Battering from Kings limits Lions' options

It was clear that the Southern Kings wanted little more than to kick seven shades out of the Lions yesterday, and in doing so they did Springboks a service by ruling out two young players who may well have been in contention for the first Test match. James Hook and Euan Murray (neither of whom was expected to start against South Africa, but who had good prospects for bench spots) will sit out the first Test, although both are expected to recover.

The flurry of late tackles, high tackles, swinging arms and shoulder charges betrayed the Kings’ insecurity, but they achieved their goal of unnerving a Lions side that was already fracturing under the weight of the players’ desire to impress the coaches one last time. Struggling on a pitch that looked like Astroturf, the Lions failed to get any momentum, and very few players will feel that they did enough to pose Ian McGeechan and his team any serious dilemmas for tomorrow’s selection announcement.

The Scot insisted that he would only pick his Test side after the Kings match, although realistically only one or two positions were still up for grabs. Most of the Lions who got the afternoon off yesterday could relax in the knowledge that they will be starting against South Africa on Saturday, but McGeechan did everything he could to encourage those playing yesterday to give him selection nightmares. Apart from the props, who once again dominated a weak opposition front row, most of the Lions were too shaken up by the Kings to show what they can really do.

Adam Jones and Ronan O’Gara will perhaps think themselves fortunate to have been offered more air-time, and both took the opportunity fairly well. Jones combined with Sheridan to tear the Kings’ scrum to shreds, and with Murray now out of the picture the Welshman has only Vickery to contend with for tight-head – most expect the English veteran to start with Lee Mears and Gethin Jenkins, however. O’Gara’s reliable place-kicking gave the Lions breathing space, and with Hook also out of action he will expect at least a bench spot for Saturday’s game.

Another position still available at the start of play yesterday was that of left wing – with Tommy Bowe raising the bar higher than a tackle from Jaco van der Westhuyzen, all the other main contenders pale in comparison. Ugo Monye looks set to start, having once again “done what was asked of him” (Gareth Abbott, 12/6/09) – his tackling was strong yesterday, at one point hurling a prop from the field like a discarded tissue, and he was on-hand to finish an important try from O’Gara’s cross-field kick, but I still have lingering doubts. He often flies up alone in defence (it looks great when you quickly stifle an attack, but if you get it wrong you leave everyone else exposed, as he did at one point yesterday), he has given away lots of penalties from squeeze-balling when tackled, and let’s not discuss his kicking in case I get really depressed. He is undeniably a fantastic finisher when given time and space, but how often do teams like the Springboks allow you such luxuries in Test match rugby?

I don’t currently have a better option, mind. Those who waited to pass judgement over Luke Fitzgerald were wiser than I, as he looked a little undercooked yesterday. Some dodgy kicking and weakness in both attacking and defensive contact mean he should probably not play in a Test match just yet – he has the talent to be a great international winger, and if he learns from Bowe over the next few years he could be just as good as ol’ Tammy. Lady Luck seems to have turned her back on Shane Williams, and I can’t help feeling that had he not dropped the ball over the line in that first match of the tour he might be in quite a different position now. I wouldn’t be at all worried if he played against South Africa, despite my disappointment at his tour performances – his experience and skill still counts for a great deal, and Test selection (unlikely as it may be) might be the confidence boost that he needs to get back to his best. Some have recalled McGeechan’s penchant for wild-card selections, and have raised the possibility of seeing Rob Kearney on the wing – the Irishman is equally comfortable there, and may win a seat on the bench at least for his ability to cover the back three.

The other conundrum for McGeechan and his men lies in the back row. Heaslip has secured the Number 8 shirt after limp competition from Andy Powell, but the question of what to do on the flanks remains unanswered. With David Wallace and Martyn Williams both natural opensides, Tom Croft might win the blindside despite some less-than-thoroughly-convincing performances. Based on their respective showings thus far, I would leave Croft on the bench and start with the two opensides, who also offer more of a physical threat than the wiry Croft. But hey, what do us backs know about the pack?

With the Test squad due to be announced tomorrow, I humbly offer a tentative prediction. Let’s see if Geech proves me wrong.

1. Gethin Jenkins

2. Lee Mears

3. Phil Vickery

4. Alun Wyn Jones

5. Paul O’Connell

6. Martyn Williams

7. David Wallace

8. Jamie Heaslip

9. Mike Phillips

10. Stephen Jones

11. Ugo Monye

12. Jamie Roberts

13. Brian O’Driscoll

14. Tommy Bowe

15. Lee Byrne

16. Adam Jones

17. Matthew Rees

18. Tom Croft

19. Simon Shaw

20. Ronan O’Gara

21. Harry Ellis

22. Rob Kearney / Riki Flutey

Sharks lose their bite in game of two halves

We’ve all played in those games where, despite overwhelming possession and running every play in the book, a combination of great defence and wasted chances means you just can’t get over the line. After a first half in which they dominated, it looked as though the Lions might be left to rue their inability to break the ferocious Sharks defence, a burrowing try from Lee Mears the only exception to a distinctly average finishing display.

Let us not take anything away from the Sharks. The fight they showed to prevent the Lions from scoring was a fierce, occasionally deluded denial of what seemed to be certain try-scoring opportunities – when Brian O’Driscoll intercepted from a Sharks attack, he was chased back 70m and caught a paw’s width from the tryline. Granted, His Excellency would have scored that ten times out of ten in his youth, but the Shark who caught him looked like he’d tasted blood in the water.

Unfortunately for the Lions, at some point in the last few days Ronan O’Gara appears to have metamorphosed into Andy Goode. Seemingly unaware that this game was not in fact being played under Rugby League rules, O’Gara kicked and chipped a distressing amount of possession away in the red zone. This might have been partially forgivable had at least one of these dinks led to a score but, of course, they didn’t and he simply ended up giving away possession where hands would have done quite nicely thanks Ron.

Mike Phillips had a ponderous first half, all too often caught on the ball at the back of the ruck. Someone must have lit a fire under him at half-time, because he harpooned his way through the Sharks after the restart, weaving, dummying and diving for the line beautifully. His service was much improved as well, fired out quickly allowing the backs to have a run themselves – at least when O’Gara’s instinct to put the boot on it was thankfully overruled.

Luke Fitzgerald gave a good showing on the wing, a quick and eager young cub who made Shane Williams look about as energetic as Gordon Brown. For me, the Irishman has done enough to secure a test spot alongside Tommy Bowe, who seems to be a shoo-in on recent performances.

Is anybody else starting to worry that Paul O’Connell hasn’t yet justified a starting spot for the tests? A few months ago he was untouchable, a battering ram for Ireland in the Six Nations – in such good form that he pinched the Lions captaincy from HRH Brian O’Driscoll. But tonight, as in all of the three games he has played on tour so far, he was a non-entity in the loose, and a black hole as a captain. I would almost go so far as to say that he made Steve Borthwick look a good leader. When Simon Shaw came on to replace him he was everywhere that O’Connell was not, powering into tackles and making the hard yards. Alun Wyn Jones was just as lacklustre as O’Connell, which is disappointing considering these two are heavily tipped to start the tests.

A recurrence of a theme a touched on here a month or two back – gamesmanship. For most of the match, the Sharks tighthead Jannie du Plessis was scrummaging with his shirt halfway up his chest, meaning Gethin Jenkins was grasping at his flesh instead of being able to bind properly. This was clearly an intentional tactic from du Plessis, to which the referee was completely oblivious (he had a bad game all-round, really). The Sharks also spent a huge amount of time diving on the ball at the breakdown, killing it completely and getting away scot free. At one point the referee called over a Sharks player for a mere warning, despite saying that he’d committed multiple infringements – his yellow card was conspicuous in its absence.

As this tour will be played very much on South African terms, the Lions need to wise up. If the referees will not penalise players for killing the ball at the breakdown, we need to be there even faster and harder to prevent them from doing so. The Lions were better at the tackle area than last Saturday, but they are still occasionally offering about as much ball protection as a lacy thong in a gale.

Finally, on a positive note, the Lions didn’t concede a try. While their superior possession for most of the match slightly detracts from this as a defensive achievement, the Sharks didn’t look like scoring, and they are not at all a bad outfit. Shaun Edwards will be a happy(ish) bunny.

Lions stumble in close race with Cheetahs

Cheetahs 22 - 24 Lions

After the seventy-point ravaging of the Golden Lions on Wednesday, many expected the Lions to win by a similar - if not even more brutal – margin against the Free State Cheetahs, bottom of the Super 14 this season. The Lions’ arrogance, their laziness at the breakdown, and the Cheetah’s irrepressible belief combined to spark a bitterly-fought contest that the Cheetahs could, and probably should, have won.

Heinrich Brussow, left out of the Springboks squad by Peter de Villiers, played with a whole portion of heavily-salted chips on his shoulder – one of the Super 14’s standout players this year, the flanker in the white scrum cap seemed to be first to every single breakdown, spoiling or stealing ball with such ease that he almost single-handedly ruined the chances of today’s Lions back row for test spots against the Springboks. Give the man a British passport, please.

The Lions’ problems today stemmed from this failure at the tackle area – Andrew Sheridan tried his utmost, but ultimately as a team the Lions did not secure the ball, and never got rid of the pesky Cheetahs who made themselves a right nuisance all day. What were the Lions expecting? Nice, clean, tidy, play-by-the-rules-old-chap rucking? To quote Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond, in his finest attempt at a foreign accent: “This is Africa, bro”.

It’s only going to get worse. The Lions need to get mean, fast, or Shalk Burger, the former World Player of the Year selected for the Springboks at openside over Brussow, will eat them up like a packet of fresh biltong. Pierre Spies, who has been in the form of his life for the Bulls, is another who will simply tear the Lions apart if they are so weak around the tackle. South Africans are famous for both their skill and cheating at the breakdown, and so far these Lions don’t look anything like being kings of the jungle in that area.

The back-line looked weak on paper, and while at first it seemed as though the younger guys were up to the challenge, they wilted and folded as the pressure increased. Earls started well, scoring nicely to put his forgettable first game behind him, but was invisible for the rest of the match, with Andy Powell called in to do most of the trucking in midfield instead. Shane Williams is revving the engine in a low gear at the moment, trying hard to get involved but ultimately doing very little other than skipping out of tackles and giving interception passes – he needs to find the clutch or Bowe and Monye will beat him to the test spots.

There was no impetus from the forwards or backs upon which to build an attacking platform, and not even Lee Byrne seemed able to put on his dancing shoes as normal. In the dying minutes, as the Cheetahs pressed for the win that almost came with a missed drop goal, Byrne uncharacteristically dropped a high ball – the first sign of fallibility after several great performances.

Any positives? The front row looked good, with Sheridan and Murray twisting the knife nicely, although Ross Ford’s throwing left a lot to be desired. Stephen Ferris showed his pace with another nice try, and has probably come out of the back row debacle with some credibility despite his sin-binning just before half time which let the Cheetahs back into the game.

James Hook’s goal-kicking was metronomic (and by God it needed to be), his chipping deft and his punting solid, but he needed to take control and call for a drop goal when the Lions were 15-24 up with great field position and ten minutes to go. Instead, the Cheetahs scored an interception try and could have won with a drop goal of their own at 22-24 in the dying moments. That is the kind of decision-making that will not only give him the best chance of playing in the tests, but also give the Lions the best chance to win the series (Guscott et al., Lions vs South Africa, 2nd test, 1997).

Harry Ellis did himself proud today. The zesty Leicester pest bested the rest in his quest for the tests, kamikaze-diving at kickers’ feet, bellowing at his forwards and making some good little runs. The only worry is his occasional propensity to lose his composure, hinted at today when he flew out of the defensive line in a one-man blitz which left his team-mates exposed. He is a Maverick to Mike Blair’s Goose, but as long as he can keep the idiocy in check he will be in the running against Iceman Phillips for the 9 shirt.

Lots to work on for Wednesday’s game against better opposition in the form of the Sharks, but we will probably see a line-up featuring the faces that gelled so well in the game against the Golden Lions, so keep your paws crossed for a sturdier performance than today’s pottering one.

Pluck of the Irish

Leinster completed a fantastic year for Irish rugby by beating Leicester 19-16 in a thrilling Heineken Cup final. Although there was about as little difference between the teams’ performances as there is between their respective spellings, Leinster were marginally more aggressive and composed throughout. They conceded 10 points at the end of the first half while their prop was incarcerated in the sin bin, before overturning the deficit, clinching the lead with a penalty, and finally holding out for a deserved victory.

The win puts the clover on the cake for the Irish, after Munster topped the Magners League and the national team were unbeaten in the Six Nations, and such a resurgence from a country that has underperformed in recent years will do wonders for its grass roots. If the Irish contingent on the Lions tour can inspire triumph in South Africa, they will surely go down as the greatest players the Emerald Isle has ever produced, even if they will be wearing red when they do it.

I’ll spare you a commentary on today’s game, but a few things to say:

For all the Irish pluck, Leinster couldn’t have won today without the man-of-the-match contribution from one giant Australian. Rocky Elsom punched his way through the Leicester defence like his pugilistic cinematic namesake, at one point even flooring the Tigers winger Alesana Tuilagi like he’d just found Ivan Drago in bed with Adriannnnnnnnnnn.

I used to rant about Dan Hipkiss whenever I was given the opportunity, sometimes even when I wasn’t. “He’s absolutely and unequivocally the most overrated player in the Premiership,” I would cry, while repeatedly ringing my bell so that all the local townsfolk would hear. His last few performances for Leicester have been admirable however, and today was the best I have seen the man play. He is henceforth promoted to “formerly the most overrated player in the Premiership”.

Leinster's fly half Jonathan Sexton is one to watch out for in the future. Any guy who can handle the pressure of being thrown into the final of the best club competition in the world having previously been Felipe Contepomi's understudy is praiseworthy enough, but Sexton showed more composure than a Trappist Monk, and even had the nerve to casually knock over a drop goal from his own half-way line. As you do.

Brian O’Driscoll didn’t get injured. Huzzah.

Should rugby players pay the penalty?

As Martyn Williams hooked his penalty kick wide to the left of the posts, leaving Leicester to seal victory in the Heineken Cup semi-final on Sunday, fans were left to ponder the strange event they had just witnessed. The subdued reaction from the winning side was more than good sportsmanship – it indicated how the players perceive a system that many think is too arbitrary a way to separate two rugby teams.

The penalty shoot-out is now commonplace in football, but its relative rarity in rugby matches is a result of the game’s elaborate yet easier scoring system as much as anything else – having a number of ways players can score, each with varying amounts of points on offer, makes ties highly unlikely. The ability of specialist kickers to sneak a vital three points from almost anywhere in the opposition’s half also makes a shoot-out a rarity – only last week Steven Myler hit a late drop goal to break the deadlock with Saracens and take Northampton to the European Challenge Cup final.

But simply because the penalty shoot-out in rugby is unusual does not mean it should be forgotten as an issue. The shoot-out’s seemingly arbitrary nature has been accepted in football, perhaps because the scoring system does not so readily provide an accurate reflection of a game’s dominant team; perhaps because almost all players possess the skills to direct a decent shot at goal from the penalty spot. But rugby is different.

With ample opportunities for scoring, a dominant team should – and usually does – emerge. In the rare cases that a tie does occur, even after extra time, it seems bizarre to have the match decided by kicks at goal, a practice that only a handful of players in any team train for. Rugby is a game of both shared skills and specialties, and picking any one of these individual skills over another is unfair and meaningless. Why not set up a mock lineout, with a jumper as a target, and ask every back in the team to throw in like a hooker? While most players, at any level, would probably back themselves to chip over a penalty from the centre of the 22m line, the three misses by professionals in Sunday’s game showed that it is not an ability to be taken for granted.

The shoot-out is certainly a neat and tidy way of deciding a result – it leaves no room for complaints, but in doing so puts cruel amounts of pressure on individuals in what are supposed to be team games. The shoot-out in rugby is probably the worst of all sports, because the result depends purely on each penalty taker, no goalkeeper’s saves to provide even the thinnest veil of comfort. A miss is your miss – only yourself to blame if you put the kick wide.

This situation has been rendered painfully obvious through Martyn Williams. His miss on Sunday, and the resulting emotion, added fuel to the fiery arguments against the shoot-out: how could the cruelty of the system fall upon this man’s shoulders, of all people? Had it been a specialist kicker we would no doubt have felt less sympathy, and perhaps there would have been no debate, but someone had to miss.

Exhilarating and heart-wrenchingly exciting as it may have been, Sunday’s shoot-out demonstrated the injustice of the system. Rugby is exciting enough when games go down to the wire, as England fans in particular need no reminding. The shoot-out is too arbitrary, too unfair, too cruel. Rugby does not need to resort to it - the game itself provides ample opportunity to break a deadlock, as demonstrated by the shoot-out’s rarity.

Jeremy Guscott suggests reducing the number of men on the field to 10 a side for “golden point” extra time after normal added time. As anyone who has played the game will know, by the time such a period came around the fatigue would be so great that a score would be practically inevitable. And while the pain of losing in such a way would probably form an atrocious concoction with the added lactic acid, wouldn’t you prefer that to being the guy who missed the kick?