Plenty still in hunt for Test places, says Clive
Woodward sent out a near-Test strength side for the midweek victory over Wellington. He then switched Jonny Wilkinson from fly-half to inside centre for the final 20 minutes at the expense of Gavin Henson to give Stephen Jones a run out at No.10.
The move added fuel to speculation that he will play both Jones and Wilkinson in the first Test in Christchurch, reducing the chances of specialist centres playing against Otago to stake a claim to partner Brian O’Driscoll in midfield.
Will Greenwood and Gordon D’Arcy are the men in those positions at Carisbrook, while Charlie Hodgson reprises his half-back partnership with scrum-half Chris Cusiter in another seemingly forlorn combination.
Yet Woodward yesterday said: “The Test match is still a couple of games away and we’re going game by game. There’s plenty of room left to try and stake a claim to a Test place.
“There are still a few things to learn and there are one or two places that are either/or situations.”
The Lions coach has had to resist temptation to give Test probables such as Gareth Thomas and Wilkinson more game time. Both players have only played one game in New Zealand and Woodward said: “There is a fine line between match preparation and picking up injuries.”
Comparing his squad’s preparations with the All Blacks, who will have played just once: “The New Zealand team have done it their way by putting their team in cotton wool for 15 days. We’re doing it slightly differently by giving the players one or maybe two games to get ready.
“It’s not science, you’ve got to take everything into account and use common sense. I’m looking forward to this week’s game, but the Test is looming large now and I believe we will have a fresh, fit team, and if we do that we have half a chance.”
Hooker Gordon Bulloch will captain the side in a front row between English props Graham Rowntree and Matt Stevens, while Donncha O’Callaghan can build on his promising performances at lock, where he partners Simon Shaw.
Lewis Moody has had his injured knee passed fit to take his place in the back row where he joins Welsh duo Martyn Williams and Ryan Jones at openside and No.8 respectively. Jones completes his rapid promotion from the Wales tour of North America to the Lions side less than a week after joining the squad as replacement for Simon Taylor.
The rest of the back division sees Geordan Murphy at full-back, while Denis Hickie and Shane Williams take up wing positions.
Irish duo Ronan O’Gara and Simon Easterby join the replacements’ bench.
Meanwhile Otago coach Wayne Graham has accused the Lions of using negative tactics. “Their game at scrum time is about disruption,” said Graham. “So they’ll pull every trick they know to try and disrupt your scrum, and at the contact area they’re developing ways to disrupt or steal your ball. Those are the two major plays in the game that our team’s got to deal with.”
The former All Black also urged the referee to watch the Lions closely at the breakdown, where he said they were killing the ball.
“They’re big guys who like lying all over the ball and they seem to be allowed to leave their feet, which is something I thought was outside the laws of the game,” said Graham.
“Once they do go to ground, they’ll just lie there and try to disrupt things. We’ve looked at each of their games. It’s obvious that’s a big part of how they play the game.”
: J Wilson, M Harrison, B Milne, F Muliaina, W Lotawa, R Apanui, J Cowan; C Dermody, J Rutledge, A Dempsey, H Macdonald, D Quate, H Tamariki, H T-Pole, P Miller.
: J Murch, D Hall, R Hemi/R Logan, J Wright, A Clarke, M Petre, P Te Whare.
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