Iain Morrison: A squad picked to win without help of stardust

Published on Saturday 25 April 2009 19:52

WELL, THAT didn't take long. Just three days after announcing their squad, the Lions suffered their first casualty in the form of Munster's Tomas O'Leary who will miss the tour after breaking his ankle during Munster's victory over the Scarlets on Friday night.

He is the first but he won't be the last one. The scrum-half was lucky to get the initial nod so some sort of justice has been done and his place will probably go to either Chris Cusiter or Dwayne Peel with Scotland skipper Mike Blai

Immediate impressions are sometimes the best ones to go with and sure enough a few aspects of the Lions squad jumped out and bit you on the backside right away:

Presuming McGeechan has got the selection broadly correct, after providing 27 of a 37-man squad, the Magners Celtic League has no excuse for not becoming the best in Europe.

Tom Croft, Delon Armitage, Ross Ford and James Hook can all consider themselves a little unlucky; they may yet play a part.

Alan Quinlan, Rob Kearney, Simon Shaw and Keith Earls, however, are on the other side of the fence and need to prove the doubters wrong.

Skipper Paul O'Connell is a captain with a point to make after being posted missing in action when the going got tough in New Zealand during the 2005 tour.

With the Heineken Cup raising standards, club form was almost as important as a player doing the business in the Six Nations.

Over half of this Lions squad was picked from just three clubs: Munster (eight), the Ospreys (six) and Cardiff (six), all of who play in the Magners League. All three sides reached the quarter-finals of this year's Heineken Cup and two of the clubs above will shortly contest the semi-finals. Add another European semi-finalist in the shape of Leinster and the Lions contribution from just four clubs rises to 24 players.

Quinlan and Earls nailed their places not with any performance for Ireland (neither played in the Six Nations) but in Munster's 43-9 shellacking of the Ospreys two weeks ago. If there was any doubt about Ryan Jones' exclusion that was swept aside almost as fast as the Ospreys' No.8 was knocked backwards by the men in red. Welsh flyer Leigh Halfpenny confirmed his place when the Blues beat Toulouse in Cardiff, not least when the winger sprinted the entire width of the field to make one vital tackle late in the game. It's worth repeating; club success is now almost as important as national glory when it comes to the Lions.

Munster have made the Heineken Cup quarter-finals 10 years in a row while Scottish clubs have reached the same stage once. McGeechan wants winners, players who are used to tasting success and who know how to close out matches. More to the point, the Lions need players who add up to more than the sum of their parts and that is as good a definition of Munster rugby as any you will find.

One commentator complained of the lack of "stardust" in the squad but the modern reality is that top-level matches are rarely won by moments of inspiration. Instead, the winning team usually relies upon the brutal application of relentless effort allied to correct decision-making.

The omission of James "Stardust" Hook means that the remaining playmakers are primarily kickers and it is a little worrying that McGeechan has not given himself even the option of playing a more expansive, ball-in-hand game. However, he is experienced enough to know what he can achieve with a scratch team on a six-week tour. The answer is a lot less than he would like and, given the players he has selected, there will be precious few surprises in the way the Lions approach the Tests.

The pack will hope to match the Boks for muscle, gain parity at the lineout and breakdown, perhaps even dominate the scrums. The flyhalf will hoof the ball downfield, kick the goals and risk throwing the ball wide only when it is safe to do so. Anyone heading south in anticipation of thrills aplenty should book some bungee jumps.

There is one more impression that comes to mind after studying the squad. The fact that Scottish rugby has produced just one player (Hines grew up in Australia) in the initial selection is proof in any were needed that while Gordon McKie has been balancing the SRU's books the elite rugby division within Murrayfield has been allowed to stagnate. A radical rethink is needed with fresh blood, innovation and, above all, intelligence the crucial ingredients.