LIONS TALKING POINTS... WITH MARK ORDERS
LIAM WILLIAMS IS BETTER EMPLOYED AT FULL-BACK THAN WING THERE are some who reckon picking Liam Williams on the wing is like owning a Van Gogh and sticking it up in a garage, perhaps next to the dartboard. A bit out of position, don’t you think? Notoriously averse to interviews – he would probably prefer to tightrope-walk across Niagara Falls while balancing half-a-dozen books on his head than have questions fired at him from a gaggle of journalists – Williams hasn’t exactly taken to the rooftops to protest about being played on the wing by the Scarlets, Wales or the Lions.
But that is probably because he is a team man above all else.
Those who have followed his career closely insist that his best rugby tends to come from full-back, with his talent shining through out wide in spite of playing there rather than because his coaches have seen something the rest of the planet has missed.
The game against the Chiefs underlined how good he is as a No.15.
Blessed with a wing’s speed, he has the ability to run Lee Byrne angles better than Byrne himself in his 2009 prime – well, almost as sharp as some of those collectors items Byrne used to run – while he sees gaps from deep pretty much before they have opened up.
But, rightly or wrongly, the word is the Wales management haven’t been using him much in his favoured position as they see him as a player who dies with the ball and fails to connect a backline.
Well, he seemed to connect with Jack Nowell well enough when embellishing a majestic break to send the England man over for his second try in Hamilton.
The quality of the opposition can’t be ignored, with the Chiefs depleted.
But Williams was key to the Lions’ back play igniting for pretty much the first time on this tour.
His chances of starting in the series opener are remote. But he ought to be considered at full-back for the final two Tests. UNDER-EMPLOYED GANG OF SIX Of the half-dozen players who were called up in controversial circumstances last weekend, only prop Allan Dell made it onto the field, and then as an enforced replacement when Joe Marler was sin-binned. The rest had a watching brief.
Some will say such a turn of events will help to insulate Warren Gatland from criticism after his decision to summon players on the basis of geography rather than merit. After all, who can possibly take issue if those drafted in so contentiously are just there to hold tackle bags or take the field in an emergency?
But it won’t placate everyone. There is still a nagging feeling that the wave of criticism last weekend was justified, no matter what apologists say. TIPURIC AND OTHERS PUT DOWN MARKERS FOR THE SECOND TEST Some people still don’t quite get it on Justin Tipuric, believing he is a one-trick