Leader Sam is ready for the biggest game of his life
AT HIS house in the village of Rhiwbina, north of Cardiff, there is not much that marks Sam Warburton out as one of the finest rugby players of his generation. he is a strong personality, but not egocentric. he has one shirt framed on the wall and its identity may surprise.
It is red, but not the red of Wales. It is not the shirt he wore when he captained his country at the age of 22, or when he led Wales to the Grand Slam in 2012. It is not the shirt from 2015 when he surpassed the record of 33 caps as Welsh captain.
The shirt Warburton has on display, that takes pride of place in his home, is one he wore for the British and Irish Lions in 2013.
‘The Lions have been the absolute pinnacle of my career,’ Warburton explained yesterday. ‘Every career highlight has been in a Lions shirt. I still love playing for my club, Cardiff Blues, and for Wales but the Lions is what it’s all about for me.’
To that end, on the day the tour began, Warburton made a significant lifestyle change. he ditched his mobile telephone and its long list of contacts and distractions. Asked if he had received good luck messages from footballer friends Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey, Warburton said he wouldn’t know. Celebrity pals have gone the way of hangers- on and casual acquaintances.
Warburton has a new appliance and a handful of essential numbers: the Lions team and management, the closest family, the best of mates. So determined was the Lions captain to avoid distraction in New Zealand that for two months he will be, to all intents and purposes, incommunicado to anyone beyond the tightest social circle.
‘I’ve just completely shut myself off from the outside world so I can focus,’ Warburton added. ‘I’m a little bit anal in my preparations, so I got a different phone. That was just my decision, it isn’t the team that had to do it.
‘Before the tour, you get asked hundreds of times for signed jerseys and things. When I was younger, I ended up running around trying to get stuff signed for people and doing all these favours. This time, I thought, “Right, this is going to be two of the most important months of my career”.
‘I just had to do whatever it took to be as best prepared as possible. I learned from past experiences.’ As he spoke it was easy to see why Warren Gatland was so determined to return his tour captain to the ranks for tomorrow’s Test. having said his team was not long on extroverts, here was a genuine leader in words and deed.
Peter O’Mahony may have captained by example in Auckland, but he is a quiet man who says little and communicates with an unnerving, intense stare.
Warburton, who led the last victorious Lions tour to Australia, appeared considerably more outgoing and at ease in the role — even in the incongruous surroundings of a room next to a loading bay, in a brutalist urban post office block.
The coldness of the bizarre location for the announcement of the second Lions Test team was countered by the warmth and sincerity of Warburton’s answers. he will argue, as all Lions do, that captaincy does not matter and the team is all; yet clearly it is more complicated than that.
While feeling sympathy for O’Mahony, who has not just lost the captaincy and his place in the team, but will not even be among the replacements, Warburton is a natural fit at the helm.
A breakdown specialist, which the Lions will surely need on what is tipped to be a filthy night in Wellington, Warburton is also a man who has played must-win Tests at this level before, and emerged triumphant. Although never, he pointed out with no little irritation, against New Zealand.
‘This game is the No 1 for me,’ Warburton said. ‘It’s definitely the biggest challenge of my career so far. It’s the one team I haven’t beaten in world rugby so it’s something I’m desperate to achieve. It’s away from home in New Zealand, too, so it’s going to be the biggest honour in my career leading the boys.’
November 22, 2014, Warburton thought he had finally done it. At the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales led New Zealand 16-15 with 11 minutes left on the clock. Warburton takes up the story.
‘The whole game I felt we were in control of our try line,’ he recalled. ‘ For over an hour we were doing pretty well. Then an attacking kick got a good bounce for the full back and they went in under the sticks. From that point we cascaded downhill and lost pretty badly.’ Final score: Wales 16 New Zealand 34.
‘I think it’s very difficult to know where 15 players are mentally,’ Warburton added. ‘I always pride myself that I’ll never quit, ever. But I think in a team of 15, you only need two or three guys to think that the All Blacks can’t be beat, to drop their heads and that could be the game gone. You need 15 guys who stay on it for the whole 80 minutes and those guys who come off the bench, exactly the same. I think you get that in a Lions team.
‘It’s easier when you concede points or you’re under the posts, because no heads ever drop and everyone stays so competitive, because they’re all leaders in their own way. So you don’t get that fall in Lions teams really. You might have a couple of guys at international level who drop their heads, but not here.
‘What’s really good about this group of players is there are guys around me who have the mentality I want from them. They don’t care who they’re playing against. It isn’t about the colour of a jersey. We’re playing human beings and anybody can get put under pressure — anybody.
‘Looking back to last Saturday, New Zealand definitely deserved to win. There were two chances they took extremely well and justified why they’re the best team in the world. But I definitely believe, with the guys that we’ve got and the way they’ve been speaking this past week, that everybody has the perfect attitude to win this game — and it’s about making sure we do.’
If only it was as easy as talking it. The build-up to the first Test in Auckland contained many conversations about leaders and mental strength. Ultimately, the Lions were physically outmuscled and only a score with the final play of the game prevented them from losing by more than Sir Clive Woodward’s Lions team in Christchurch 12 years ago.
The All Blacks rugby brain has always presented the highest IQ, but it was losing the battle of brawn, too, that stung the tourists. Warburton arrived as a replacement at a time when the scoreline was getting away from the Lions, and Gatland had strong words for his warrior types in the aftermath.
Despite the surprising absence of Ben Te’o — as effective as any man could be against Sonny Bill Williams last week — there is a
‘Nobody will ever give up — you get that in a Lions team’
‘We know it’s all or nothing now — this is knockout rugby’
sense that Warburton’s starting XV have been charged with regaining northern superiority in the physical contest tomorrow.
‘The pride of any rugby player is hurt when you come off second best physically,’ said Warburton. ‘You all play the game because you enjoy the physical side of sport. I used to play football but I got too many yellow cards, so I started with rugby. I love that side of it.
‘Sometimes you can lose games on the bounce of a ball or a decision from a referee and those losses are difficult to take. But when you have been physically outplayed, which we were on Saturday, that hurts as a playing group. The boys are looking to put that right, but New Zealand are probably going to be better again, too.
‘They’re the best team in the world for a reason and they did a great job nullifying our strengths. In rugby, it’s very much the case that 99 times out of 100 the more physical side wins. People might not like to hear that but it is the truth.
‘ But being physical doesn’t mean beating people up. It means your scrum is dominant, your line- out is dominant, your breakdown is dominant and that’s the majority of the game really, apart from the kicking.’
Warburton’s partnership with Sean O’Brien is already being discussed as one of the key factors. ‘It’s the first time I’ve played with him,’ he said. ‘I’ve played against him many times, and been in the same Lions squad as him twice, but I’ve never had the privilege of playing together. He’s somebody who I regard as one of the best sevens I’ve faced, so I’m looking forward to that.
‘It was difficult in Auckland. We all realise it was probably the first game on tour that we were beaten physically at the breakdown and that’s just going to fuel the fire for Saturday. If anything, it’s going to be a matter of trying to calm the boys down a little bit and keep a clear head.
‘There are lots of games that we might say are must-win, but this is actually must-win — and the motivation levels are going to be extremely high. If anything, it’s about trying to keep the lads composed and making sure we execute the game plan. Motivation will happen naturally because we know it’s all or nothing now. We have one chance. This is knockout rugby and hopefully that brings the best out of the guys.’
It has certainly brought the best out of Gatland’s captain in the past. If he does not leave New Zealand with another memento worthy of his wall, it will not be for want of trying.