The show does go on

Lions Tour 2009 - 10/06/09
Natal Sharks 3, British and Irish Lions 39

When Ian McGeechan invests in a Lions tour there’s one guarantee he knows without having to read the small print. Possessing more Lions experience than any one man could wish to attain, the Lion King is only too familiar with team setback whilst on tour.

With blood and sweat always comes tears and heartbreak. Players’ tours will end in a heartbeat but who and when will always be a lottery.

Unfortunately, this has been a week that saw two such instances. Leigh Halfpenny comes and goes with a recurring thigh strain, and Stephen Ferris, probably the most despondent to leave, departs with long-term damage to a knee ligament after already making good ground in search of a test place.

Two tries in two made the Irishman a real contender for the number six shirt come test week, but his departure now only makes things easier in Geech’s selection as Tom Croft becomes a dead cert starter on June 20th.

Wales captain Ryan Jones replaces Ferris on the return flight to South Africa, giving himself the opportunity to join those he has both fought and led in the four years since he last pulled on the Lions jersey.

The show must go on as the old showman saying goes. And putting recent upsets aside, a win over Natal Sharks in Durban proves the Lions are in no mood to look back on injuries in any shape or form – only to go forward with a view to kill.

A team’s success is bigger than any one, or even two men, and whilst we, the couch potatoes, reflect on the what ifs, the team as a whole will be looking at the what nows.

A second half display in front of the watching Natal Springboks will rightly steal the headlines. Roberts has rumbled his way onto the test team-sheet, as has I feel Lee Mears, Mike Phillips and Lee Byrne.

Brian O’Driscoll is a man no one would dare leave out and although he won’t be wearing the status of tour captain this term, O’Connell will surely be looking to his waltzing midfield wizard to spark the guys into action for the big week ahead.

Loosehead prop is still an ordeal as either the scrummaging power of Sheridan or the all round energy of Jenkins will have to outweigh the other. Alun Wyn Jones is proving quite the nuisance at lock with more and more game time, and the back row may well stay the way it stands with a Wallace-Heislip-Croft combo proving the stronger so far.

Stand-off is still undecided as Rog did himself no favours in Durban, continually letting his boot override his normally good awareness with the hand. Stephen Jones has undeniably ticked some of the requirements for a test place, and with a fine performance against the Golden Lions a week ago, he’ll be hoping to get another chance to shine in this Saturday’s clash with Western Province.

Shane Williams, however, is proving everyone right as he shows again that he is a mere shadow of the man he was six months ago. Tommy Bowe plus either Ugo Monye or Luke Fitzgerald seems on testimony a far safer bet for a wing partnership.

Early days and McGeechan is still giving nothing away. Two more games will give either one more chance to impress, or will simply cement the players who have already made the punch, in a chance to hopefully repeat history.

We may already have our own ideas of who McGeechan should resort to, but these will have no influence whatsoever in the time between now and the first test back in Durban. A week is already proven to be a long time in the life of a Lion.