Lions will be even stronger in New Zealand in 2017

Talented core of winning Lions side has potential to defeat All Blacks in their own backyard, writes Stuart Barnes. Steady on, folks. Let’s celebrate a series win against a far from outstanding Wallabies before we start counting our chickens for 2017.

New Zealand, whatever the state of their game that year, will be a far more difficult proposition than an Australian team without a proper fly-half and a set piece that should have been shellacked long before the third test.

Outstanding as Saturday night was, and believe me victory in Sydney was as sweet a taste as British rugby has enjoyed since the World Cup final a decade ago, more, much more will be needed if the Lions are to win only their second series in New Zealand.

That 1971 tour had players such as Willie John McBride at his prime up front, while behind the scrum the game was being revolutionised by a still unsurpassed generation of Welsh backs. Barry John was the prince of fly-halves, Gareth Edwards was and remains simply the king, and Gerald Davies and JPR were peerless in their time. Throw in Mike Gibson and John Dawes and you have a once-in-a-lifetime squad.

That is just about what is required to win a test series in the world’s most passionate rugby country. The midweek matches will be brutal affairs, the challenges severe from game to game. They will help the Lions select the best team for the tests but they will surely place the marvellous medical team under stress, the like of which no professional team has known.

In short, to win they will have to be somewhere near great, somewhere near that once-in-a-lifetime team that was the 1971 squad. Still, in sporting terms, 46 years constitutes a lifetime and maybe the time has come.

It was not altogether obvious that this Lions squad had the quality to remould themselves as a match for the legends of 1971. The first two test matches were hardly affairs to make a Kiwi tremble but on Saturday there was a hint of the seismic as the Europeans put the Antipodeans to the sword in the scrum.

The demolition was part of the script. If the Lions are to win again in New Zealand they must prevail in the tight. This tour has seen the coming of Alex Corbisiero. When Adam Jones, the grand old man of British and Irish scrummaging, described his young English loosehead as ‘‘an amazing player’’ in the wake of victory there was a sense of anointment.

While George North hogged more of the headlines this trip, the influence of the young prop forward was substantially greater. He was fabulous in the first test and even better on Saturday. Unremitting at the set piece and mobile around the park, he was right up there with Leigh Halfpenny in the world class category.

Of course, destroying the Wallaby scrum is a different proposition than doing the same in New Zealand, although he did a similar number on the All Blacks in December. With Corbisiero and Cian Healy in their prime, New Zealand will be certain of a tough time in the scrum.

So, too, will they in the back row; King Richie will have retired and the Lions have the depth to come at the All Blacks in a variety of ways. Sam Warburton will be available but the 2013 captain is going to have a job guaranteeing his place. Justin Tipuric will get better and better but the man who could prove the biggest thorn is Sean O’Brien. World class: Lions prop Alex Corbisiero reacts after scoring a try during their third test win over the Wallabies at Sydney last Saturday night. Photo: Reuters

He has extra dynamism, added power and a ruthlessness that Warburton does not. Indeed the balance of the back row on Saturday was the best on tour. Both Toby Faletau and Dan Lydiate will be near if not at their prime.

Second rows are not as plentiful but with Richie Gray likely to benefit from this tour and Joe Launchbury maturing, the pack will be formidable. Courtney Lawes is another youngster capable of taking it to the New Zealand front five.

Behind the scrum Jonathan Sexton will be far from a backdated number. He is not as flash as some fly-halves but his understated skill in the second half helped release pressure when Australia threatened.

So, too, can North. The All Blacks will not have a monopoly on brute force and skill in the wide channels. Nor will they have an advantage in terms of goal kicking given Halfpenny’s dedication to his art. The core of a potentially winning side is in place.

Just as important will be the man at the helm. Ireland’s Joe Schmidt is an ideal man to add an edge of subtle invention to the often unstoppable power of Jamie Roberts in the midfield.

Combine this potential with the fact that the Lions can head south believing they can win rather than go down gloriously and there is a recipe for hope; even in New Zealand.