THOSE who like their auguries neatly packaged will greet with glee the announcement that Brian O’Driscoll will captain the northern hemisphere against the south at Twickenham on March 5, the match to raise funds for the tsunami disaster appeal. The obvious inference is that the Ireland centre is being given a trial run for the role as captain of the British Isles in New Zealand this summer.
The connection between O’Driscoll, Ireland’s captain, and Sir Clive Woodward, head coach at Twickenham and to the Lions, could not be stronger. True, O’Driscoll must recover first from the hamstring damage suffered against Italy on the opening weekend of the RBS Six Nations Championship but it is as good an indication as any of the way in which Woodward is thinking.
“We have a fantastic group of players and I’m looking forward to choosing the starting XV for the game at Twickenham and working with such an outstanding player as Brian in his role as captain,” Woodward, whose coaching team for the match includes Brian Ashton, the England A coach, and Gareth Jenkins, of Llanelli Scarlets, said.
That group also includes Paul O’Connell, the lock who led Ireland against Scotland last weekend in O’Driscoll’s absence and is another candidate for the Lions leadership, so the preference for O’Driscoll may prove significant.
The game as a whole, though designed to raise money for the worthiest of causes, also gives Woodward the opportunity to look at potential combinations for the Lions. He will be delighted if Simon Taylor, the No 8, has recovered sufficient match fitness to join Scotland’s contingent of Chris Cusiter and Gordon Bulloch, while Ireland also send Malcolm O’Kelly, their most-capped player, and David Humphreys.
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Four New Zealanders have been named in the southern hemisphere’s starting XV but only two of them, Tana Umaga and Jerome Kaino, the young but very impressive back-row forward, are likely to feature in the squad against the Lions. Even so Graham Henry, the All Blacks coach, may have second thoughts about Andrew Mehrtens, the veteran fly half, particularly if New Zealand’s Super 12 sides suffer the sort of injury problems that England, for example, have endured this season.
Henry admitted yesterday that there have been few shocks from the opening two rounds of the Six Nations, save for England’s indifferent form. “It does surprise me that, with the depth of talent in England, it has not come through on the international scene,” he said, “but it does take time for these guys to bed down.
“But we do expect a very strong Lions side. Financial resources are obviously a positive but they’re not everything. Clive will be turning over every stone to make sure this team is successful, which is what he’s always done.
“He would have had a team picked, in pencil, before the Six Nations and would have been disappointed in some of the form shown. But I don’t think he will be concerned about it at this stage. There is a lot of water to run under the bridge between now and the Lions tour.”
But Henry left little doubt that he expects Jonny Wilkinson to be a Lion once more in the summer. Wilkinson, the injured England fly half, was Henry’s No 10 in Australia with the 2001 Lions but his recovery from a knee injury is likely, at best, to leave him available only for England’s final Six Nations game, against Scotland. “Some of the players who haven’t been available for England will tour with the Lions and Wilkinson is probably key in that regard,” Henry said.
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“I took a risk by taking Lawrence Dallaglio to Australia in 2001. He was an important player, if he had come right, and we had to take a punt on him. He had the skill set to play the game we were hoping to play and you take these punts on these sorts of players. I’m sure Clive will do a similar thing on this tour. Wilkinson is obviously a quality player and he will go.”
Henry suggested that the New Zealand public could be overwhelmed by the numbers who will follow the Lions from Britain and Ireland, already estimated at around 20,000. The New Zealand RFU is threatening legal action against “scalpers”, individuals trying to profit from ticket sales for the 11 tour matches. Some have been offered on the internet at nearly twice face value and Steve Tew, the union’s deputy chief executive, said: “Anything bought on the internet runs a grave risk of being a scam or tickets that have been procured illegally.”
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE XV
C Latham (Australia); R Caucaunibuca (Fiji), J Fourie (South Africa), T Umaga (New Zealand), S Bobo (Fiji); A Mehrtens (New Zealand), G Gregan (Australia, captain); C Hoeft (New Zealand), J Smit (South Africa), O Hasan (Argentina), V Matfield (South Africa), I Rawaqa (Fiji), S Burger (South Africa), P Waugh (Australia), J Kaino (New Zealand).