Farrell: Our Underdogs can bite back
ANDY Farrell believes “the underdog has always had his day” as the British and Irish Lions chase an odds-defying second Test victory over New Zealand this morning.
The Lions are clear outsiders, arriving at Westpac Stadium after suffering a 30-15 first Test defeat in Auckland.
And they have reached a point of no return, knowing that defeat today would end their Test series hopes one game inside the distance.
“The underdog has always had his day, hasn’t he?” Lions assistant coach Farrell said.
“When you get a squad together, it’s powerful. I certainly wouldn’t back against us.
“Everyone in this room understands the size of the task before we came here, how difficult it was going to be. But I just see how the lads are preparing, and there is a sense of excitement about what a great game this could be.”
The Lions delivered when they last faced a must-win Test in Australia four years ago, emphatically securing the series decider, but New Zealand – unbeaten at home since 2009 – are a totally different kettle of fish.
“It has a sense of the third Test four years ago,” Farrell added. “There is a realisation about what is at stake.
“We have to make sure we get the balance right and make sure we don’t overplay the emotional card, because we have to be smart as well.
“There is a lot that has been said already. It all depends on the feel of the mood of the players and what the other coaches, captain and other players in the team are saying .
“The tone has to be right. Sam (Warburton) and Rob Howley spoke very well this morning. You have to be careful you don’t overdo it and cloud what needs to be done.”
Unlike in Auckland, the Lions know they will have to at least match the All Blacks up-front this weekend, and that sense of wounded pride has been tangible this week.
“The boys aren’t shying away from that,” Farrell said. “We allowed New Zealand too much time and space to impose their game on us. We need to see a reaction from that.
“But you don’t just win the game by being raging mad. You have to be smart about how you go about these things..” COVENTRY City Academy graduate Jack Finch is hoping to put two years of injury hell behind him after parting company with his boyhood club.
The 20-year-old was released by Sky Blues boss Mark Robins last month, bringing an end to eleven years at the club.
Finch is disappointed but not bitter about his situation which, he believes, is as much down to bad luck with injuries and timing than anything else.
Having made the breakthrough under Steven Pressley, who gave him his debut and a run of first team games, JJ – as he is known to his friends due to his first two initials – suffered a serious ankle injury in the Under-23s that kept him out for a season and then damaged his other ankle in a freak accident the following summer, both of which required surgery.
“I haven’t had the best of times over the last two years with injury so I suppose I can’t moan too much,” said the highly competitive central midfielder, who is just as accomplished at centrehalf.
“If I had been playing, and playing well, I suppose I could complain but I guess I just have to put it down to bad luck.
“I suppose I have just been unfortunate.”
The Southam lad signed for the Sky Blues Academy from Compton Colts at the age of nine, picked up as a rightback before developing into a ball winning midfielder and going through in the same year group as Ryan Haynes, Ivor Lawton and Courtney Baker-Richardson.
“I was given my debut by Steven Pressley in the League Cup against Cardiff at Northampton in 2014,” said Finch, who went on to feature 25 times for the Sky Blues.
“I wasn’t expecting to play but Reda Johnson failed a late fitness test. I wasn’t even in the squad but then Andy Harvey gave me a call and told me I was in the squad, and I started the game alongside Jordan Clarke, and Danny Pugh at left-back.
“I was nervous. It was on Sky as well, so I was extra nervous but it went all right to be fair, even though we lost 2-1. Ryan Haynes scored an own goal but I don’t think the scoreline was a true reflection of the game.
“The thing with Steven Pressley was he was never afraid to throw a young lad in.”
He added: “Rochdale away was my league debut. I went on at half time and I got a little run of games at centre mid and I made my full league debut and got sent off for two yellows against Crewe.
“I think I played 20-odd games under Pressley that season, and then five last season under various managers.”
Things were going to plan until 2015/16.
“I got injured in a 23s game; ruptured the ligaments in my left ankle and was out for seven or eight months – basically the whole season,” he said.
“I had surgery and came back, had a few 23s games and started playing centre-back under Tony Mowbray. And then I went away for preseason last year to Austria and slid into a post against Sturm Graz and did my other ankle.
“I damaged bone in the joint and scuffed the cartilage but I wasn’t scanned until after Christmas. It was my fault, to be fair, because I rushed back to be ready for the start of the season thinking I was in the manager’s plans and then played against Portsmouth in the Cup and did well. “But I could only train for a few weeks and then my ankle would just swell up and be too sore and I’d have to have a week off. “I had an injection but it was still sore after a couple of weeks so had a scan and was told I’d need surgery to repair it, so it was up to me to decide when I had it.” Finch faced a dilemma – get the op done and be fit for the preseason or delay it and have the chance of playing at Wembley in the Checkatrade Trophy Final, knowing his rehab could drag on into the summer. “I played in the Wycombe semi- final and didn’t play after that,” he said.
“I was a bit gutted to be honest and it was a big decision to make.
“I wanted to be fit for the final but if I’d have done that and waited to have the op after then I wouldn’t have been fit for another two months or so.
“And not knowing what was happening with my contract I couldn’t take that chance.”
Bad luck conspired against him again with a change of manager.
“Looking back, something tells me that if I had carried on training and the gaffer (Mark Robins) had seen me I might have got a new deal,” he said. “But it’s one of those things really. You have to make a decision and get on with it.
“It was never going to get better, only get worse.
“I had the op in March and I have
I think I might have got a deal if Russell Slade had stayed. But then he got the sack and Mark Robins came in. I was a bit gutted but, at end of the day, that’s football.