RUGBY/Lions Tour: First there was the phoney war, then there were the opening skirmishes. Now it starts to get serious. Outside of the Almighty All Blacks themselves, there's no fiercer challenge to a touring team, and especially the prized scalps of the Lions, than the Maoris. This is going to be fun.Gerry Thornley reports from Hamilton
For the first time the Maoris have been given first choice of the players who qualify by bloodline to New Zealand's indigenous people. Their whole focus has been this game.
Accordingly there are nine All Blacks in their starting line-up and another three on the bench. Probable starters in the forthcoming Test series are tight-head Carl Hayman and this season's Super 12 leading try scorer Rico Gear, not so much in form as on fire, and others such as Jono Gibbes and Marty Holah who will be competing for a place in the All Blacks' Test squad.
Outside of the Tests, this looks like being the Lions' toughest game. And that's often been the way of things. The Lions have won all seven meetings with the Maoris, but six of those have been by six points or less. There have been some roughhouse affairs, and you sense this has the potential to go over the edge as well, but there have been some epics also, none better than the last one.
Two and a half games into the 1993 tour, Gavin Hastings' Lions were getting the mother of all hidings, as the Maoris raced into a 20-0 lead which would have been seven points more at half-time but for a last-ditch tackle by Ben Clarke.
But with Jason Leonard on to shore up the front row and Hastings, Ieuan Evans and Rory Underwood cutting loose in the back three, the tourists produced a whirlwind comeback to snatch victory. First Hastings put Evans over, then the Welsh wing wizard ran flat across field behind his team-mates to link with Hastings and send Underwood racing in from 50 metres out, before Hastings himself muscled over for the match-winning try.
The Maoris will be feeding on all their near misses. The theory among some of the New Zealand pundits is that they have good backs but are limited up front. My New Plymouth taxi driver (usually the best barometer of local knowledge) reckons it's the other way around.
Given the presence of Hayman and Corey Flynn in the frontrow, not to mention Gibbes and Holah in the backrow, the taxi driver would seem to have a point. But then again, any backline with the pacy Gear, the rejuvenated Leon MacDonald, the always solid Caleb Ralph, and of course Carlos Spencer to spring from the bench, oughtn't to be short of a running threat of two.
Most probably a good combination of both then.
If the Lions thought the collision area was fairly full-on before now, it's certain to go up a notch in Hamilton tomorrow. And if they don't take a leaf out of the second-half manual in new Plymouth from Martin Corry, Donncha O'Callaghan and co they'll be in trouble.
"It will be a physical, but we have named a fresh, strong side this afternoon who will respond well to what will be an intense game. We are very much focused on going game by game, working through the combinations, working as a unit and giving each of the guys the opportunity to challenge for Test places," said forwards coach Andy Robinson.
In what is a strong-looking selection - especially in a muscular tight five - which still keeps some of their powder dry, all of this is true. It's a massive game for all of them, and in the context of obtaining a Test starting place, particularly so it would appear for a number of individuals, such as Gordon D'Arcy, partnered with Brian O'Driscoll and a live contender to do so in the Tests, and Simon Taylor and Julian White (the Scarlet Pimpernels of the tour to date). While no one would rule Matt Dawson out of the Tests - and least of all to his face.
It will be intriguing to see how Shane Williams goes. Playing more for himself and to an adoring gallery in the draw with Argentina at the Millennium Stadium, physically he would seem the most challenged Lion of all out here, but then again he did his dancing routine to mesmeric effect in the World Cup and last autumn against the All Blacks.
The multi-talented Simon Shaw is a dark horse to make the Test secondrow alongside Paul O'Connell, but then again all the locks are, while such is the rising bar for the outhalves (partly down to Jonny's mere presence), it would be no surprise if Stephen Jones takes the baton from Charlie Hodgson.
With nine players making their first tour appearances, there should also be plenty of hunger in the performance if, admittedly, a little rustiness individually and collectively once more.
No looking ahead to this game would be complete without reference to the referee Steve Walsh. There's a growing sense of paranoia about the home officiating which, publicly at any rate, the Lions have not expressed, but the sense of paranoia is possibly most acute about Walsh.
He's a fine referee, who will always try to let a game flow, but nearly all his interventions in the two games so far as a touch judge have gone against the Lions and he was at the centre of a pitchside World Cup storm when England briefly played with 16 men against Samoa. This, eh, concern, will hopefully prove unfounded.
And then there's the Carlos Spencer factor. This is a concern, but then again not a concern. No rugby match would be duller with the presence of this man and his stunning repertoire of handling tricks, vision and pacey eye for a gap, all the more so in broken play.
On such a potentially emotional scale as this - his last representative appearance in New Zealand before a three-year sojourn with Northampton - he could, as ever, be a liability or a match-winner.
When he is introduced from the bench, there'll be a frisson of excitement. The alarm bells will ring. This could be fun. Set the alarm clocks.
MAORIS: Leon MacDonald; Rico Gear, Rua Tipoki, Luke McAlister, Caleb Ralph; David Hill, Piri Weepu; Deacon Manu, Corey Flynn, Carl Hayman, Ross Filipo, Sean Holneck, Jono Gibbes (capt), Marty Holah, Angus MacDonald. Replacements: Scott Linklater, Greg Feek, Wayne Ormond, Daniel Braid, Craig McGrath, Carlos Spencer, Neil Brew.
LIONS: Josh Lewsey (England); Tom Shanklin (Wales), Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland) capt, Gordon D'Arcy (Ireland), Shane Williams (Wales); Stephen Jones (Wales), Matt Dawson (England); Andy Sheridan (England), Steve Thompson (England), Julian White (England), Simon Shaw (England), Paul O'Connell (Ireland), Richard Hill (England), Martyn Williams (Wales), Simon Taylor (Scotland). Replacements: Shane Byrne (Ireland), Gethin Jenkins (Wales), Ben Kay (England), Michael Owen (Wales), Dwayne Peel (Wales), Ronan O'Gara (Ireland), Shane Horgan ( Ireland).
Referee: Steve Walsh (New Zealand).
Previous meetings: 1930: Maoris 13 Lions 19. 1950: Maoris 9, Lions 14. 1959: Maoris 6, Lions 12; 1966: Maoris 14, Lions 16. 1971: Maoris 12, Lions 23. 1977: Maoris 19, Lions 22. 1993: Maoris 20, Lions 24.
Forecast: Lions to win.
NZ Maoris v Lions, Waikato Stadium, Hamilton, tomorrow, 8.10 Irish time. On TV: Sky Sports 1, On Radio: RTÉ (MW and LW)
