What about the minutes played since the Lions tour began for both the Wallaby and Lions players lining up on Saturday night?
The Wallaby players have largely been training in camp including a semi-opposed run against the Sunshine Coast Stingrays who are currently languishing in a distant last place in the Queensland Premier Rugby competition.
For the Lions Alex Corbisiero was a late replacement on the tour so not surprisingly has played the least minutes of any of the Lions players. His 97 minutes, though, is still above the highest for any Wallaby player in that period of 80 minutes.
Sam Warburton started the tour late so you’d expect him to be towards the bottom of the list for the Lions but there are five other players who’ve played less than him – Corbisiero, Adam Jones, Paul O’Connell, Tom Croft and Ben Youngs. Croft had an injury; Youngs has been competing for match time with the two other halfbacks. It’s pretty clear that both Jones and O’Connell have been kept in cotton wool as Warren Gatland knows how important they are to the Lions’ chances of success.
What does the lack of match time mean for the Wallabies? Will they be fresher than the Lions or will they be rusty? Let us know what you think.
