Mark my words, the chance to represent the Lions is the privilege of a lifetime, but once the excitement of pulling on that storied jersey recedes, the players will be battling with the myriad challenges of being a touring team 12,000 miles from home. Like I found in 2005, those first few weeks will be a sensory overload. Everything will be new, and unlike your national team where you’ll feel like you know where you’re at in the pecking order, you will be operating way outside your comfort zone.
One thing I do know is that every member of the squad will want to do the right thing on this tour. Everyone wants to fly home as the best of mates and right now, they will all feel bonded by the fact they’ve won a particularly lucrative golden ticket; becoming a Lions tourist.
What helped Andy Farrell in Dublin was the domestic finals Leinster, Leinster and Bath were involved in. It meant selection became a whole lot simpler. However, now at full strength, they’re decamped in Perth with the first squad named for the opener against Western Force and it’s action stations.
The battle for places
Regardless of how good a tourist you are, behind the smiles, somewhere in the deep recesses of your mind, you’ll be thinking, ‘where am I in the pecking order?’, ‘how many shots am I going to get to prove myself?’ Your main priority will be performing in training in front of new coaches who don’t know your strengths as well, so it almost becomes a little performative. What gets you through that jet lagged first week is adrenalin and the dopamine hit you get from bonding with new team-mates. It’s like that giddy first pint of two on a night out, when you’re buzzing in anticipation of the night ahead. In my experience, the greatest tourists are those who can brush off disappointments and put the team first.
I’ve no doubt Andy Farrell would have looked at personality types before the tour and if were deemed the type who wouldn’t mix well on tour, you’d have probably been overlooked anyway. Saying that, Faz Snr desperately wants Test match animals with a competitive zeal. You can’t take a, ‘no, after you’ disposition.
Playing catch-up
As we stand, there are now two sets of players. Those who have minutes under the belt and those who haven’t. Tadhg Beirne and Sione Tuipulotu will have two starts under their belt by Saturday lunchtime, whereas the injured Jamison Gibson-Park, Hugo Keenan and Blair Kinghorn won’t have played at all. That makes a difference. Saying that some will be disappointed with how they performed in Dublin and feeling pressure. Take Duhan (Van der Merwe). He made a couple of good runs, but the few mistakes he made were capitalised on and resulted in Argentina tries, and he could have put Alex Mitchell away after making a break but failed to spot him. It was his first game back, but he will be sweating.
Shaking off jetlag
This week, the boys selected will be comparing their preparation to the Dublin 23. They will have mitigated the effects of jetlag as much as possible after advice from sleep specialists. It’s changed from back in my day when we were simply given a flight plan which told us when to sleep and when not to. They will have been taking supplements to try and stave off illness and lethargy but I’m sure at some point this week, they’ll have been tossing and turning at 3am, thinking, ‘how can I be at my best in training and on match day? They just need to push through, while looking enviously at the other boys who have time to recover for the Reds game. In those early days, you are in your head a lot due to unfamiliar surroundings and it’s a mental challenge as much as physical.
Ironing out the creases
I have no doubt the Lions will find their rhythm after hitting a few bum notes in Dublin. That’s just familiarity with one another. I don’t expect it to be perfect against the Force, despite the heavy Irish contingent, so errors may persist, but we’re still over three weeks from the first Test. The scrum went well, but the lineout was the one set-piece element that malfunctioned. It’s so reliant on timing. You are lifting people with different jumping techniques but any hesitation and you’re dead. That will be the most difficult thing to address. The word I like to use is flow. If one cog jams, the hooker starts to get a bit twitchy and confidence saps away. He’s like, oh s***, ‘when do I throw it?’, and once you miss one or two, it can go awry quite quickly. If you’re in charge of the lineout and it doesn’t function – even if the coach understands why – that’s still a black mark against your name.
The challenge is mental, not physical
Getting your mentality right in those opening weeks isn’t easy. You want to settle into a groove but you’re constantly trying to prove yourself, working with new people and trying to work out who does what. Off-the-field you’re constantly socialising so there’s little to no down time. The one’s who will thrive are those who can deal with the uncertain bumps in the road and not worry too much. That’s where your ability to back yourself comes in handy. There will be players who will trust themselves to have key moments in game. It’s about having faith that you’ve been selected because you have the ability to do things on the field beyond the realms of average players. As soon as you start trying not to make a mistake, you’re not going to get picked. You have to be bold.
Keeping up appearances
It’s part of the Lions experience to go and do cool stuff. I haven’t seen the full itinerary, but there could be visits to the Ambassador’s residence, community project visits or a certain sponsor’s functions but early doors, you’ll feel fatigued. It’s about digging in, zoning out when you can and going with the flow. And yes, there will be times when you have to force a smile, grimace when you’re asked for another autograph and be adaptable. If you are inflexible and expect everything to be perfect, you could come unstuck. You need that special forces mindset. The ‘this isn’t perfect, but I’ll muck in and deal with it’, rather than throwing your toys out of the pram.’ They are being well renumerated for their efforts out there so there’s no room for prima donnas.
Maro needs his generals
The leadership group that surrounds Maro will be really important. He’s not a hairdryer type of leader; he has other strengths. He is very shrewd and empathetic and will quietly go about his business, but he’ll rely on the leaders from the Test squads, guys like Ellis Genge, Finn Russell, Jac Morgan and Garry Ringrose to set the tone. I saw in early footage Gengey being very vocal and driving standards. Even the youngest player on tour, Henry Pollock, will have a role as an energiser. He’s vocal and likes geeing himself up. It’s not an act, it’s who he is. Maro is the opposite, he’s more introverted. That’s the challenge for the Lions. You have to build trust so, so quickly and in a new environment, you don’t want to be rubbing people up the wrong way or looking like a tosser who thinks he knows everything. It comes down to trust and familiarity. With England, Owen Farrell is a very good example. He will let you know in no uncertain terms if you’re not up to scratch in training, but as you get to know him, you know it’s coming from a good place and isn’t personal. Players with a high EQ will be key to squad harmony.
Shutting off the white noise
There’s always mind games being played through the media on any tour, or in any big tournament but I always felt it was more jousting between coaches trying to gain the upper hand psychologically. Jibes being played through the press are water off a duck’s back to most players. They prefer to do their talking on the pitch. It will surprise no Lions supporter that Campo [David Campese] is already winding things up 35 years after he was part of a losing Wallaby side, saying they Lions lose the Series 3-0. Hold on, they were just a disallowed try away from beating the world’s No 5 ranked side who had already beaten the All Blacks, South Africa, and ahem, Wallabies in the last 12 months! Of course, you expect hype and shots fired from both camps, but I do get the feeling Aussie pundits have no idea how much the game has changed in the Northern Hemisphere. They’ll be falling back on old stereotypes, about the Lions ‘big pack’ and ‘playing 10-man rugby’, because inherently they believe that’s what our game is based on. They’ll expect Aussie to play a running game, but I have never seen a Lions team play as much rugby in their first match as they did against Los Pumas.
Lions must play their natural game
Perhaps, I’m wrong here, but I don’t think they’ll be able to bully the Wallabies up front and shut them out. Compared to the 2021 Series, which was a kick-fest, it’s no longer the side with the best defence that wins games, teams have to go all-out attack and score tries. There will be serious intent to play. The Lions have to make sure the Aussie press don’t get into their heads and try to steer away from the type of rugby they’re comfortable with. It’s almost the opposite of the 1991 Rugby World Cup final. England had reached the final playing conservative risk-free rugby but threw caution to the wind in the final in response to criticism. The net result is they lost the game.
The first game on Aussie soil is hours away, so strap in and enjoy the ride, there will be plenty of peaks and troughs…
