Could Gatland drop another bombshell by dropping his skipper Sam?
WHEN appointed for a second time as Lions head coach, one of the assertions Warren Gatland made was that he would have no qualms dropping his captain for the Test matches if he thought it justified.
Good job too, because the time is approaching when he will have to make just such a call over Sam Warburton.
At a press conference yesterday in Christchurch, forwards coach Graham Rowntree made an admirable attempt to allay fears about the fitness of the squad skipper.
Warburton sprained an ankle in the first match against the NZ Provincial Barbarians, but, said Rowntree, there was no need to worry.
The only thing the Cardiff Blues man has been unable to do apparently is twist and turn, which has restricted his particpation in training all week.
But, hey, he’s not been the only one with a note from matron. Well, that’s OK then... Except, is it OK? History suggests not.
Warburton was ruled out of today’s meeting with the Crusaders. That leaves us with three matches for him to particpate in before the first Test on June 24.
There’s the appointment in Dunedin with the Highlanders on Tuesday, there’s the clash with the Maori All Blacks on June 17, and there’s the Chiefs encounter in Hamilton three days later.
Given that the latter is slap bang in the middle of Test week, it is not feasible for Warburton to be involved if he’s going to face New Zealand.
So it’s the Highlanders or the Maori – and the suggestion is that the Maori looks favourite.
Let’s assume Warburton comes through that game in Rotorua unscathed. It would mean since hurting his knee at the beginning of April he would have played two matches before being expected to captain the Lions against the world champions at Eden Park.
Rowntree, Gatland, or anyone else in the Lions management can spout all the public assurances they want about the captain’s readiness, but that tally isn’t sufficient. Not by a long chalk.
One thing we have seen time and again with Warburton down the years is that to give of his best at the highest level he needs to go into Test matches with a run of games under his belt.
Warburton himself has acknowledged this. Last autumn he withdrew from Wales’ opening match against Australia despite being passed fit after a fractured cheekbone and a neck injury.
He said that having been out for a month he was undercooked, and so elected to travel to Treviso with the Blues for the game-time.
Warburton heeded the warnings his body had given him in the past when he had tried to jump straight back into the international fray on the back of work on the training ground rather than matches and didn’t do himself justice.
So much of his game is about timing. He occupies arguably the most physically-demanding position on the pitch. As an openside flanker he has to fly around the park, throw himself into contact and put his head in where it hurts. Only matches can get him up to speed in terms of doing the things that, at his peak, he does so brilliantly.
But matches are the one thing that Warburton will not have had going into this Test series.
So, Gatland has a choice; either he throws Warburton in – assuming he avoids further injury – and just