British Lions v Golden Lions: Betting Preview

Preview courtesy of Betfair

SO what do we make of the British and Irish Lions tour opener against a less than star-studded Royal XV on Saturday?

The positives were that they scored 24 unanswered points in the final 15 minutes to win 37-25 – they had drifted from 1.01 to 4.1 on Betfair before their late show – but in the previous 65 their play looked laboured, their ball skills and handling were woeful, and most of the players looked way off the pace in their first run-out.

In the set-pieces, they may have had the upper hand in the scrum, which to be perfectly honest you would expect against a second-tier side like the Royal XV, but they got little or no joy from the opposition throws at the line-out.

So the tourists will have to significantly up their game against Super opposition in the shape of the Golden Lions on Wednesday night.

Granted, when it comes to Super 14 opposition, the Lions are certainly no Blue Bulls. They finished 12th in the competition and conceded the most points of any of the sides, shipping 414 points in 13 games at an average of 31.8 a game.

And tie in the fact that they are missing several key players, and having left some first-choice personnel on the bench, and the game looks to be far less daunting for the Lions than it could have been.

The Super 12 side without three former Springboks in lock Jannes Labuschagne (lock), prop Heinke van der Merwe (prop) and wing Henno Mentz.

And they are without six other squad players, notably two other locks, and have decided to leave Earl Rose and Todd Clever on the bench, so the tourists will be relieved that they are not facing a full-strength side.

And, crucially, probably their most influential player, current international centre Jaque Fourie, was not even considered for the game as he has to join up with the Springbok squad on Monday.

But even so, the South African side is a very big unit indeed, will be buoyed by the return of their influential captain and blindside flanker Cobus Grobbelar and played their better rugby towards the end of the campaign when they signed off with a 27-22 defeat of the Highlanders and just a five-point loss to the Tahs.

And in Andre Pretorius they have an experienced hand at fly-half and a reliable goalkicker. So the Lions may have their work cut-out to overcome the 13.5 point handicap on Betfair and match odds of 1.24 are only for the brave.

But it has to be said that Ian McGeechan has put out a far more menacing side here than he sent on to the field at the weekend.

One would have to expect that his scrum will be dominant again on Wednesday night – especially as the home side are without van der Merwe in the front row and their top three players in the engine room are all missing – and the back five of the Lions looks a more balanced and effective unit.

If they can supply some decent ball (and the problem on Saturday is that the Lions failed to hold on to the ball, thus denying any continuity), the back-line captained by Brian O’Driscoll and steered by Welsh pairing Mike Phillips and Stephen Jones should see a far more polished performance.

Whether or not that will be enough to cover the 13.5 point against far better opposition is a tough call, though.

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