SEXTON IN RACE TO WIN HIS PLACE
a lot of rugby in the last few months,’ added Worcester Warriors star Te’o. ‘A few more training sessions he’ll be fine.’ Curiously Alun-Wyn Jones, who himself had an ineffective opening night performance, was reticent when invited to be similarly upbeat on how well the out-half might bounce back. ‘I don’t know, I can’t speak for Johnny, but I shared an ice bath with him and he was okay,’ said the Wales lock, sidestepping the issue. Sexton’s scrum-half back partner Greig Laidlaw had no doubts however. ‘Johnny is a world-class player,’ said Laidlaw. ‘For nines and 10s, we probably have the hardest job trying to organise everything.’ The Lions flew back to Auckland on Sunday evening, having spent the morning at a Maori ceremony in Waitangi 70 kilometres north of Whangarei and were due to announce their team to face the Blues this morning at 6am Irish time. An entirely different XV will feature in Wednesday’s Eden Park match, the now underpressure Gatland on a mission to give everyone in his squad of 41 a start in one of the tour’s opening three games in Whangarei, Auckland and next Saturday in Christchurch. His aim is to run with most of his likely Test team combinations in the June 17 fifth match against the Maori in Rotorua. Preparations to face the Blues, though, were mired by further criticisms of the tour’s arduous schedule with Lions manager John Spencer insisting the tourists must be part of the debate surrounding the sport’s global calendar from 2020. ‘Negotiations for the new global calendar are really only in their infancy and we want to be in those negotiations to put forward our point, but there is no anger here,’ remarked Spencer. It’s purely trying to get other people to understand how great the Lions tour is. Look at what a creed it is, what a concept. It mustn’t be lost.’