A real Test rugby machine a Welsh legend is assured
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CLEANOUTS TACKLES CARRIES TURNOVERS CAPS AS CAPTAIN - A RECORD POINTS LIONS CAPS LIONS TOURS AS CAPTAIN CHAMPIONSHIPS GRAND SLAM AN OBE Source:
WRU
There was no diving in wildly or going off his feet – there was a measured approach to what he did.
He understood the importance of working in tandem with teammates – whether that was the chop-tackling of Dan Lydiate or the dual jackalling threat of Justin Tipuric.
The partnership of Lydiate and Warburton is one that will define much of his early career with Wales, while his work with Tipuric is one that Wales fans may feel they never saw enough of.
Warburton was the glue, though.
He understood where to be to get the turnover when Lydiate was flying out of the line to stop big ball-carriers behind the gainline.
Conversely, he recognised that a second arrival to a breakdown could be more important than getting there first. That was where a large majority of his success with Tipuric lied.
Sometimes he would bide his time and sneak in to make a steal after a clear-out by the opposition. Other times, he would cause havoc knowing he had no chance of winning the ball, safe in the knowledge that he was creating breakdown opportunities for his teammates.
This breakdown expertise came to the fore in the big games, when the margins were fine.
Think back to the Second Lions Test in Australia in 2013. Perhaps his finest hour of Test rugby.
Against a Wallabies outfit who should have won the First Test and boasting a trio of playmakers in the backline, Warburton, with the help of Lydiate, kept Australia quiet with a textbook display of breakdown expertise, defensive nous and pure physicality.
When Warburton departed in the 67th minute through injury, so did the Lions’ hopes of victory.
There were other big performances.
The World Cup quarter-final against Ireland in 2011. The 30-3 win over England in 2013.
The Second and Third Lions Test in New Zealand last year.
It seems remiss to name so few but the point is that Warburton was a big game player – a Test match machine.
He had an ability to raise his game to suit the occasion.
His all-round game was an underrated facet that he constantly worked on. He was far better ball carrier than he was given credit for and was a good lineout jumper too.
Another huge part of his game was his leadership.
Warburton is polite and cordial off the field and is no different on it. It would be hard to imagine how someone so genuinely nice could have any success when remonstrating to the referee.
But Warburton was a master at talking to officials – often buying his teammates a reprieve with his calm ‘referee whispering’.
It’s ultimately fitting that one of his final moments on a rugby pitch would best encapsulate that ability to communicate with officials.
In the final Test match against New Zealand at Eden Park last year, the intervention of Warburton secured an unlikely series draw as he coerced referee Romain Poite from awarding a last-gasp penalty against Ken Owens.
It was the career pinnacle in terms of his leadership skills, just as that series was for the other facets of his game
There is just one more skill that we will never see again.
And it is perhaps his most underappreciated – his powers of recovery.
Going back to that Second Lions Test against Australia in 2013, it would be easy to view it as a microcosm of his whole career.
A stunning performance cut short by injury.
But that’s the not the whole story. It doesn’t show how after each injury, he incredibly came back and, within a few games, was influencing games at the highest level.
There will be no comeback this time – but the mere fact that he choose to retire rather than return a lesser player than he desires is commendable.
That he won’t return this time isn’t a stick to beat him with.
He simply doesn’t need to.