READY AND WAITING
Gatland’s squad raises lots of questions as Springboks tool up
ON June 29, 1993 in Hamilton, Gatland played hooker on a Waikato side that took advantage of a pitiful performance from the Lions midweek side to run out 38-10 winners. The ‘dirt-trekkers’ had struggled all tour but this was a new low, the understudy Lions looking sloppy and disinterested as they allowed the home side to cut them apart at will.
Ian McGeechan’s party should have been buzzing heading into the decisive third Test following their brilliant 20-7 victory over the All Blacks the weekend before but the midweek malaise filtered through the squad and they were comfortably dismissed by New Zealand in Auckland a few days later.
In truth, the midweek side had been ‘off tour’ long before their Hamilton humiliation. The gap between the frontliners and the rest became apparent pretty early into the expedition and, realising their chances of Test appearances were extremely unlikely, the ‘bin juice’ brigade became a divisive, disillusioned group, more concerned with partying and grumbling than contributing to the collective effort.
It was a valuable lesson for McGeechan, cementing the importance of midweek morale to the collective effort and, four years later in South Africa, the Lions were a cohesive and harmonious group throughout each week as they famously downed the world champions.
The harsh reality in 1993 was that a significant portion of the Lions squad were simply not up to succeeding at that level and, when that realisation kicked in, they imploded.
Fast forward 28 years, and there are echoes of that troubled expedition in the squad named last Thursday for this summer’s tour to South Africa.
Too many of the 37-man party look off the level required for a challenge of this intensity and magnitude, with notable deficiencies in the front row, second row, scrum-half and centre.
There is frontline quality in this squad and you could take a good stab at the Test team now on the back of it – Hogg, Williams and Watson in the back three; Henshaw and Farrell in the centres; Biggar and Murray at half-back; Vunipola, George and Furlong in the front row; Jones and Itoje in the engine room and Lawes, Curry and Faletau in the back row.
That’s a serious unit, and there is also exciting back-up with the likes of Rees-Zammit, Conan, Beirne and Simmonds fizzing with impact potential.
But then… cue sound of scratching record… we hit a problem.
There are also a clutch of players who, to be brutal, appear off the pace and South Africa on a Lions tour is no place for carthorses, particularly when genuine thoroughbreds have been left behind.
The Lions concept may have steadily eroded since the misdirected catastrophe of 2005 but the distinction of being selected to tour still ranks as the highest honour available for eligible players.
You think of Peter Stringer. One of the great scrum-halves, the Corkman was a cult figure in Munster and Irish rugby as he accumulated 98 caps for his country but Stringer never made it into a Lions
squad and that, by definition, diminishes a legacy that deserves to be devoid of caveats.
Missing out on the Lions is agony for elite players and it has been a tough week for James Ryan.
This is a player who, since his early teens, has been earmarked for greatness, his quality evident as he rose rapidly up the levels.
Ryan is world-class, a player that would give the Springboks pause for thought and, while he has not been at his 2018 best since returning from injury, the Lions environment would almost certainly have seen him raise his game again.
Instead we have Jonny Hill, a second row who appears to have been brought for his size and aggression more than anything he has contributed thus far in an England jersey. It is worth noting Joe Schmidt made exactly the same mistake with Jean Kleyn for the 2019 World Cup. The South African has not been seen in green since.
Unless there is a medical issue with Ryan we are not aware of, leaving him out on the basis of middling recent form is not justifiable when equated with the selections of Elliott Daly, Mako Vunipola, Jamie George and Owen Farrell. Their lack of form was overlooked due to their previous, estimable body of work, yet Ryan gets the chop? Puzzling.
If Hill’s selection was underwhelming, then so too were the inclusions of Rory Sutherland, Xander Fagerson, Wyn Jones, Ali Price, Finn Russell, Bundee Aki, Daly and Chris Harris – none of whom have provided conclusive, consistent evidence at international level that they are capable of this sort of step up.
And it is not as though there were no viable alternatives – selecting an Outcasts XV emphasises as much and you would back that team (see panel) to comfortably dispose of the likely midweek outfit Gatland will pick this summer.
Harris stands out in particular – ‘solid’ is the most complimentary way to describe what we have seen from the Scotland centre thus far, whereas we know the discarded Henry Slade and Garry Ringrose have the capacity to be sensational.
Yet, for all the glaring question marks, the Kiwi’s squad received a broad welcome this week – tapping into the strange, four-yearly phenomenon where cynicism is
replaced by fandom among the media as soon as that furry lion mascot is waved in their faces. This has been a feature of all recent tours, especially amongst the English contingent, who have been happy to hammer Eddie Jones (or his predecessor, Stuart Lancaster, at will) but will cosy up to ‘Gats’ for these tours as though they are part of the expedition itself, rather than (supposedly objective) outside observers. Of course, history proves that it is unwise to underestimate Gatland’s capabilities (as the IRFU should readily testify) but, with this squad, it is hard to escape the conclusion that the revered head coach has veered badly off track. Time will tell but if the surfeit of ‘passengers’ in this Lions squad prompts a downward spiral in South Africa, Gatland may find his mind drifting back to Hamilton all those years ago as he ponders how the lessons of the past should always shape the present.