Lions have been here before, trying to recover the series after losing the first Test in New Zealand. The last time they did so successfully
Brian Campbell Authentic Jersey was in 1993 when, after losing to a late, disputed penalty in the opening match, they went to Wellington needing to win to stay alive.
[img width=200px,height=200px]http://www.officialkingsteamstore.com/img/nhl_jerseys_new/los_angeles_kings/kings_468.jpg[/img]It was the first time they had not played a four-Test series against the All Blacks (the 1908 tour was an Anglo-Welsh affair with Ireland and Scotland opting not to take part) and they had come from behind to win the three-match rubber against Australia four years before. The headline selection was made in the centre where Scott Gibbs, who had been unavailable for the first because of injury, replaced the then England captain Will Carling. Gibbs went to New Zealand as an outside-centre and returned as a 12, converted by Ian McGeechan, who was to do the same to Jamie Roberts in South Africa 16 years later. Lions’ ‘Geography Six’ have no regrets but confess to wanting more game time Read more The Lions played in Wellington, at the old Athletic Park, as if their careers depended on the result. The first two occasions Rob Andrew received the ball, he stuck it high in the air, inducing mistakes. The tourists’ pack swarmed the field, the set-pieces were mastered and the outcome was a 20-7 victory, in a match refereed by a Frenchman, that took the series to the final day at the end of a week when New Zealand’s media had ripped into the hosts. There has never been a bad All Blacks team. They have ranged from good to exceptional and in 1993 they were the former, recovering from a disappointing World Cup campaign in 1991 and yet to embrace the more open, flowing style being favoured by some of the leading provinces in New Zealand, most notably Otago, who beat the Lions 37-24, and Canterbury. By 1995, the national side had caught up. The scorn heaped
http://www.authenticchicagoblackhawks.com/authentic-chris-chelios-jersey?gender=Youth on the Lions and their coaching staff in New Zealand for their playing style was not aimed at the All Blacks 24 years ago. Mocking up Warren Gatland as a clown, as one newspaper did this week having done so to Australia’s Michael Cheika last year, not only debases debate but ignores the constraints Gatland and his coaches are working under.
Advertisement The first is that they are up against opponents who have been dominant this decade, losing rarely and often shredding defences into tiny pieces. The second is a schedule that works against a squad made up of players from four countries and the third, which is highlighted on a tour to New Zealand, is their relatively low skill level which is exposed under pressure. New Zealand’s style has evolved in the last 20 years through financial necessity in large part. Tickets take some selling in all three major southern hemisphere countries, but in Europe the Six Nations plays mainly to packed houses with most matches sold out well in advance. Tickets sell themselves, eliminating the need to market matches on style of play. This year’s Six Nations was typical in producing a number of close, hard-fought matches brimful of endeavour and muscularity. The overall risk factor was low, although Scotland counterattacked and England looked to produce quick ball, but suddenly players have to adapt in a country where even the weakest opponents on the tour, the Provincial Barbarians, had a firm grasp of the game’s rudiments and no little skill. In boxing, Europe would be seen as a slugger
http://www.officialnikejetshop.com/brian-winters-jersey-for-sale-c-36.html and New Zealand Muhammad Ali. Guardian Australia sport newsletter: subscribe by email Read more New Zealand rugby used to be known for its unsmiling nature and its tendency to find a way to win, such as Andy Haden’s dive in Cardiff in 1978. The first Test showed that the resort to width and risk has not come at the expense of the game’s basics: the All Blacks remain winners and will do whatever it takes but now when they are under pressure, they do not have to simulate ballet moves at a lineout but trust their ability and rely on the understanding of the players that turns the outrageous into the expected. Gatland has been sneered at in his homeland, but how was he meant to get his players to climb several rungs above the standard of the Six Nations? It is not down to him that prime try-scoring opportunities have been created in every match of the tour but only a small percentage turned into points. He, like Graham Henry before him, had taken only a couple of Wales training sessions when he wondered aloud at the wide disparity between talent and basic skills that was absent in New Zealand. The Lions have not lacked ambition this tour and they would be too strong for South Africa and Australia, but they are not equipped to play with the same verve and pizzazz of their opponents this summer. They have reflected the Six Nations, full-blooded but limited. England, whose head coach Eddie Jones recognises that winning the 2019 World Cup will mean finding a way of beating the All Blacks that goes far beyond landing the most penalties in a dour encounter, struggled under pressure in Dublin. Advertisement Wales and Ireland were the biggest disappointments in the Six Nations, the former uninspiring and devising various ways of squandering overlaps, the latter too risk averse despite their November victory over New Zealand. Perhaps the answers lie underneath: just as Otago and Canterbury nudged the All Blacks 24 years ago, so the Scarlets showed in winning the Pro 12 that flair and boldness have not abandoned the Welsh game while Leinster, led by emerging backs Garry Ringrose and Joey Carbery, played with a verve the national side did not reach for. It may be
Authentic Bruce Carter Womens Jersey this weekend that the Lions prevail through fire and passion and bludgeon New Zealand into committing errors and conceding penalties, but why aim low? They have the forwards to generate prime set-piece possession and control the breakdown and outside backs with pace. Passing is an issue, but less so if Jonathan Sexton and Owen Farrell are together in the midfield. A two-tone approach of zap at forward and zip behind would better maximise scoring potential than trying to drag down the All Blacks, a side that only needs 10 minutes on top to win a match. It does not mean trying to replicate New Zealand, something that would involve overhauling the coaching of young players in the four home unions and putting skills before the gym, but making the most of what the Lions have. There is no one way to play the game: the best are able to do it every which way
