We must comeout fighting, says O’Sullivan
A new-look team showing 11 changes, four of them positional, from the side which surrendered meekly to the All Blacks last Saturday in Christchurch, will be sent out tomorrow morning in Wellington (8.10am) looking to prevent Graham Henry’s side from wrapping up the series.
Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan and his England counterpart Andy Robinson are both convinced the work they have done this week, on the backs and forwards respectively, has fixed the costly errors made at Jade Stadium and will pave the way for a remarkable turnaround.
“Last weekend was hugely frustrating because we never really got out of the blocks,” O’Sullivan said yesterday of his back division. “We didn’t have enough football to play with, when we got it we were in the wrong parts of the field and we just didn’t perform as a team.
“I’ve been there before, it’s happened to me with Ireland where we’ve gone out with a really good gameplan and it goes pear-shaped. It’s very hard to fix it and it’s terribly frustrating but I think the one attitude you have to come with, is that you can fix it and produce a good performance on the back of a bad one. And that’s the only way to go here.
“We’re as gutted but the best thing we can do is turn it around and get on with it and that’s the challenge. We’re a better team if we can turn this round and we’ve every intention of doing that.”
Losing captain Brian O’Driscoll has robbed the Lions of their most creative player but O’Sullivan believes placing new skipper Gareth Thomas in the outside centre position will prove a successful gamble.
“We’ve gone for a more traditional midfield. I accept Gareth wouldn’t be a regular player in the centre but he’s a very versatile back and he’s played wing, full-back and centre. I think it’s a good place for him, in the front line of the attack. I know last week we didn’t get out of the blocks but I’m quite excited about this week again. We’ve two really pacy wings to take people on one-to-one and Shane Williams is in fantastic form, certainly able to worry defences if you put the ball in his hands.
“He’s one of these players, a bit like Jason Robinson, who you couldn’t tackle in a phone box. If you give him a one-on-one in a bit of space he’ll cause huge problems. It’s up to us in the inside backs and the forwards to create that space for those guys and we know what they can do if we give them the opportunity. “They are game breakers who can really torment defences but we’ve got to put them in the right place with the right possession to do that. That’s something we failed to do last week and the consequences were very dire.”
Forwards coach Robinson believes the Lions will have the right platform to set free an exciting back division. The huge failures of the Lions lineout had been addressed, he said, and the tourists had more options.
“We’ve worked on a bit of clarity in the lineouts, to speed up the tempo. Obviously we had a very bad day at the office last week and credit to New Zealand for the way they pressured us and got into our faces.
“We were bullied, yes, but now the system’s fine, we’re happy with that and the guys are pretty focused. We’ve got a fresh team, and this pack is about taking the game to New Zealand. Every battle is won and lost up front, it’s about getting that platform right from the start. Last week only one side up front turned up and this week is about two teams turning up. It’s always a great battle in the lineout and they’ve got two very good jumpers. But we’re going into this with Donncha, who’s had a tremendous tour, and Paul O’Connell, who I’ve got a lot of respect for, not just in terms of his ability to run the lineout but also his jumping skills. We’re also bringing in Simon Easterby and Ryan Jones who are also very good lineout forwards so I’m hoping we don’t have the same problems we had last week.”
The All Blacks were yesterday forced into a front row change when tighthead prop Carl Hayman was ruled out with an infected toe. Greg Somerville starts in Hayman’s place with Campbell Johnstone moving onto the bench.
That is the only enforced change although Graham Henry chose to make three further switches, replacing Justin Marshall with Byron Kelleher at scrum-half, bringing in Rico Gear on the wing for Doug Howlett and returning Mils Muliaina to full-back at the expense of Leon MacDonald.
O’Sullivan marvelled at the depth of talent available to Henry but added: “I never said we were a bad team either. We’ve a good side as well and we have to earn that label back. Maybe we lost that tag last weekend with the way we played and we’ve got to go out and earn it back. We’re very capable of doing that.”
Lions fans everywhere will be praying he is right.
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