If he wants to win against the All Blacks, Gatland should send for Brown

Inever thought I would be writing these words, but if the Lions want to win the Test series then not only should Warren Gatland bring Mike Brown into his squad, he should put the England full-back straight into his team.

I have not always been Mike’s biggest fan. But if the Lions are going to implement Gatland’s game plan, which seems to be trying to win by stopping the All Blacks from playing, he is the only man for the job.

In Gatland’s style the job of the fullback is to catch every high ball, make every tackle and fight every man wearing a black shirt. And for that Brown is a far better bet than Anthony Watson, Jared Payne or Liam Williams.

Payne must be carrying an injury, because he did not look himself in Tuesday’s loss to the Highlanders in Dunedin. Williams likes playing there but makes two bad mistakes per game. You may get away with those on the wing, but not at No. 15. Watson, who I think Gatland will pick, is a great attacker who will make a few lovely breaks and take some excellent catches. But he is also a potential weak link defensively, and New Zealand will target him.

The back three is the Lions’ Achilles heel. None of the perceived front-runners are out-and-out internationals in their potential positions. Watson is an international wing who will go to fullback, Williams an international fullback playing on the wing, and George North has been switched from the left wing to the right as he seems to be the only man thought capable of taking on Julian Savea.

I am all for getting your best players on the field but it is worrying. It is typical of far too much of what we have seen of the Lions — teams and tactics picked according to the opposition, rather than playing on their terms.

Do you think the All Blacks would move Savea so he could stop a danger man? Would they hell. True, the win over the Crusaders was a marked improvement, but I do not see it striking fear into New Zealand. The key was that our first-choice half-backs, Conor Murray and Owen Farrell, were exceptional in everything they did.

World class

But as I see it, the tour seems to be revolving around whether Farrell can win a Test series on his own. He is world-class, but maybe that is too much even for him. Tuesday, I did not see any tip-ins, secondary passes, or balls out the back to Dan Biggar or Farrell when he came on. It was crash-bang-wallop-lose against a side we should have beaten easily.

Some did do their cause some good. Kyle Sinckler was excellent, and he just needs to back himself more — or maybe he did not want to run that extra 25 metres when he made that break!

Iain Henderson probably played himself into the Test squad, and Robbie Henshaw was a handful. But that was about it. At this stage the Lions should be looking like prizefighters, ready to take on the world. Instead they are a sparring partner taking punch after punch, in the hope of landing one good shot.

Next up are the Maori on Saturday, and they will be looking to land some pretty serious blows of their own.

The question is whether the Lions can hit back. I have my doubts — but I would like to see Brown given a chance. Austin Healey is a former England and British and Irish Lions international.