The British & Irish Lions management have called for a rethink on tour scheduling following their team’s sluggish opening display on Saturday. The Lions hierarchy say the squad need more time to prepare, having been required to play their opening game within 80 hours of arriving in New Zealand.
John Spencer, the tour manager, remains confident his players will swiftly improve but he wants this Lions squad to be the last to embark on a major series on the opposite side of the world within a week of the domestic season ending.
“I certainly hope so,” Spencer said when asked if he wanted future tour itineraries to be amended in the light of his side’s lacklustre 13-7 win against a Provincial Barbarians XV in Whangarei.
There are also those who believe the Lions should reduce the amount of corporate and community work they do and allocate more time to their rugby. The players, still struggling to shake off the effects of jet lag, spent Sunday morning in Waitangi, where they received a stirring Maori welcome before returning to Auckland to prepare for their second game of the tour, against the Blues on Wednesday.
Spencer, who said the squad’s thoughts and prayers were with the victims of the London Bridge terror attack, is hoping the Lions will be allocated a more helpful slot in the global timetable from 2021 onwards.
“We have always been disappointed in the preparation time,” the former England centre said. “It is arranged for us and we have to take our lot. We hope that, when the global calendar is eventually resolved, just once every four years we will get an extra week at home.”
The Lions manager, however, has defended the decision to sign up to a tough 2017 schedule and not to fly out players early to prepare for the opening fixture. “We think it can be very divisive to split the squad and then try to get it back together again. It isn’t a great difficulty to bond four nations but you don’t want to add distractions to that.
“We don’t mind the schedule of matches and it is welcomed by the coaches and players. You cannot come to New Zealand and try to win Test matches without being tested to the core. I don’t think we need any knee-jerk reactions.
“The first match of the tour is always difficult because you have just travelled. I remember in 1971 we won all our provincial matches here. We won 20 provincial matches but lost the first one in Queensland. These things happen.”
However, Sam Warburton, the Lions captain, has acknowledged that his team need to play significantly better against the Blues and the Crusaders. “We want to be tested,” the Welsh flanker said. “We don’t want to be playing teams where we’re winning by 40 points. They’re the best teams for us right now to compare.
“On Saturday we lost the physical battle in the first half and I don’t think we won enough collisions in defence. That’s the way it is over here; nothing is going to happen easily. We’ve got three weeks now to get as good as we can. It’s how good we are in three weeks’ time that’s really important.”
Ben Te’o confirmed several Lions players were feeling the effects of jet lag before and during the match on Saturday. “The boys are still a little bit jet-lagged but no excuse,” the centre said.
“We had to come here and play hard. They were a good side and we got tested. If I’m honest, the last three days have been really tough: waking up at 1am, some guys getting one or two hours’ sleep.
“Boys were really, really tired before training, before games. But we’ve got to push through and over the next few days it’s going to get a lot easier. The guys playing on Wednesday will probably be feeling a lot better.”
