I have been enjoying the coverage of the 2005 Lions Tour on Sky's Pop Up Channel. Kudos to Sky (almost compensates for their failure to show replays of all the recent 6 Nations matches in time slots that would suit New Zealanders so that we can all assess the candidates for Lions selection). If they do throw those 6N matches onto their Lions pop-up channel I might have to pay for some pay-per-view events to show my appreciation. I'd also love to see the matches from the '93 tour, although I imagine Sky haven't got them on archive.
Anyway, here are some of my thoughts from the 2005 games that they've replayed so far, would be interested to hear other people's thoughts/memories/expectations for this tour and from the last.
First of all, a digression about the actual coverage:
Its weird to see test matches recorded in standard definition, and some that aren't even wide-screen, I've become so used to wide-screen HD its hard to believe that we didn't have it back in '05 (can't remember what year everything went HD).
It's also strange that Sky are replaying some of the matches with no match graphics on - tuning in halfway through a game it is impossible to tell what the state of the match is. It's also frustrating when they interview a player and you're digging through the memory banks to remember a guy's name. I would've thought that even if they haven't kept recordings of the matches with graphics on, or if there are sponsorship issues associated with replaying games with graphics on, that they could have re-added graphics to the games prior to re-screening them?
Finally it was good to hear John Drake in commentary again - Maybe I just have rose-tinted glasses on, but he seemed very measured compared with today's crowd, and didn't ramble, misidentify players, throw in witticisms, judgements or hyperbole.
Well, enough digression about the coverage. On the one hand it was great that the NZ provinces played the Lions in 2005 - it's far easier for a crowd to back their side when the team represents their province rather than just an arbitrary franchise in my opinion. And all the provincial unions have such a long history of great clashes with the British and Irish Lions - even the opening titles of the replayed matches gave you that nostalgic feeling of an old-time rugby tour - and showed an appreciation of that history. On the other hand, nobody really expected (nor received) competitive mid-week tour matches due to the gulf in class between provincial sides and a pro-team of NH stars (even back in '05), so having the Super franchises play the midweek matches should give us more competitive games this time around. Whether the matches are all sold out will show us whether there is the same passion for franchise rugby.
Injuries and cards played an enormous part on the tour. I think we can all expect the same this time around, especially if the midweek clashes are played with greater intensity due to the Super franchise involvement, and with greater penalties for foul-play these days.
The loss of Dallaglio in the opening stanza of the first tour match against BoP was enormous to Lions hopes. I think his influence should not be underestimated. And so was the much written-about near-death experience that saw O'Driscoll out of the tour. It's hard to quantify exactly how much these incidents throw the best-laid plans into disarray, so I won't dwell on them, except to state that we could expect a similar injury toll to either team this side around, so flexibility in the face of injuries will be of critical importance to both squads.
Some observations specifically from the 1st test in Christchurch:
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The conditions were absolutely abysmal. Torrential sleet and hail with frigid temperatures. Not at all conducive to running rugby and yet we still saw some excellent attack and handling by both teams. The break for Sivi's try was as good as you could expect to see in ideal match conditions, let alone in a blizzard.
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In the first 10 minutes of the match there were enough high tackles, tip tackles, off-the-ball incidents, tackling the player in the air in the lineout and other generally-frowned-upon play that 4 or 5 players would have been in the bin had it been played with today's refereeing emphasis.
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There were a number of occasions where players passed back into their 22 and then kicked out on the full (glad this isn't allowed any more, and am struggling to remember exactly which year the law change was introduced)
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Both teams took a lot longer to clear rucks than we see today (also something the law changes have improved)
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There seemed to be impunity for players protecting the ball at the ruck with squeeze-ball tactics, something I don't imagine players would get away with easily today. Was there a specific law change on this, or was it just a stricter application around rolling away and immediate release?
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Most significantly, the first test saw the most complete meltdown of a lineout in a match that I can remember. Reportedly the Lions changed their calls prior to the first test in case their code had been cracked. If true, that turned out to be a very bad decision. It was also exacerbated by Paul O'Connell being yellow carded for the worst case of offside I think I've ever seen by a pro rugby player.
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The scrums weren't dominated by the Lions (which shows that my memory has played tricks on me).
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The lions were playing Jones at 10 and Wilkinson at 12, but who was in charge? Seemed like a case of trying to cram all your stars into the one side, but I think that affected the balance of the side and the decision-making. Wilkinson had a poor night with the boot for him, and seemed out of position defensively at times.
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The All Blacks seemed to play with more pace in bad conditions than the Lions. I imagine the gap in speed of execution between NZ players and the British and Irish players may have closed in the intervening 12 years (time will tell).
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Coming back from 1 nil down in a 3 test series with only a week between matches is such a huge ask, so the pressure on the Lions to win test number 1 (and keep their strategic cards close to their chests in all the matches prior to test 1) cannot be underestimated. A happy camp that doesn't feel the pressure quite so markedly has an enormous advantage. The challenge for both Hansen and Gatland will be to ensure their teams can play cohesively, while allowing their players to express themselves without being too loose, and to manage pressure, expectation, and egos.
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The Lions scrambling defence in Christchurch was superb, and no one could criticise the players for lack of effort. Individual moments from players showed they clearly had the skills even if the team's cohesion was lacking a bit.
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The All Black team of 2005 had a lot of young-ish players just approaching their peak. Although not selected yet, this year's selection pool seems to have a slightly different balance, maybe with more experience, but possibly less youthful exuberance and X-Factor?
Thanks to Sky for creating this pop-up channel. I'm looking forward to re-watching the Wellington Test tonight, my abiding memory of which is it being the "Daniel Carter show".
I wonder who will lay down their name in the history books when the tests happen later this year?