Owen Farrell insists the British & Irish Lions will not arrive in New Zealand underprepared despite taking off just two days after the end of the domestic season as part of a gruelling tour schedule that has come in for fierce criticism of late.
The Lions fly from Heathrow on Monday and land on Wednesday – stopping overnight in Melbourne – leaving only three days to prepare for the tour opener against the New Zealand Barbarians. In all, Warren Gatland’s troops play 10 matches in six weeks – a schedule labelled “suicidal” by Sir Graham Henry, the 2001 Lions coach and 2011 World Cup winner with New Zealand – and gathered together as a whole squad for just the second time on Sunday.
But Farrell is adamant a squad full of “world-class” players can cope. “It’s not just the time you put in on the pitch, there’s plenty of time off it to ensure you’re in a good place to be prepared for what’s coming up,” Farrell said. “Some lads are going to have some catching up to do, but we’ll be on the same page. There is not loads and loads to learn.
“The more conversations you have, the more you talk about it between yourselves then the better it is in training and then games. You have to [have that belief], definitely. I don’t think anybody’s going out there just to take part, everybody’s going out there to win and that’s the way it should be.
“It’s a brilliant squad that’s going out there and one full of world-class players. If we get that right and make sure we’re on the same page as quick as possible then I think this squad will challenge anyone.
“It’s a tough challenge for the squad. They’re the best team in the world so to go down there and play in their back garden is a massive challenge. Their Super Rugby teams are on fire at the minute so they’ll be a big test.”
For the first training camp in Wales two weeks ago, Gatland had only 14 players available, with so many involved in end-of-season club matches, but that number rose to 30 last week in Ireland after defeats for Saracens and Leinster. Additionally, the assistant coach Steve Borthwick confirmed on Sunday night that there are no fresh injury concerns after the Premiership and Pro12 finals as well as Northampton’s Champions Cup play-off.
Borthwick also revealed that while the Scarlets hooker Ken Owens may not be fit to play on Saturday, there was no one currently on standby, ending any chance of Dylan Hartley joining up with the squad before they leave. “We want to assess how the players go through the journey, we’ve got a long journey and we want to make sure they’re in great condition and good to go in New Zealand,” he said.
The latest indications are that Rory Best is in line to start as the hooker in the opening match as Gatland looks set to prefer the 14 players from the first training camp in Wales. That would mean starts for the England front-rowers Joe Marler and Kyle Sinckler, with Sam Warburton captaining in an all-Wales back-row alongside Ross Moriarty and Taulupe Faletau.
