Lions aim to exploit All Blacks’ doubt

Strange sport, rugby. Purveyors of its best brand and keepers of its finest exponents for years, the All Blacks have been able to bestride the global game’s landscape like rugby gods, shrouded in mystique and an aura of invincibility.

If cracks appeared from time to time they would surface far away from their Mount Olympus on the Land of the Long White Cloud and be suitably rendered in time for the journey home.

It may come to pass that this will always be the way when it comes to talk of New Zealand’s greatest export but for now, the seeds of doubt have been planted in their own backyard and the Lions appear determined to let them grow.