Absent Irish trio a huge loss, admits Howley

LIONS assistant backs coach Rob Howley yesterday admitted that Irish trio Jerry Flannery, Stephen Ferris and Tomas O’Leary would have made their mark at Test level on this tour but for injury.

Asked to single out individuals who would be sorely missed for Saturday’s opening clash with South Africa in Durban, Howley named the Irish men who have been sidelined by elbow, knee and ankle problems respectively.

The former Welsh and Lions scrum half is, however, relatively confident that the touring side will be capable of producing a side worthy of success, despite the absence of those Grand Slam winners.

Acknowledging that the three-match series will be more difficult to win because two games will be played at altitude, Howley said he was pleased with the way the squad had reacted to every challenge placed before them so far.

However he was clearly annoyed at the tactics of Tuesday’s opponents Southern Kings, and was unimpressed with the performance of referee, fellow Welshman Nigel Owens in the bruising encounter. But he wanted to move on quickly. Howley said: “There is no good reason why we should look back at that game other than to learn some lessons from it. It was game six, we won it and we were happy to win it. All the focus now is on Saturday’s Test.”

He did remark: “There were a lot of cynical marks on the game, a lot of off the ball incidents which obviously didn’t get picked up by either the referee and touch judges and that was disappointing. There were certain incidents in the game, off the ball incidents, particularly with Gordon D’Arcy (targeted); it happened twice and neither were picked up.”

Both James Hook and Euan Murray have been ruled out of the selection process for Saturday’s match and Howley intimated that the former might have been involved in the match-day 22 were he to present himself fit and able, based on his ability to play 10, 12 or 15.

But if Hook booted the Lions to victory with a late strike against Western Province, neither Howley nor newly-appointed kicking coach Neil Jenkins are even slightly worried about the ability of the touring side to slot goal-kicking chances.

Jenkins remarked: “No matter who is selected at fly half, Stephen Jones or Ronan O’Gara, the options are there to take advantage of any chances that come our way.”

Jenkins added: “South Africa have some great goal kickers, but they can’t be any better than either Stephen or Ronan; these guys are both top class and right on form as well.

Having suggested that Ireland’s O’Leary might well have snatched a Test place, Howley now believes it’s time for Mike Phillips to stand up and be counted. He is the front-runner from a group of three scrum halves, ahead of Harry Ellis and third choice Mike Blair.

Howley offered some critical analysis of Phillips’ game yesterday when he suggested he had a bit to learn and instead hyped up South African number nine Fourie du Preez.

“It took him (Phillips) a long time to gain selection for Wales but he was given the opportunity when Warren (Gatland) came in. Mike is physical, very strong, has a great pass that causes problems for the opposition defensive line, but he’s a bit short on experience against South Africa.

“There are areas of his game that he still needs to improve upon; we keep working with him and he is dedicated to working on his weaknesses but he is a huge handful behind any dominant pack. He will, however, be up against the guy I believe is the best number nine in world rugby at the moment in Fourie du Preez; that will be a big challenge if he gets selected.”

Howley didn’t just focus on the need for improvement behind the scrum, however, insisting that the Test series would be won or lost at the breakdown.

“There are areas there (at the breakdown) where we have to show huge improvement; we must stay on our feet longer and persuade the referee that we’re doing everything the way we should be doing it. The first man there to the breakdown these days is allowed to stay there a bit longer in terms of the new laws; we have to work and focus on dealing with that over the next few days. I think we showed positive aspects against the Sharks on Wednesday in that very area, but we have to be very efficient again.”