Bring the Lions down and make Farrell your No.10
Just five months and five rounds of Six Nations rugby separates Warren Gatland and the scheduled British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa, kicking off on July 3. Whether the event takes place as planned is anyone’s guess, but the Kiwi taking charge of his third tour will be forging ahead nonetheless as he jets in to watch the opening round of Six Nations action.
He’ll have most questions answered already. His forward pack just about picks itself. It is in the backline where Gatland will earn his pay. And if selecting numbers nine to 15 is a puzzle, it is in midfield where a veritable Gordian Knot awaits.
“I’m glad I don’t have to make that decision,” says Jean de Villiers, the former Springbok centre who skippered South Africa in 37 of his 109 Test appearances, boasting to
about the warm weather and endless blue sky outside his home in Cape Town as he does so.
De Villiers began his journey as a winger though it was at inside centre where he was most at home. But the confidence he showed with ball in hand evaporates when asked who he would select at 12 and 13 for the Lions:
“It’s probably the most difficult decision Warren Gatland has to make. Manu Tuilagi’s fitness is a factor. Having played with and against him, I know how powerful he is and I’d want him in my team. Then what about Bundee Aki? He offers something similar. Then there’s Jonathan Davies who could do a great job. Then the English boys Henry Slade and Owen Farrell. It all depends who your 10 is.”
And De Villiers does have a strong view on who the Lions flyhalf should be.
“It’s got to be Farrell,” he says. “I know a lot of people are calling for Finn Russell, and he’s obviously very good, but if it came down to the deciding Test, I wouldn’t trust him to be my flyhalf. If Farrell starts then you have more options off the bench and can mix it up outside him.”
That leaves little room for Ireland’s talismanic Jonathan Sexton. The two-Tour veteran with 95 Test caps to his name has struggled with injuries for the better part of 18 months. De Villiers can sympathise.
Just five minutes into his first ever Bok appearance – against
France in 2002 – de Villiers suffered a major knee injury that kept him off the international stage for two years.
A torn bicep against Wales in the opening game of the 2007 World Cup meant he could only watch his teammates’ march to the title. Another shoulder injury in the second Lions Test in Pretoria – a barnstorming slug-fest remembered for a Schalk Burger eye-gouge, a tackle-busting Jacques Fourie try and a 55metre winning penalty from Morne Steyn – cut short his time against Ian McGeechan’s men. Before his retirement, he’d sustain a dislocated left knee and a fractured jaw while wearing his nation’s colours.
“That’s the beautiful thing about rugby. No matter how injured a player is he’ll always want to play,” De Villiers explains. “I’m not sure how many games I played where I was actually 100 percent fit. Johnny will be desperate but is it worth the gamble? Is Johnny at 80 per cent good enough to beat the Boks? I don’t know. He will be a target.
It’s going to be extremely physical.”
It is a cliche to portray the Springboks as attritional bruisers but it is a reputation they have earned. Two of South Africa’s most famous wins against northern hemisphere opponents were built on an indomitable foundation laid at the scrum. Like England’s front row in the 2019 World Cup final, the Lions’ heavies in 2009 struggled up front.
The now-retired Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawaira was a major presence on both occasions though his absence shouldn’t prove decisive. As demonstrated throughout the 2019 World Cup, the Springboks possess enough firepower for two full strength packs per game. It’s a good thing Gatland will have his pick from four different nations.
“This is just another reason why the Lions is such an exciting prospect and why I’m so anxious for it to happen as it should,” De Villiers says. “It’s not often you get to test yourself against a team of players who are usually enemies and who have come together for this united goal. It’s a wonderful product.”
De Villiers was 16-years-old when Martin Johnson led the Lions to a famous 2-1 victory on South African soil. The memory of Jeremy Guscott’s seriesclinching drop-goal in Durban still stings but the subsequent documentary Living with Lions released two years later imbued the young De Villiers with a burning desire to take part.
“I played in three World Cups and many Tri Nations, but only one Lions series,” he says. “For a lot of players it really is a once in a lifetime opportunity. It’s also a way to secure your legacy as a team. That’s what we felt going in to the 2009 series. We’d won the
“Is Sexton at 80 per cent good enough to beat the Boks? He will be a target”
World Cup two years before and we’d just won the Tri Nations by beating New Zealand three times in a row. This was a way for us to stamp our authority on world rugby. It was a way to cap off a generation of a special bunch of guys. I’ll be honest, there was also an element of revenge for what happened in 1997.”
Across a career spanning 16 years at the elite level, there were few moments that truly surprised de Villiers on a rugby field. There is one standout exception. Instinctively he knew it was a coming. But the reality he encountered on June 20, 2009 still left him slackjawed. “Seeing that sea of red for the first match against the Lions was one of the most confusing experiences I’ve ever had,” De Villiers says. “My whole family was there in Durban and I was anticipating a massive roar when we ran out. In my head I expected there would be a lot of travelling fans but it was still my country. I was used to home ground advantage. We had none of it that day.”
Such is the magic of a British and Irish Lions tour. This anachronism of the game that comes around only every 12 years for host nations is one of the few events on the sporting calendar where the crowd adds as much as the players to the overall drama.
“It certainly motivated us,” De Villiers adds. “We viewed that sea or red as a challenge to overcome. It gave us perspective of the magnitude of the Lions. It showed how much this meant to people. It was immense, that’s really the best word for it. It was a major highlight of my career.”
Perhaps this is why De Villiers is able to say, without any hesitation or hyperbolic inflection, that he believes this year’s tour will take place as scheduled. He concedes that crowds will not be at capacity, and that strict biosecure bubbles will need to be enforced, but he is confident three Test matches against the world champions will commence in South Africa this year.
“I’m remaining positive until it’s officially changed,” he says. “The Lions are a touring team so I can’t see it taking place in the UK. Australia doesn’t work because of the time difference and Qatar (which has emerged as a possible, albeit unlikely, host) wouldn’t provide the same fan experience. It’s got to be in South Africa. What’s encouraging is that the players on both sides want it to happen.”
Our conversation turns away from R-rates and vaccine rollouts and takes on a more hopeful tone when the prospect of a month in South Africa is raised.
“It’s the best country in the world to visit,” De Villiers says, “especially if you’re spending pounds. The Lions is about so much more than sport. It’s about experiencing a different culture in a country that loves its rugby. In South Africa that means great food, great wine, beaches, game drives. Covid has been so terrible and there are more important things than rugby going on, but if we’re unable to capture at least some of what this tour is about then that would be a great shame.”
South Africa’s covid numbers were deemed uncomfortably high for Australia’s cricketers who pulled out of a three Test series scheduled for March. Those numbers are in decline but they are unlikely to plummet to a level where a packed Ellis Park is a possibility. Not that De Villiers is worrying about all that. He’s holding out for a future as bright as the view from his window.