Lions vs Australia 3rd Test Preview

It seems that every time the Lions play someone involved with the build up, be it on TV, radio or in the press, will utter the phrase “Most important Test in Lions history”. This Saturday though they may have a point.

All was well after Brisbane, a win in a close Test Match, albeit thanks to a slip up, literally, from the Australians. The mood with fans and pundits was positive and everyone was looking forward to the very real possibility of wrapping the series up in Melbourne. I don’t know what the postal delivery system is like in Australia but they obviously hadn’t received that script.

Instead, in an all too familiar eventuality for fans of one of the 4 Home Nations, the Lions fans were left heartbroken as, in a almost mirror image of the first Test, a last gasp penalty effort failed to split the uprights and Australia had won.

So, in pure Hollywood style, the series heads for a 3rd Test in Sydney. Ironically enough, the last Lions tour needing a 3rd Test to decide the winner was 12 years ago. Against Australia, in Sydney. Which they won 29-23. Ah.

There have been a couple of themes in the build up, for the Lions its injury news. Sam Warburton, who put in a fantastic performance in Melbourne is out of the game which makes it likely that Brian O Driscoll, in his last ever Lions game, could lead the Lions to a historic series win. Proper Roy of the Rovers stuff. There are encouraging injury news as well, it seems that Alex Corbisiero and Jamie Roberts, will return to the lineup, Corbisiero’s return making the scrum a far more solid feel and the Welshman reuniting the almost fantasy centre team of Roberts and O’Driscoll, the partnership that made the Springboks wither in 2009.

In the Australian camp the biggest story has been the “not banned-appealed-could be banned-not banned after all that” captain James Horwill, who has seemingly gotten away with a stray boot connecting with Alun Wyn Jones’ sizeable head. I’m not here to debate if he meant it or not but I, along with everyone else it seems, think he’s a very lucky man to play this Saturday.

So, how do the Lions win, what is the key to unlocking the Aussie gameplan so that come full time the 2013 Lions go down in history along with ’97, ’89, ’74, ’71 etc? For one thing the scrum needs to be more secure, last week Mako Vunipola got off to a rocky start but, to his credit came back into the picture very well but in a game of this magnitude we can’t afford to have a player give penalties away until he settles into the game. Corbisiero gives that option and can force the Australians to concede a few of their own and give Leigh Halfpenny a chance to build the score.

There needs to be a return to the form of Brisbane for the backs too, in Melbourne they just didn’t click as a unit, there were delayed runs, missed passes and the general sense that there was a lot of side to side and the only go forward was when the garryowen went up. Even the most spectacular Lions backs moment, (the one where like the Great Orange One did to Matt Tait in 2005, George North picked up and fireman carried Isreal Folau forward for about 10 meters before taking a textbook DDT) came from a scrambled ball and a poor pass. The return of Roberts should help that, as well as Jon Davies has played it seems he will make way for his Wales teammate, by providing a far more threatening power centre than Davies, who, lets not forget was playing out of his best position of 13, thus allowing Sexton, North and whoever the other winger is out of Bowe or Cuthbert to raise hell. It all seems so simple on paper, or computer screens.

There won’t be a calm soul anywhere come Saturday morning with the fans, press and the pundits. The calmest though have to be the 23 in the red shirts. The 23 that could go down in Lions folklore as Series Winners. This is the “Most Important Test in Lions History”.

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