First things first, well done to the British and Irish Lions getting their first win on tour. It wasn’t a pretty game to watch nor was it too exciting to watch. But a win is a win and the tour is hopefully going to become more competitive.

Let’s look at the highs and lows of the match. The biggest positive of the match was the defensive effort of the lions! Keeping a strong Crusaders attack to zero tries and only three points was impressive and it was obvious that the Andy Farrell defensive patterns are starting to stick. Tactical kicking, Murray and Farrell both had good games around the park but their offensive kicking was on point. They prevented a strong Crusaders back line from counter attacking and kept them on the back foot.

The lows - poor Hoggy and Davies going off with head injuries. Davies will be back to training this week but Hogg has to see a specialist and could be at risk of missing the rest of the tour. Fingers crossed that doesn’t happen and he is fit come test time. Attack - while they were able to put more phases together than the previous two games, showing more continuity, the Lions still couldn’t get over the white line. Whether it’s a lack of pace, not hitting the right lines or just a lack of variety in attack they won’t beat the all blacks with three pointers…
Moving onto the next game, the lions are taking on the mighty Highlanders from the deep south. It is going to be a completely different atmosphere compared to AMI. Forsyth Barr Stadium is the only arena in New Zealand that has a closable roof. Dunedin has a reputation for being a student city and the combination of cheap speights and student seating area called “The Zoo” will make things more tense and the closest thing you get to hostile in New Zealand. Having the closed roof will guarantee a dry track for the game and finally give the Lions a chance to show what they can do with a clean ball. Will be interesting to see if they stick to “Warrenball” or are they going to try and throw the ball around the pitch.

Onto the teams, the lions are still trying out new combinations and this squad seems more like a mid-week team compared who played the crusaders. Players who need to up their game are Nowell and Warburton. Nowell has had two chances to play and not done anything with the ball and Warburton is coming back from what seems like his 50th injury of the season. I understand he is a good leader and captains Warrens international team but in my opinion, he is too injury prone to be a touring player.

Thankfully there are plenty of good 7s on the tour and they are all going to get plenty of game time. Looking at 7s, it will be good to see Haskell run out against his old franchise. He is one of the few Europeans to make the move south for rugby, maybe it will give him some insight into how they will play but more importantly be good to see him play against old mates. The Highlanders have named a weakened squad, resting a number of their All Blacks. While this is disappointing it’s understandable. These games are warm ups to the test games and the all blacks are going to be taking this as serious as the Lions. This is going to be a good test of the Highlanders strength in depth and if they can still perform without big names like Arran Smith and Ben Smith.

My predictions have been off a bit so far but again, I’m trying to be optimistic and with this being a mid-week game I am hoping for some tries. I going to go Highlands 25 – 22 Lions.
Hope you all can make the time to watch it

Chur

John Mann, Community and Rugby Development