Forwards will pack a punch
The Lions have a surplus of outstanding forwards and if everyone stays fit, slotting captain Sam Warburton into the appropriate flanker’s role will be a knotty problem.
Whatever combination Warren Gatland uses, the pack will come with a guarantee they’ll bring plenty of accurate sting about their work, however, behind that grunt the Lions have to shift their thinking to find a backline to challenge the All Blacks.
They need to be bold, fortunate with injury and conditions while they look beyond any clutter or preconceived ideas about the merits of certain combinations. From the squad they’ve picked, this backline looks best equipped to deal with New Zealand conditions and the test series.
Rhys Webb and Owen Farrell should be the halfback/ fiveeighths combination, Robbie Henshaw and Jonathan Davies the midfield partnership, George North and Elliot Daly on the wings
It merely says they played badly in the USA and that they are no different to any other test team — that if they don’t front physically, they can’t effectively launch their attacking game.
But the Lions might be fixating on this idea that the All Blacks can be beaten up — dominated at the set piece and collisions and sent into a spiral of panic where none of their and smarts to match whatever combination the All Blacks choose from their considerable resources.
The back three have to be strong in the air to defuse one of the All Blacks attacking methods and must also have the legs and counter- attacking instincts if they want to hurt their hosts. Given space, North is a brute of a wing and will demand plenty of attention to neutralise his value and Daly has snappy wheels to cause problems for clunky defences and with a background at fullback, is solid in the air and sharp on his defensive reads.
Four years ago the Lions needed a controversial selection revamp to break a deadlock and gallop away with the final test and a series triumph against an average Wallaby side.
The Lions are superior to their predecessors but the All Blacks are also a jump in class and that is a challenge for innovative thinking and sustained highquality play from coach Warren Gatland and the visitors. they are going to be all about confrontation and directness.
It’s not a bad plan. It shouldn’t, however, be their only plan because just as the likes of Maro Itoje, Courtney Lawes and Toby Faletau are improved versions of their 2005 predecessors, so too are Brodie Retallick, Sam Whitelock and Kieran Read.
Physical domination didn’t work