For a glimpse of what might lie ahead for the British & Irish Lions in the closing 80 minutes of their New Zealand tour, it is worth recalling the final act of their previous series win here in 1971. The Lions were 2-1 up going into the fourth and final Test and the All Blacks kicked off like men possessed. “For the first 20 minutes the New Zealanders played as if they’d drunk an energy potion,” the great fly‑half Barry John recalled. “I thought we were going to be stuffed.”
In the end it finished 14-14 and the Lions claimed their place in the pantheon but it was desperately close. Witnesses remember both sides being virtually out on their feet by the end of a physical, niggly encounter. Replacements and professional fitness levels have transformed the modern game but on Saturday at Eden Park, with Steve Hansen having also beefed up his back‑line physically, it will again be the survival of the fittest.
It represents a huge ask for a Lions side whose players have been battling on for almost a year without a break. Fifteen of this squad attended a pre-season training camp with England in the first week of August last year; over 11 months later they are still at it. If the Lions win this series it really will be a case of mind over matter.
All that counts for Warren Gatland, though, is Saturday. Naming an unchanged 23 suggests he feels his key men still have a bit left; if anything it is New Zealand who are casting around for fresh energy. No one would be mad enough to write off the All Blacks at Eden Park, a venue where they have not lost a Test for 23 years, but there is an unusual amount of pressure on the normally invincible hosts.
There was always a chance this series would be closer with the world’s best hooker, Dane Coles, and full‑back, Ben Smith, both unavailable through injury. So it has proved and the suspension of Sonny Bill Williams has forced Hansen to do some further tinkering. With the experienced Williams and Smith not around, the All Blacks back‑line lacks its normal air of seasoned authority. Ryan Crotty is not as celebrated a name but New Zealand are also missing the Crusaders centre.
Anton Lienert-Brown looks a very fine player in the making but is still only 22 years old. Jordie Barrett is a mere 20, which may explain why Julian Savea has been recalled ahead of the similarly youthful Rieko Ioane. Israel Dagg is suddenly the daddy of a very young back‑line containing just two survivors – Savea and Aaron Smith – of the starting one from the World Cup-winning team of 20 months ago. The Lions have some unfamiliar combinations but, increasingly, they have played more Tests together than some opposing partnerships.
It also looks as if Hansen has felt compelled to bolster his goalkicking resources after Beauden Barrett’s three costly misses amid seven successful penalties in Wellington. The younger Barrett is developing into a better goalkicker and the Lions were fully expecting him to feature. “I watched him in the warm-up against us for the Hurricanes and he was hitting the ball from a long, long way,” the Lions kicking coach, Neil Jenkins, said. “He was at an angle in our half and I was trying to say to him: ‘Get in your own half and practice.’ He wouldn’t be there if he wasn’t good enough.”
Jenkins has been equally impressed with the range of the Lions’ Elliot Daly – “he’s scary, isn’t he? He’s got a cannon attached to his hip” – but Gatland will look at New Zealand’s decision to go for more muscularity behind the scrum and know that a heavy bombardment looms on all fronts. This time, presumably, he will make more use of his bench but apart from quietly reassuring himself Mako Vunipola can be trusted to keep his cool and that Liam Williams’s other attributes outweigh his occasional misjudgments under the high ball, the rest of the XV mostly picked itself.
The head coach will not have seen it like that, having made a point of trusting his gut instinct since 2001, when his then-Ireland side lost 32-10 against Scotland at Murrayfield. “Tactically I changed the way we played and I was influenced in some selections. I promised myself I would never do that again, never back down from what I felt was the right decision.” The most extreme example came in Australia four years ago when Brian O’Driscoll was jettisoned for the final Test in Sydney. The Lions duly won 41-16 and Gatland’s judgment, not for the first time, was triumphantly vindicated.
It is interesting to look back at that victorious team now, four years on. Five of the starting XV – Jonathan Davies, Johnny Sexton, Alun Wyn Jones, Sean O’Brien and Taulupe Faletau – will start again in Auckland, with Vunipola, Conor Murray and Owen Farrell also featuring off the bench in Sydney.
One of the consequent effects is that some highly talented individuals have not even featured in this Test series. “There are some players who are pretty disappointed not to be selected and I understand that,” Gatland said. “But we have stressed all along this is not all about the 23 players but everyone in the squad.” It is no accident these Lions are still in series contention.
