Locked and Loaded

THINK BACK to the really competitive rugby sides over the last 30 years and the one constant in all those teams was a second row combination that complemented each other and competed as a united force.

In the 1980’s the All Blacks had Andy Haden and Gary Whetton, while a decade later they were driven for a record period by a regular partnership of Ian Jones and Robin Brooke. The Australian touring Grand Slam side of 1984 was built around the towering presence of the two Steve’s, Cutler and Williams with John Eales and Rod McCall manning the fort with great effect in the 1990s. World champions South Africa laid the foundations for their successful 2007 campaign on the familiarity and working relationship forged over years of toil with the Blue Bulls in Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha.

And then there’s Munster – Paul O’Connell and Donncha O’Callaghan – not too bad either. In a week when O’Connell earned the greatest individual honour the game on this side of the world can bestow, in being appointed captain of the British and Irish Lions, his long-term locking partner secured his second Lions tour with the minimum of fuss.