The mini-team stuff, the little challenges he’ll have at the start of meetings, there’s always a bit of craic, a bit of a laugh involved. It keeps the boys engaged and fresh and it’s not just going into a meeting where it’s rugby all the time. There are little bits like that that make it enjoyable as well.
“We had a squid game challenge – green light, red light – the whole field was covered in different things they could hide behind, and they had people in the top tier keeping an eye on people. It was a good craic.
And who was killed off first?
Goodman smiled and revealed: “Tom Clarkson – one of the props – hard to hide.”
