The players vying to be Lions’ man of the series
MUCH could yet depend on the third and decisive Test. Of course it could. But in the race for the Lions’ man of the series gong, there are definite front-runners ahead of the mouthwatering denouement at Eden Park.
In 2013 Leigh Halfpenny’s astonishing accuracy from the kicking tee and all-round dependability at fullback earned the Welshman the coveted award following the 2-1 triumph against Australia.
But thus far on this tour of New Zealand, there hasn’t really been such a stand-out individual.
So just who is in contention with a game to go? Jonathan Davies If a Welshman is to carry off this honour for the second time in succession, centre Davies is in pole position.
His journey back to the form he showed four years ago – which very nearly got him ahead of Halfpenny in Australia – has been gradual, painfully so at times.
But his part in the Scarlets’ Guinness PRO12 triumph sent him on this trip with a spring in his step and he has looked every inch his old self.
Davies was definitely the pick of the backs in the first Test and was once again to the fore in Wellington last weekend with the ground he covered in defence and the angles he ran in attack.
Up to now he’s gained 188 metres going forward in just four tour appearances, including the two Tests.
If Davies performs similarly in the third Test it will be hard to put anyone in front of him. Conor Murray With due respect to Greig Laidlaw, the battle for the No.9 jersey was always between Murray and Welshman Rhys Webb. At the outset there wasn’t thought to be much between the leading candidates either.
But Murray has emerged as a navigator of the Lions tactical blueprint. He’s been Warren Gatland’s petit-general.
Murray’s box-kicking – he’s kicked from hand no fewer than 47 times in his four tour games – has been a major weapon in the Lions’ artillery as has been his try-scoring instinct and all-round game-intelligence.
The Munster man is not the sort of explosive customer Webb is, but his cerebral astuteness is something else.
If Murray fires, the Lions do to. Jamie George The Saracens hooker came on tour with a big reputation despite the fact he wasn’t even the number one choice for England.
George had made a few decent cameos replacing captain Dylan Hartley in the Six Nations but there were concerns over whether he had what it took to deal with being a central Lions figure with so little international experience.
But he has swatted those doubts aside.
OK, George was part of a front five that was wrong-footed by New Zealand in the first Test, but overall his lineout delivery and loose-field industriousness has been outstanding.
His straight-angled second half break in the second Test was the stuff of legend. Sean O’Brien The Irishman’s dynamic combination of barrel-chested power and leg-speed has been a combination that has long held him up as one of the foremost back row players in the world game.
The worry on this tour was whether the multiple injury problems he’s endured in recent times would return to haunt him. But they haven’t. O’Brien got bogged down at the breakdown in the first Test, when he was forced to fight a bit of a lone battle, but he finished off THAT try, and then really came into his own in Wellington as part of a pincer movement with Sam Warburton.
O’Brien has brought energy and fearlessness to the Lions pack and a big display in the third Test could see him over the line for the individual gong.