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Lions stars of past and present assess New Zealand tour
The British and Irish Lions touch down in New Zealand on Wednesday ahead of a 10-match tour that includes three Tests against the All Blacks.
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Warren Gatland’s side do not have much time to acclimatise before getting their campaign underway against the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians in Whangarei on Saturday.
The first Test against the All Blacks will be at Eden Park on June 24, with a trip to Wellington following a week later before the series closes back in Auckland on July 8.
Ahead of the tour commencing, Omnisport spoke to a number of past and present Lions who offered their thoughts on how the series will go and where it will be won.
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Martin Johnson: “We have a chance. It’s probably tougher than winning the World Cup as you only have to beat them once in the World Cup but twice in the Lions tour. You’ll go down as the Gods of the game if you beat those guys. They’re legends. It’s worth the effort and the sacrifice needed.”
Owen Farrell: “I remember touring [New Zealand] in 2014 with England and there is obviously a massive following for the All Blacks over there and the whole country gets excited about it. Having seen and having been involved in one tour myself you see how people get behind the Lions squad as well – it should be brilliant.”
Rob Andrew: “Rugby’s just everywhere in New Zealand, they hate losing to anybody anywhere in the world, but particularly at home. So it’s the ultimate test I think and when you’re trying to pull together a group of disparate players who’ve never played together, that adds to the challenge and makes it more difficult, but that’s what Lions tests are all about. It’ll be a real cat and mouse game and I suspect the way Warren plays and the way he’s picked the squad, they’re not going to take New Zealand on at their own game. They’re going to try a Lions-type power, forward-strength game, which whether that’s right or wrong is a matter of opinion. It will be down to results in the end.”
James Haskell: “New Zealand are the best side in the world because they continually improve. Everyone in their country wants to be an All Black and that helps. They have side that everybody wants to play for and hopefully we’ll be able to catch them.”
Mako Vunipola: “New Zealand is the hardest place to go on tour and they’ve been the number one team for many years. It will be a great challenge.”
Gavin Hastings: “I was disappointed with the itinerary, because that’s not what the Lions tour is about. It’s not about breaking the guys; it’s about taking a brand rugby to the far outposts of New Zealand. But, in terms of the Lions actually having a chance to win a Test series, if they were to come through those games relatively unscathed, then my goodness, they’re going to be ready for Test match rugby. I genuinely believe we can really attack them at scrum time, I think we’ve got a really powerful scrum. I don’t think Warren’s going to change his tactics all that much, they call it Warren ball, but I just believe that’s just going to be the way it is. I don’t think it’s going to be free flowing, open rugby from the Lions.”
George Kruis: “If you’re going to beat the All Blacks you might as well do it the hard way. It’s going to be an epic challenge.”
Brian O’Driscoll: “The Lions have a chance. It’s exciting times but it’s going to be tough. I think the Lions can win a Test and two on a really good day.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments