Am I alone in being disappointed that British and Irish Lions head coach Andy Farrell is sending out virtually the same team for the third Test against Australia as the one that won last week’s second, for the supposed sacred prize of a 3-0 clean sweep of Test matches?
I don’t believe most British rugby fans are as obsessed with that as Farrell. He appears to think a “redwash,” as it has been called by some after the Lions’ red shirts, over Australia, will elevate him and his Lions to the status of South African Springbok or New Zealand All Black conquerors.
It won’t. It is true, it would be the Lions first clean sweep for nearly a century. But this Australian team is, frankly, regarded as a team of second-raters by many rugby critics.
There are other reasons why I think Farrell could and should have taken a more, let’s say, imaginative approach. What about the other 20 or so members of his huge squad, who have seen little meaningful action for half the five-week tour? What about the notion of the Lions being a more noble cause than conventional national teams?
Players on Lions tours often talk about the unique all-for-one and one-for-all spirit the tours inspire. Now it looks more like all for one: the one being Andy Farrell, who says it would “mean the world” for the Lions to win all three Tests.
He has already appeared self-serving by calling up his son Owen Farrell to join the tour halfway through, despite Farrell Jr being woefully out of form. The pair risk resembling mercenaries, not Musketeers.
If Andy Farrell wants to show his Lions are a cut above the Aussies, let him prove it by beating them with a team made up of all those who have been left idle on the sidelines. It is not unusual for the Lions to do this in the last Test when the overall series result is already decided. It is not just about fairness and sentiment: one or two Lions who played last week, and who have been selected again, Tom Curry and Bundee Ali, for example, look physically shattered and would benefit from a break.
And Farrell’s reservoir of untapped reserves is flooded with talent: the precocious Henry Pollock, an overnight star in Australia despite not being picked for any of the Tests, and the exciting young English backs Finn Smith and Marcus Smith. They must be kicking lumps out of their hotel room doors in frustration.
If Farrell gave his Lions also-rans a run out in the third Test, they would be sure to give their all, if only to prove why they should have been picked in the first place.
They would also be free to put on a swashbuckling Barbarians-type performance, thrilling all. If they won – fantastic. If they lost, it would not be the end of the world. Everyone, England and Aussie fans alike, would have seen a match to remember.
The Lions tour will be marked up in history as a victory anyway – and they would be lauded as Corinthians in a sporting world of cynics.
