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'Entirely different to what the referees asked for': All Blacks assistant on South African TV director's influence
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'Pick them to pieces': The Lion that concerns George Gregan the most
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Former Australia captain George Gregan has identified two British and Irish Lions that concern him ahead of the series with the Wallabies.
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Joining the Stick to Rugby podcast recently, the 139-cap international, who featured in Australia’s 2001 series win over the Lions, pinpointed Scotland’s Finn Russell as the greatest concern, citing his composed performance in Bath’s Gallagher Premiership final victory over Leicester Tigers as a reason for this.
Gregan also highlighted fellow scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park as another concern in Andy Farrell’s squad, who has been widely tipped to be Russell’s half-back partner in the Test series.
Neither Russell nor Gibson-Park will feature for the Lions against Argentina on Friday in Dublin. The Ireland No.9 is currently nursing an injury which ruled him out of the United Rugby Championship final late on, while Russell will be only six days removed from a starring role in his own final at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium.
“The obvious one that concerns me, and I saw him at the weekend, is Finn Russell,” Gregan said. “Because he can win matches with his boot. A great kick, just on half time which was 48, 50 out. He knocked that over. That’s important.
“He didn’t try to push it at the weekend. I watched the third Lions Test in South Africa [in 2021 – very calm, very patient, everyone says ‘the highlights reel, he goes for the big plays’, but when he pulls back, when you’re around quality players in good teams, it sounds cliche but you just need to do your job.
“If they give you that front-foot ball, that opportunity to play in front of a team that is struggling, he’ll pick them to pieces. You saw him step inside [Julian] Montoya when they tried to put a bit of pressure on him, then he plays through. He has that awareness, but he just picks his moments. He concerns me if they quality ball.
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“Also, Gibson-Park concerns me too, because he plays both sides of the ruck. So he’ll have great linkage with his No.10 or his first receiver on his openside, but he sniffs the short sides.”
