Farrell earns plaudits from suffering Meads
OWEN Farrell will pose the greatest single danger to New Zealand’s 40-year domination of the Lions this summer, according to the most revered All Black of all-time.
Sir Colin Meads singled out England’s matchwinner during an exclusive interview with The Rugby
Paper on the Lions series, on why he calls it “a ridiculously hard tour” and on his eight-month fight against pancreatic cancer.
“The Lions will be in absolutely tremendous shape when they arrive,” he said. “I’ve been impressed by what I saw of the Six Nations and very impressed by that English fly-half now playing second five-eighth – Farrell.
“I thought the switch of position might have been the undoing of him as an international player but he’s done really well. He’s taken it in his stride and has performed consistently at the highest level.
“Our Test pitches now are like bowling greens which is not how you’d have described them in my time. Farrell is a great goalkicker, the sort of player who will do well out here.
“I think it will be a great series, a very close series and a great one for rugby. The Lions will be a good side. Their big problem is not that they don’t have the players but how they put them together in a short space of time.
“To describe it as a hard tour is a bit of an understatement. It will be ridiculously hard. Those fixtures against the Chiefs, the Hurricanes and the Blues are like extra Test matches.
“Warren Gatland knows New Zealand. He’s an astute guy and he’ll know everything about every player. But they will find it pretty hard going because New Zealand has a settled team.
“There’s no doubt the Lions will be a real challenge but I’m going for a New Zealand win, even if it’s very close. I’ve got to. I’m a Kiwi. I’d get run out of the country if I said any different.”
Meads, 80 last year shortly before the prognosis that left him fighting for his life, captained the All Blacks in all four Tests against the Lions in 1971 when the best of British and Irish beat them in a series for the only time, 2-1 with the last Test drawn.
The Lions have lost all four subsequent series in New Zealand, 3-1 in 1977, 4-0 in 1983, 2-1 ten years later and 3-0 in 2005 when Sir Clive Woodward’s overblown squad suffered the indignity of being beaten by an unprecedented aggregate margin of 67 points.
“A lot of our senior players had retired following the South African tour of 1970,” Meads said.
“I was made captain against the Lions in 1971 because I was the oldest bugger who hadn’t retired.
“Losing the series was a big blow. There were two reasons for that. First, the Lions had some great players, like Mervyn Davies, Barry John and Gareth Edwards and, secondly, we had the same New Zealand referee for all four Tests, John Pring.
“And that was Carwyn James’ doing. As the Lions’ coach, he was very astute. I was guaranteed by the New Zealand Rugby Union chairman that Pring would not do any more Tests after the second. But Carwyn had him eating out of his hand.
“He kept on about Syd Going’s feed into the scrum being crooked. That worked so well for the Lions that he ended up putting the ball in under the Lions’ feet!’’
Meads also spoke about his illness, eight months after being diagnosed with stomach cancer.
“I’m holding my own,” he said. “I’m not too bad but I’m not my old self. I still feel a bit weak.
“I have blood tests every month. I inject myself five times a day and they’re keeping an eye on me. I was in a bad way for a while when I couldn’t walk any sort of distance.
“It’s nice to know that so many people in the United Kingdom have gone to such trouble to wish me well. Their support has been wonderful and I’d like to thank each and every one of them.”
Meads, whose 60th anniversary of his marriage to Lady Verna is due in October, admits he will not be able to watch a Lions series in person for the first time. “I’m not well enough to attend the matches any more,” he said. “So I’ll be watching on TV instead.”