McGeechan: Lions selection depends on performance

Ian McGeechan has underlined a commitment to select “what we see in front of us” for the British and Irish Lions’ Test series showdown against world champions South Africa.

The Lions spotlight falls on another batch of first-time tour starters in tomorrow’s appointment with the Cheetahs at Vodacom Park.

Wing Leigh Halfpenny, centre Luke Fitzgerald and lock Donncha O’Callaghan are among those who feature as head coach McGeechan carries out his desire to involve the entire squad during an intense opening week’s action.

Centre Riki Flutey (knee) and flanker Martyn Williams (shoulder) were the only players unavailable as McGeechan targets a step up from Wednesday’s 74-10 demolition of the Golden Lions.

“We’ve said we have got to keep our minds open,” he claimed.

“When we come to the Tests, we will select on what we see in front of us and the way the players have evolved in a Lions jersey.

“That’s important. It is the only way for us, and it gives the players the knowledge of what we are doing, that they know they’ve got an opportunity.

“We will leave some of those decisions until very late.”

After the Cheetahs encounter, there are just three games – against the Sharks, Western Province and Southern Kings – left before the Lions tackle South Africa in Durban on June 20.

And it is why there has been a huge emphasis on tomorrow’s team “raising the bar” again.

“On the very first day, I said to the players that they are coming on a Lions tour to push for a Test place,” McGeechan added.

“The only way they can do that is if we give them a start in their positions, not just stay on the substitutes’ bench.

“We need to give ever player the opportunity. I didn’t want to bring one player on this tour and not give him an opportunity to start in one of these first three games.

“We are not going to be looking at pre-determined Test selections.”

Six of the players who started last weekend’s unconvincing performance against a Royal XV, including fit-again centre Keith Earls, reappear.

Ireland international Earls had a game to forget in Rustenburg, while the likes of flanker Joe Worsley and wing Shane Williams will also look for more eye-catching displays this time around.

Worsley said: “The team laid down a marker on Wednesday night, and we’ve got to point all our efforts in the same direction.

“There was massive frustration from last Saturday. We’d had a hard training week, there was a lot of travelling and also the altitude, which was the biggest thing.

“I felt like a zombie during the game. If you are struggling with the legs, the rest of the game suffers completely.”

There is also a place on the bench for Ireland Grand Slam and Heineken Cup winner Gordon D’Arcy, who only joined the squad yesterday.

Leinster centre D’Arcy was summoned from North America, and he arrived in South Africa following flights from San Francisco to New York, then a 14-hour leg to Johannesburg.

“I always had the hope the phone would ring,” said D’Arcy, following his call-up.

And 20-year-old Wales wing Halfpenny is rewarded for what McGeechan described as his “first-class” approach to recovering from injury.

Halfpenny remained at home for intensive treatment on a thigh problem, not flying out with the Lions squad to Johannesburg 12 days ago.

McGeechan said: “It was a tough call when we had to send Leigh back to Cardiff.

“The reason was we would have been taking up too much of our own medical staff’s time if we took injured players away from the start of the tour, which I didn’t really want to do.

“He was very professional in his own rehab programme and very well supported in Wales, and he has come back fit.

“He has been back training over the last three days. This environment draws special things out of the players, and everything he’s done has been first-class.”

While Halfpenny looks to make his mark in the playing arena, Wales fly-half James Hook has a golden opportunity to turn the Test number 10 position into a three-way scrap.

It is currently viewed by most pundits as a head-to-head between Stephen Jones and Ronan O’Gara – but Hook could easily change all that.

“James got into the game very well on Wednesday when he went on,” acknowledged McGeechan.

“We want him do it from a start and be able to control the side like Ronan and Stephen did in the first two games.

“He’s a good attacking player. He’s keen, and he is obviously a very important driver of what we want to do and how we want to do it.

“We’ve got a pretty tough game on our hands. The Cheetahs finished the Super 14 pretty strongly, and we know we have probably one of the toughest games of the tour in front of us.”