We won’t be afraid to leap into action, says Watson
THE British and Irish Lions will not fear competing for the ball in the air when they come up against the high-flying All Blacks, despite the way the squad have reacted to the yellow card that Liam Williams picked up early in the tour, says Anthony Watson.
Williams was sin-binned after he committed a second high tackle on Blues wing Matt Duffie in as many minutes during the second game of the tour, and it appeared to have a notable impact on the mentality of the wings when going up to compete for the high ball in their subsequent games with the Crusaders and the Highlanders.
With Watson and George North starting on the wing against the Maori All Blacks today in what looks the most likely Test backthree that Warren Gatland has selected so far on the tour, the wide men have discussed how they are competing in the air and the need to start winning more challenges against the opposition.
“Yes, we do discuss it,” said Watson. “We reviewed that again after the Crusaders and Highlanders games. We should be aiming to win more aerial contests than we have done, especially when we have guys like Webbie (Rhys Webb), Greig (Laidlaw) and obviously Conor (Murray) who are putting their contestable kicks on the money. We need to win those ones back to reward them for giving us the opportunity.”
The fact that both Williams and North struggled to compete in the air against the Crusaders when Murray was at scrum-half, given the Irishman is currently regarded as one of the finest box-kickers in world rugby, raised suggestions that the Lions are lacking in confidence following Williams’ yellow card.
But Watson insists that the wings have not lost their confidence in fear of being sanctioned.
“I don’t think so. I don’t feel it,” Watson said. “I think some of the calls were a bit harsh on Liam, but you can’t let that affect you. It’s part of the game, you have to go up for it and have no doubt you’re going to win the ball back. I don’t think it’ll affect anybody.”