WARBS: I’m ready for the game of my life
SAM WARBURTON reclaimed the Lions captaincy and roared: “This is the biggest game of my life – and I’m ready.”
The Welsh flanker leads a team which must beat the All Blacks here tomorrow to keep the series alive after boss Warren Gatland took a major gamble by picking two playmakers and dropping teaktough centre Ben Te’o.
Warburton, 28, said: “It’s definitely the biggest challenge of my career and I feel really confident of doing a good job and delivering
a game. I’ve had enough time to blow the cobwebs off and get over my injury. And the guys around me are guys who have the mentality which I want.
“They don’t care who they’re playing against, it isn’t about the colour of a jersey. They’re all human beings and anybody can get put under pressure. Anybody.”
Warburton is contemplating nothing other than victory over the troops assembled by All Blacks coach Steve Hansen (left) and sending the series back to Auckland for a decider. The Cardiff Blues star said: “I always pride myself in the fact that I’ll never quit, ever. “In a team of 15 players, you only need two or three to think that, to drop their heads, and that can be the game gone. “But you don’t get that in a Lions team. No heads ever drop because everyone’s so competitive and are all leaders in their own way.”