For those with eyes to see, there was a good deal more to this week's Lions announcement than a simple reading of 37 names and the confirmation of Paul O'Connell as tour captain.
The final selection gave a clear indication of how Ian McGeechan hopes to engage the Springboks in
South Africa. They have gone for size, strength and power, not just in the forward pack but among the backs, too. As the Boks tend to go about their rugby in the same way, it should be quite a collision.
If there is an area that seriously concerns me from the Lions' perspective, it is the lineout. The Boks could easily go in with five jumpers
and it seems to me that the Lions will have to do a lot of compensating for the absence of guaranteed ball-winners, especially as the South Africans will have Victor Matfield.
Working with Victor behind the scenes at the last World Cup, I quickly came to realise just how remarkable a player he is.
If you watch him carefully, you'll see that he rarely attacks the opposition throw during the first half of a match. He treats the first 40 minutes as his 'thinking time', during which he takes a microscopic look at the rival operation, calculates and analyses, attempts to unlock the calling code (unnervingly, he succeeds quite often) and identifies the best way of making a nuisance of himself after the interval.
He really is very smart and unless the Lions have someone capable of matching him thought for thought, they'll find themselves struggling.
That said, the Lions selection has a consistency about it that impresses me. The coaches have gone about their work methodically and with clarity.
- Eddie Jones is a former Wallaby coach
- INDEPENDENT
