Geech keeps faith with his Golden pair
STAR centres Brian O’Driscoll and Jamie Roberts will renew their dynamic partnership for the British and Irish Lions tomorrow as coach Ian McGeechan edges closer to deciding his Test side.
The Irish and Welsh pair were outstanding in the 74-10 demolition of the Golden Lions last Wednesday and get the chance to show their class again when the Lions face Natal Sharks in Durban.
Skipper Paul O’Connell, Luke Fitzgerald and Welsh duo Lee Byrne and Shane Williams are the only four survivors from the side which scored a 26-24 victory over Free State Cheetahs on Saturday with O’Connell lining up with a third different second row partner in Alun-Wyn Jones.
McGeechan already has one eye on the first Test against South Africa on June 20, and says these next couple of games are pivotal in helping him select his starting XV. He does, however, admit it is unlikely the Test XV will play together beforehand.
“The next two matches are obviously critical in the development of the Test side,” McGeechan said. “The main thing had been to get everyone playing in those first three games. Now, in the next three games it is to keep looking at some of the combinations. The only other way of doing it is you separate the teams and you say to half the squad ‘You are not going to be involved in a Test match,’ and I am not prepared to do that. We will try to get combinations together but, as a XV, it is unlikely they will play as a XV before the Test match.”
One of those new combinations is with the half backs with Mike Phillips and Ronan O’Gara linking up for the first time, while England’s Lee Mears hooks between Welsh props Adam Jones and Gethin Jenkins.
Meanwhile, former Wales fly-half Neil Jenkins has joined the tour as a kicking coach. Jenkins, who helped the Lions to victory in South Africa in 1997, said: “It’s a great honour.”
LIONS XV TO PLAY NATAL SHARKS
15 Lee Byrne; 14 Shane Williams, 13 Brian O’Driscoll, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Luke Fitzgerald; 10 Ronan O’Gara, 9 Mike Phillips; 1 Gethin Jenkins, 2 Lee Mears, 3 Adam Jones, 4 Alun-Wyn Jones, 5 Paul O’Connell, 6 Tom Croft, 7 David Wallace, 8 Jamie Heaslip
Replacements: Matthew Rees, Phil Vickery, Simon Shaw, Joe Worsley, Mike Blair, Riki Flutey, Leigh Halfpenny.