Lions places up for grabs as fixtures tentatively pencilled in

by Ralph Keyes

WHILE provisional dates for the resumption of Ireland’s matches in the Six Nations have been set for the end of April and into May, I cannot see these matches taking places unless some drastic action is taken.

With all the other countries still active in a Six Nations context, I do not see this as a good sign for the Irish players hoping to travel with the Lions party to Australia.

Thankfully, Donal Lenihan is managing the squad and I am sure he will give the Irish lads a fair crack of the whip.

Today, I’m examining options to play tight head prop on the Lions tour. The tight head can rightly be referred to as the cornerstone to any good scrum. The reason for this is that the tight head must scrum between the opposing hooker and loose head so therefore can be put under considerable pressure from the opposing scrum.

The tight head must ensure that his scrum remains steady on his own put in which will require both strength and technique.

Paul Wallace performed heroically on the last tour to South Africa where the huge South African scrum was expected to get the better of the smaller and lighter Lions. Some would say he scrummaged slightly illegally in that he scrummed across and down thereby stopping the big South African loose heads from getting under him. Some call this boring. A referee once accused the great Phil O’Callaghan of boring in a scrum during a match, to which Philo is reputed to have responded, “You’re not so exciting yourself, ref.”

There are three contenders at present for the two tight head prop positions for the Lions tour. At the moment Phil Vickery from England will be the main contender for the test position, mainly because England are so strong over all.

But it will be interesting to see how he perform outside of the safety of the English set up when he has to stand up and fight for himself. He looks to be a strong scrummager and very effective in the loose and if he can adapt to a different type game when playing with the Lions he should hold on to the test spot.

David Young from Wales has made two previous Lions tours and as Welsh captain will be a strong challenger. But to be honest I have seen nothing this season to say that he will make the tour. As a matter of fact, when Wales played Scotland he was proverbially screwed by Tom Smith. I think that we may have seen the best of David Young in the past.

Big John Hayes from Bruff and Ireland I feel will make the tour. John got a lot of bad press after the Italian match when the Irish scrum came under a lot of pressure. But he came bouncing back with an outstanding game against France where the Irish scrum looked strong (luckily the Irish pack had plenty of scrum practice after the Italian match).

John is, at 6’4”, a very tall tight head prop but this is a huge bonus when it comes to lineout time and gives the jumpers a few extra inches. He also works extremely hard, both in attack and defence, and would be a great asset to the Lions squad.