All Blacks coach Steve Hansen compared Saturday’s first Test with the British and Irish Lions to a World Cup final as they prepare to take on a touring party that has been growing in confidence and form.
The Lions have shaken off a slow start to their tour to develop into a formidable force, but they now face the task of handing the world champions their first defeat at Auckland’s Eden Park in 23 years.
When the Lions last visited in 2005, New Zealand ‘blackwashed’ the series 3-0, continuing a run that has seen them win 29 of 38 Tests dating back to 1904.
The latest edition will be a classic clash of northern and southern hemisphere styles, contrasting game plans, and different rule interpretations under South African referee Jaco Peyper.
The tactics will be intriguing, with England lock George Kruis saying the Lions will “try anything” to gain an advantage, including screaming in the lineouts to upset the All Blacks.
“You’ve got to put pressure on players somehow and that’s one way of putting pressure on them,” he said.
The All Blacks are confident their speed and sleight-of-hand offloads will get them through the close-marking Lions defence.
The Lions are about power, kick and chase and as their tour has rumbled on, a shadow Test team, formed for game three when they beat the Canterbury Crusaders, have developed into a class unit.
It is a Test that will be intensely physical at the breakdown and it remains unpredictable whether the All Blacks’ attacking flair, or the Lions’ grunt, will prevail.
“They’ve selected a side that’s capable of playing a different type of game than we play and that itself is intriguing and going to be interesting to see the result once it’s been played out,” Hansen said.
From the Lions squad that beat the Crusaders, 19 of the 23 remain for the Test including 13 of the run-on side.
Along they way they have fine-tuned a powerful scrum and lineout, and defensive line speed that stifled both the free-scoring Crusaders and Maori All Blacks, conceding only one try. In Conor Murray, they have a kicking scrum-half who can land the ball on a sixpence.
– ‘Have to take risks’ –
But coach Warren Gatland has also indicated he is open to instinctive play, highlighted by the selection of the attacking Liam Williams, Elliot Daly and Anthony Watson as his back three.
“To play the All Blacks you have to be bold, you have to take risks,” Gatland said.
“Yes, we play to a structure as every team plays to a structure but (it’s about) having the confidence and ability to bring an offloading game in when it’s appropriate and we’ve been trying to do that — not always effectively, but we think we’ve seen some development.”
The All Blacks’ back three are the seasoned Ben Smith and Israel Dagg along with two-Test novice Rieko Ioane, the fastest member of the squad who was preferred over prolific try-scorer Julian Savea.
Ryan Crotty, a thinking rather than a flashy player, has been parked at outside centre to marshall the line with Hansen noting that while it will be a physical Test “just as importantly, it will be a mental test”.
Inside Crotty is Sonny Bill Williams who will be confronting New Zealand-born Ben Te’o, a former rival from their rugby league days.
Where the All Blacks have broken out of tight situations in the past by having a strong bench to lift them in the final quarter, the Lions have destructive lock Maro Itoje and seasoned fly-half Johnny Sexton in reserve.
Itoje will add force when the pack starts to tire, while Sexton offers the chance to join starting pivot Owen Farrell and switch the game plan to using dual playmakers.
The All Blacks have confirmed Aaron Cruden as their back-up fly-half after he was earlier bracketed with Lima Sopoaga.
“It’s right up there,” Hansen said, when asked to compare the Lions tour to winning the 2015 World Cup final.
“The World Cup’s a knockout tournament and the difference with the Lions is you get three (Tests). So if you stuff the first one up you get another one. And it’s the same for both teams. It’s exciting.”
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