‘Hamish was outstanding’ insists Adams
Man of the match for the Lions in Saturday’s first tour fixture, Edinburgh openside Watson receives high praise from the player who notched four tries.
You have to feel sorry for a player who scores four tries, but is not named man of the match. Hamish Watson certainly did, arguing that Josh Adams, not himself, deserved the accolade after the British & Irish Lions kicked off their tour of South Africa on Saturday with a convincing 56-14 win over the Sigma Lions in Johannesburg.
For his part, Welsh winger Adams insisted a couple of his scores had been simple cases of finishing off the good work of others. And, according to his reading of the game, Edinburgh openside Watson – the actual recipient after emerging, once again, as the bully of the breakdown – was a more than worthy winner of that man-ofthe-match title.
What does this after-you-claude mutual deference tell us about the match at Ellis Park and more generally about the touring squad as a whole? First, that as the wide margin of victory suggests, the winning team had far more than one decent performer. Second, that the players have completely bought into the idea that, if the tour is to be a success, they have to take an all-for-one-and-one-for-all attitude. Individual and national rivalries must and will be buried for the duration. Everyone needs to excel – and needs to encourage everyone else to do so too.
“I said to him at the end ‘I don’t know what that’s about’,” Watson explained when asked if he had mentioned his award to his team-mate. “He played amazing.”
Adams, a keen Liverpool supporter, likened one or two of his scores to tap-ins by a striker, and insisted Watson’s contribution to the match had been a more substantial one. “I had a few walk-ins, so I can’t take too much credit,” the Cardiff player said. “But I’m happy to score four, of course I am.
“I’ve said it before: you think of a winger maybe like a striker in football. They score goals – it’s my job to score tries.
“I didn’t have to do too much for one or two, but that’s how it goes. You’ve got to be in the right place at the right time, I guess.
“To be fair to Hamish, I thought he was outstanding. You can stand and applaud the tries, but Hamish does all the unseen work. I thought his defence was outstanding, so it’s thoroughly deserved.”
The Lions’ collective defence was just as impressive at times, and it was significant that captain Stuart Hogg singled out a long passage of play in the first half in which they held the home side at bay as the most pleasing aspect of the game.
Hogg himself also put in a try-saving tackle in the second half, but his team also let the Sigma Lions in for a couple of soft scores and know they have a lot of work to do ahead of the altogether more difficult fixtures which await them.
Of the other Scots involved, Chris Harris was impressive at outside centre, Finn Russell put in some excellent kicks, including the one which gave Adams his first “walk-in”, Ali Price joined Watson on the score sheet and Zander Fagerson helped inject new energy into the pack after coming off the bench.
As for Adams, whether you saw him as the best or second-best performer, or merely a finisher of facile chances, there is no denying he is a clear frontrunner for one of the wing berths in the Tests. He was on the left on Saturday, but scored in the number 14 jersey a week earlier against Japan,
when Scotland’s Duhan van der Merwe was at 11. And, lest there be any doubt about how highly head coach Warren Gatland, inset, rates him, he is the only player to have started both matches.
If he does claim a place in the Test side, it will be the culmination of a remarkable recovery for Adams, whose chances of getting into Gatland’s squad were damaged back in February when Wales suspended him for the first two games of the Six Nations Championship after he broke Covid regulations by going to a family gathering.
Yet whatever worries may have lurked in the back of his mind at the time, Adams insisted he had not lost faith in his ability to claim a place on tour.
“You have to believe,” he said. “If you lose belief, then it can easily slip away. Missing the two games didn’t help, of course. But luckily I played in the last three and we went on a good run as a team, which helped. I had great support around me. The Union were fantastic as well, all the coaching staff, all the players. I was always kept in the loop. I just had to make sure I worked hard for when I came back. You’ve got to keep your focus, keep your head down, and take every chance you get.”
Adams’ fiancee, Georgia Davies, is due to give birth in two weeks. He has gone to South Africa with her blessing, but understandably admitted to feeling the odd twinge of anxiety during his absence. “She spoke to me after the game,” he added. “And I did tell her not to jump around too much – we’ve got to hold off a bit.”
Sigma Lions: Viljoen; Ulengo, Rass, Odendaal (Zeilinga 55), Maxwane; Hendrikse (Kriel 66), Smit (Van den Berg 38); Mcbeth (S Sithole 55), Botha (Visagie 55), Dreyer (Sadie 55), Schoeman, Nothnagel (E Tshituka 69), Sangweni (Straeuli 66), V Tshituka, Horn. British & Irish Lions: Hogg; Rees-zammit, Harris (Aki 69), Farrell, Adams; Russell (Daly 59), Price (Davies 60); W. Jones (Vunipola 62), George (Cowandickie 69), Sinckler (Fagerson 55), Itoje (Henderson 69), Hill, Lawes, H Watson, Faletau (Simmonds 58).
“To be fair to Hamish, I thought he was outstanding. You can stand and applaud the tries, but Hamish does all the unseen work. I thought his defence was outstanding, so it’s (the man-of-the-match award) thoroughly deserved”
“I’ve said it before: you think of a winger maybe like a striker in football. They score goals – it’s my job to score tries. I didn’t have to do too much for one or two, but that’s how it goes. You’ve got to be in the right place at the right time, I guess”