2017 Courtney can
IN WELLINGTON COURTNEY LAWES has offered himself up to be the Lions’ hitman in the second Test against the All Blacks.
The England enforcer will face the Hurricanes today in the last midweek match of the tour ready to answer Warren Gatland’s call to fight fire with fire on Saturday.
The jarring experience of being outmuscled at Eden Park appears to be leading the coach down the path of most resistance, which could play into Lawes’ hands. He is the most ferocious tackler in the squad and has the versatility to play either second row or blindside flanker.
“I don’t think you get to this level without having a certain level of physicality. That is an area of my game that is up there, I suppose. But will it get me selected? We’ll see,” said Lawes.
“Gats has always said we have a chance. The Test team will change from week to week and we have a chance to impress.
“If you play me at six, you’ve got an extra lineout option. But then you are replacing someone else with other strengths. I honestly don’t mind as long as I get game time. It’s a final this weekend. There’s no second chance for us and we need to front up.”
The picturesque choice of Jerry Collins Stadium in Porirua outside Wellington as a training venue yesterday was apposite. No one tackled harder than Collins, the former All Blacks flanker, who died in a car crash at the age of 34 two years ago. If the Lions are to stay in the series, they need to find that sort of ferocity within themselves.
Fully restored after being knocked out tackling Highlanders wing Waisake Naholo, Lawes has a big opportunity today to muscle his way into Gatland’s thinking for Saturday.
“I said before I came here that I wanted to be in the Test team but unfortunately I wasn’t able to get myself into the first Test,” said Lawes.
“I’m just going to do what I’ve been doing all season. I will get around the pitch, make as many tackles as I can and make sure I front up there.
“I will try to get my hands on the ball and carry as much as I can. The lineout is a given – that’s somewhere where I am relied upon and have to be good at.
“So I’ll do everything I’ve been doing this year. I’ll fall back on that because it’s been a good season for me and if I’m in the right mental space I know I’ll play well.” And even without their mothballed halfbacks Beauden Barrett and TJ Perenara, the Hurricanes will present a huge challenge.
The result may not define the tour but if the Lions could defeat the Super Rugby champions at the ‘Cake Tin’ it would be a big lift ahead of the second Test. For the likes of Lawes and George North, above, it also offers a showcase for the seismic encounter looming at the same venue.
Gatland, right, publicly queried his players’ attitude in the first Test loss, hoping to provoke a response next time out. While accepting the need for maximum power in the second Test, Lawes’ immediate comeback was that if the Lions had been prepared tactically for the All Blacks’ direct assault they would have handled it better.
“It’s not to do with attitude because everyone wants to get off the line and hit people, especially in that kind of game,” he said.
“You need to understand what is coming at you for a start and that was something we had not seen before. I thought it was a clever strategy.
“I don’t think it’s that we got absolutely dominated up front and they smashed us in the scrum and whatever.
“They have got really good footwork and they hit good lines. That meant they got over the gainline.
“They didn’t necessarily just knock us over left, right and centre. But we don’t want them getting anywhere near the gainline so that is something for us to sort out – probably technically as much as physically and also in terms of attitude, as Gats said. It’s about being able to create the opportunities make big hits.”
It’s about creating the opportunities for big hits
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