Don’t write off the British & Irish Lions just yet

Q. Mate, what have the British and Irish Lions been doing in South Africa lately?
A. Ummm, playing five games of rugby (six as of tonight), maintaining match fitness, busting their gut trying to get selected for the test side  and generally working up combinations?
Q. Great. What have the Springboks been up to?
A. Bugger all!

And in a nutshell, that could be the difference between winning and losing in Durbs this Saturday. Apart from a pissant game against Namibia, the equivalent of playing the Kenmore Bears U12s – yeah, I’ve never heard of them either……they’ve only been trudging around the training park with the ‘pretender’, Peter De Villiers yelling at them or at the media. That’s all well and good but by not organising a decent buildup to their international season, I think they’ve left the door a tad ajar for the Brits and Irish to do a Froggie on the Bokkies. If anything, this first test has the Springboks at their most vulnerable.

Sure the Bulls contingent played in the Super 14 Final, what, three weeks ago now? But what about the rest? Their last game of rugby was the final Super 14 round on 15/16 May; remembering that none of the other Saffa franchises were in the semi’s. That’s a fair break considering the nature of their opposition – just ask the All Blacks…

The other advantage that the Lions have is again, similar to Le Francais (no, not a steady supply of vin rouge), they’ve been playing European rugby with all the consequent advantages at the moment. That includes the benefit of the ‘old rules’ that allows more physical confontation at ruck time, where the ball remains on the deck a lot longer than the five second clearance or else its ‘unplayable, free kick’ turnover shit. You’d of detected that I’m not a fan of the latter. And lets not forget the Brits love of a good maul. Like the ABs, the Bokkies better adapt from the Super 14 super quick.

It sems that it’s everybody’s opinion in the Southern Hemisphere that the test series is ‘all over red rover’ before a ball has even been bowled.  Having watched the five Brit Lions fixtures played to date, I’d beg to differ. Sure, there were no Bokkies in the provincial sides, apart from Deon Carstens, but some of those teams offered substantial resistance and I think the Lions have been travelling pretty well. The interesting thing about it is that, until today, there hasn’t really been a Saturday and a Wednesday side. It’s pretty much been mix and match without obvious dirt trackers.

That’s now changed. The team that’s been selected for the Southern Kings looks like a dirt tracker selection, although the dirty dirties in this match like Croft, Monye and Wallace in my view have probably deserved a guernsey in the test 22. I think the front rankers Vickery, Mears and probably Jenkins pick themselves. Mears is without doubt, the only decent hooker they’ve got and Vickers is just the sort of hard bastard you need against the Boers. Sheridan….well, isn’t he just the greatest thing since sliced bread, according to the pommy media, but over recent times has failed to deliver. Crikey, even Le Fuse short-circuited him as the seminal moment of the Wallaby v England test last year.

Captain O’Connell is obviously a dead cert in the second row, with Shaw and O’Callghan really not in the mix. I thought Hines would be the man as not only is he a good lineout option but can be a bit on the abrasive side, as you’d expect of a country boy from Wagga. But at this stage it could be Alun Wyn Jones, who plays a similar style of footy to O’Connell, and probably deserves the first go. Geech says he prefers a traditional No 7, which is jock speak for Martyn Williams, and I’d pick Heaslip as 8th man and probably round it off with Wallace.

Mike Philips is having a terrific tour and very much reminds me of Farr-Jones, but probably with an extra leg. His boyo mate Stephen Jones is experienced, takes the ball to line and on his day has an effective kicking game. These two look the goods so far as the half pairing, with Ellis and RO’G/Captain Hook as the backup.

Jamie Roberts has been outstanding at inside centre, which means Ricki Flutey doesn’t get a look in. He’s just back from injury any case. BO’D – say no more. I liked the banner at the Stormers game that said ‘Umaga – you can’t get me here’.

It’s a no-brainer for Lee Byrne at fullback, although Rob Kearney had an impressive game last weekend. Tommy Bowe picks himself – tall, rangy and evasive, and Ugo Monye to finish it off. Sad to see Shane Williams not reaching anywhere near his Six Nations form of the past couple of years. I think he’s jaded and in desperate need of a break (or a bex and a good lie down).

That’s my team anyway (helped by the mail from the Southern Kings selection). With the expected gaelic flavour of the test team, at least they’ll have a bit of passion. I’ll stick my neck out (and some would say that as an old hooker I don’t have one) and predict a Lions victory. From what I’ve seen of them so far, I think they might have an advantage.