Lions Must Start Rebuilding Team

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31116, 20 July 1966, Page 15

Lions Must Start Rebuilding Team

( From

I. J. D. HALL)

WESTPORT. Because of their salutary experience at Nelson when a lowly-rated combined team proved extremely difficult opponents, the British Lions will not be taking the combined West Coast-Buller fifteen at all lightly today.

The heavy defeat in the first test undid much of the good work achieved in the previous three matches in the North Island.

Now the Lions will have to start rebuilding their confidence for the coming hard matches.

Today's game could give them this opportunity for it is likely that it will be played on a reasonably dry surface and in good conditions. If the match had been played in the wet the combined team would be quite capable of repeating its fine effort against the Springboks last season when it held them to an 11-0 win.

The Lions obviously must be favoured to win but for their own Rugby self-respect they need more than a win—they want a resounding victon’.

The combined team will be heavily out-weighted in the forwards and will lack the speed of the Lions backs. But

’the one thing it will have 1 in abundance is spirit and deI termination. ; With such seasoned camI paigners as Shaw, Nahr and Rogers in the forwards and Forsyth and McAra in the : backs, the combined will not lack solidity. . This time the team has another asset which it may have lacked last year; it isi approaching the game with! a fair degree of confidence that it will perform well. SIMPLE TACTICS j The tactics of the combined ‘ players are expected to be fairly simple but quite direct. They will try to play advan-tage-line Rugby whereby the I backs will kick ahead to allow their light forwards to try to! i upset the rhythm of the Lions| by foot rushes and quick! : rucking. These tactics have been (most successful against the I Lions so far. However, if The Lions forwards can control the combined forwards—- ! and with five first test players they should be able to do it —and give good possession to |their backs, players of the calibre of Gibson, Weston, Bresnihan, Watkins and Savage should be able to score! | tries. Some of the indifferent dis-

plays by the Lions pack have produced a traumatic effect on the their backs. They seem to have lost confidence io their own ability and as a result are making too many elementary mistakes in handling. passing and tackling. What the Lions backs need today to restore their confidence is an attacking romp. One hopes that they can achieve it. In other years one could confidently have predicted them to do so. At present one cannot. Teams: British Isles,—D. Rutherford; S. J. Watkins, M. P. Weston, F. P. K. Bresnihan, K. F. Savage; C. M. H. Gibson, A. R. Lewis; W J. Mcßride; R. A. Lamont, M. J. CampbeTl-Lamer-ton (captain), B. Price, G. J. Prothero; D. L. Powell K. W. Kennedy, D. Williams. West Coast-Buller.—R. Dawe; B. Stack. W. Forsyth, M. Gray; T. N. McAra, K. Beams; M. Geddes; T. Craddock (captain): 0. Nahr. T. Rogers, B. Caldwell, M. Macßae; J. Shaw, B. Roche. K. Dickson