Gatland wants O’Mahony bite to reboot Lions
WARREN GATLAND has called on Peter O’Mahony to deliver some ‘Munster mongrel’ tomorrow and get the Lions tour back on track against the Crusaders in Christchurch. Having promised all 41 of his players a start across the opening three games in New Zealand, Gatland has included the remaining 11 who didn’t feature in the XVs in Whangarei and Auckland. That means first starts for Irish quartet O’Mahony, Sean O’Brien, Conor Murray and Tadhg Furlong, with Gatland especially keen to see how his two flankers fare alongside Welsh No8 Toby Faletau. ‘We spoke about the balance in terms of lineout options and Peter O’Mahony is good at lineout time. I hope he brings a bit of that Munster mongrelness. ‘Sean is keen and excited. He hasn’t trained a lot but we know with a few games under his belt how destructive and potent he is.’ ‘To be successful over here we are going to have get stuck in and have to be physical,’ said O’Mahony. ‘As a pack, you don’t need talent. You can put your head down and just work hard. That is going to be very important.’
SO that’s it then. Bye bye, Besty. Nice lad and a good captain for Ireland but out of his depth at Lions level — as he showed on the 2013 tour and reconfirmed by screwing up the last lineout when victory was in his grasp against the Blues.
The Test hooking slot is now a straight shootout between Ken Owens of Wales and England’s Jamie George.
These have been the general themes since Best sent his throw floating over the head of Maro Itoje last Wednesday to confirm the first Lions defeat of this already troubled tour.
The nature of the abuse subsequently flung in the Ulsterman’s direction — particularly through online platforms — has been mocking at best, deeply offensive at worst. The mainstream media have piled on also, with the English organs (many of whom felt Best should have not been selected ahead of England captain Dylan Hartley, regardless of his Kiwi origins and horrendous disciplinary record) especially damning in their assessment of the Ireland captain’s Test hopes and relevance on this tour.
However, there is an alternative conviction which states that... deep breath….Rory Best still has a genuine claim on the Test No2 jersey and even the captaincy.
Before a straitjacket is sent by express delivery to the Oval Office, let’s break it down…
THAT LINEOUT
Overall, the Lions did well out of touch against the Blues and their approach was simple.
The call was made, the hooker (Owens for the majority of the game) got into the throwing position, the jumper waited until Owens was ready and then walked to the line where he was immediately hoisted and the ball claimed.
It’s a tactic as old as the lineout itself — launching the move as soon as you join the line provides a crucial head-start on the opposition and, by the time they mobilise, the ball is won.
What happened for that final lineout against the Blues was that Itoje was over-eager to get things going, given the gravity of the situation, and walked into the line before Best was set.
A hooker’s ready position is with the ball behind his head, poised to deliver — Best still had the ball in front of his chest when Itoje made his move.
It ruined the slick timing that had prospered to that point, Itoje saw his hooker wasn’t ready and paused. Meanwhile, Best, realising Itoje had walked in early, panicked and threw. It was a perfect delivery, the only problem being that Itoje was still on the ground and the rest is a slice of history for the Blues.
If anyone cracked under pressure, it was Itoje — which was unfortunate because he had an excellent game in Eden Park. But the youngster’s eagerness threw off the lineout synchronicity and Best became the victim of this end-game calamity.
The picture of the hooker remonstrating with Itoje at the final whistle told its own story.
Conclusion: The final lineout was not Best’s fault, it was a system error, and you just hope Lions coach Warren Gatland (a former hooker of the highest quality) recognises this fact.
THE TEMPLATE
The next area to address is the lessons the Lions have learned from their first two outings.
Gatland has bristled when the issue of ‘Warrenball’ has been raised (the term given to his preferred brand of direct, physical rugby) but the Kiwi is a pragmatic, proven coach and, with the incredibly difficult task of moulding four countries into a cohesive force in a short space of time, has correctly chosen to cut his cloth.
As everyone knew going into this expedition, the tourists were never going to match the All Blacks in terms of skill or attacking ability, and calls to take them on at their own game are preposterous.
The game against the Blues proved as much. The Lions couldn’t match their hosts when it came to conjuring off-the-cuff scores but Gatland’s men were clearly superior in the front five, leading to dominance in the scrum, maul and lineout.
It points the way for the Test series, with breakdown possession the other critical area — the need for the Lions to ensure plenty of quick ball for themselves
while limiting and slowing down ruck possession for New Zealand.
Best is the best scrummaging hooker in the touring squad and the most effective front five operator at the breakdown.
The questions over his lineout ability will linger after Wednesday but he has shown with Ireland over the last four seasons that his throwing can be depended upon — Ireland would not have won two Six Nations titles and beaten the southern hemisphere big three if it could not.
Conclusion: Owens performed well in his first outing and George is the perfect impact option off the bench but Best, on form, remains the finest all-round starting hooker available to Gatland given the game the Lions will try to play.
THE CHARACTER
After his Brumbies agony four years ago, Best came back a better player, establishing himself as one of Ireland’s most dependable rallying figures to the point where he was the natural choice to take over as captain when Paul O’Connell retired.
He has led his country superbly, in charge for seminal wins in South Africa, at home to Australia and England and, most significantly, against New Zealand in Chicago.
If they are to have any hope of challenging the All Blacks in the Test series, the Lions need to pack their side with strong, proven characters and Best has far more in the bank in this regard than either Owens or George.
Indeed, if anything were to befall Sam Warburton (including losing his place due to the excellent form of Justin Tipuric), Best is the most credible candidate to replace him as Lions captain.
Alun-Wyn Jones, you say? Yes, he did a good job filling in for Warburton on the last tour but that was against the woeful Wallabies and the belief is growing that the Lions need to pick their biggest men in the second row (Courtney Lawes and George Kruis) with Itoje at blindside flanker if they truly want to outmuscle the All Blacks.
Conclusion: This is the greatest challenge of Rory Best’s long career. Dismissed after little over a week on tour, he is likely to start against the Highlanders next Tuesday and needs to produce the game of his life — he is well capable of doing exactly that.
The selection pecking order changes constantly on expeditions of this nature and Best’s setback has arrived early. The fact it was not his fault will strengthen the hooker’s resolve to put things right and silence the pitchfork and torch brigade.
If he comes back from this to claim a Test spot, it will represent one of the great Lions stories and perhaps the strongest reason for believing he can do it is the knowledge Best will not permit his distinguished career to be defined by failure on the biggest stage of all. Your move, Rory.