Telfer- the most incisive commentary yet

[TrapperChamonix]

From todays Scotsman. Well worth the read

How I made the Lions roar

FOR MANY rugby fans of my vintage, the abiding memory of Lions tours and Tests is the celluloid experience of Living With Lions. And, more specifically, of Jim Telfer's stirring soliloquies. Those speeches in his deep Borders burr which feature in the documentary of the 1997 tour of South Africa can stand alongside anything from When We Were Kings. They tell you everything you ever needed to know about what it means to Telfer to be a Lion.
Telfer believes the principles you need to forge a winning Lions party remain basically the same as when he and Ian McGeechan coached the Lions to that 2-1 series victory 12 years ago.

"In 1997 we looked at the Springboks, decided the sort of game we needed to play to beat them and then set about picking the players to play that game. We knew we had to take players who were good with the ball in their hands and could take people on. We knew the Springboks were very direct in attack and defence so we looked at moving the target, running at shoulders rather than bodies, which was a new thing then."

The single most important quality, says Telfer, is to pick a squad of team players. "Being former Lions ourselves, we were looking for players with good communication skills off the field, guys who could put to one side the fact that they were English or Welsh or whatever and feel that being a Lion was greater than being captain of Wales or England," says Telfer.

Telfer is candid about the fact that nationality affects selection decisions. The Irish, he says, are good tourists; the Welsh are not. That wasn't an issue in 1997, however, as most of the Welsh players in the squad were among the former rugby league players who were central to the success of the tour.

"There's no doubt that some countries produce people who don't tour well. The Welsh get very homesick, so we had to choose extrovert Welshmen like Ieuan Evans. It was helped by the fact that lots of the Welshmen we took had been in rugby league and had seen a bit more of professional sport.

"It was 1997 and only two years into professionalism and rugby league was a world advanced from what we were doing. The way of life with drink was far more disciplined, and we wanted to tap into that. They were also very good at organising defence.

"Scott Gibbs was the most important player in the Lions party because inside centre was such a fulcrum position. I still remember they way he used to shout at the opposition 'I'm gonna get you! I'm gonna get you!'.

"He was so aggressive that we were lucky to keep him; at one stage he was suspended for one game when he short-armed a guy in a tackle – we tried to cover it up by saying that his arm slid off the fella's jaw. It was a usual thing in rugby league, but he still got a ban. He was a hard little man and an inspiration to us all."

The need for "cocky buggers like Bentley, Austin Healey and Matt Dawson, or guys like Keith Wood and Scott Quinnell, who always had something to say for themselves" was important because the squad needs players with enough self-confidence to adapt the way they play.

"We took the best players in Britain, but some players we knew we would have to change. Martin Johnson was part of a negative Leicester side which stuck the ball up its jumper, but we thought he could play the fast, mobile game we wanted to play, which called for dynamic body positions and tight, low driving. And we were right."

Another factor in 1997 was form. Neil Back wasn't even in the original 60, but by the time of the squad announcement he was playing so well that he was impossible to ignore. Selecting different types of players – a Jason Leonard and a Tom Smith – to give you options was key; so, too, was the belief that anyone could play themselves into the Saturday team.

Yet Telfer – who had been used by McGeechan as a sounding board throughout the selection process – also counsels against his old friend seeing too many parallels between 1997 and 2009.

In 1997 South Africa were world champions but New Zealand were the best side in the world; he believes that position is now reversed. In 1997 the Boks had lost captain Francois Pienaar and playmaker Joel Stransky, now they have a full complement, and in Bath's Butch James a pivot who knows the tourists inside out. And if 1997 coach Carel du Plessis was a complete rookie who made elementary mistakes, Pieter de Villiers is far more experienced. In 1997 the Springboks front row was its strength; this time it will be the weakest area of the side. "Their only weakness", he adds.

Telfer has taken a very keen interest in the selection process and his thoughts on who should occupy each position make for fascinating reading. He says he would take 30 established internationalists and "four or five players who might make a difference – guys like Ben Foden, who is an outstanding talent, (Gloucester full-back] Olly Morgan or David Strettle." He expects McGeechan to share that philosophy.

Elsewhere, though, he expects more conventional thinking, especially in the front row where scrummaging coach Graham Rowntree will prize muscle above all else. That, says Telfer, will mean that Andrew Sheridan and Phil Vickery will join Adam Jones and the two likely starting props, Gethin Jenkins and Euan Murray. Of those, only Jenkins is a ball-carrier.

Hooker will be particularly interesting. "I think Mears could be a revelation on the hard grounds, and the fact that he's kept out Dylan Hartley says a lot. Ross Ford will come into the frame, although he's by no means a certainty, but Flannery will go because he's used to throwing-in to O'Connell and O'Callaghan. Rory Best is worth looking at for the second team: he's a solid scrummager and captain of Ulster too; it may come down to him and Ford."

Telfer believes that three of the second rows – Paul O'Connell, Alun-Wyn Jones and Nathan Hines – are standouts, with O'Connell the likely skipper. "You can't copy things from one era to the next and I hope Ian doesn't try to make another Martin Johnson – a second row who didn't captain his country but captained his club, just like O'Connell. After the Six Nations I'd have O'Driscoll as skipper, but I still think they'll take O'Connell as captain because Smith is the South African captain so they'll want a forward.

"Although I think we'll match them in the front five I'm worried about the hardness of these players, although I think Nathan Hines is a hard bloke who will give out as much as he takes. O'Connell didn't show up when it got rough in New Zealand, but he's four years older and he'll have experienced guys like Vickery and Sheridan who won't take a backward step.

"Simon Shaw's too old for me, but the one Englishman who might get in is Kennedy, who can win ball anywhere in the lineout and carries well too, although it's a little early for him. I'd think about taking him instead of O'Callaghan, who gets in because of the Munster connection, but I think they'll go with the established pairing."

When the Lions toured in 1997, McGeechan left the selection of the forwards entirely at Telfer's discretion, and this time Warren Gatland will play that role.

Telfer would urge him to play breakaway David Wallace at No.8 because "I also don't think we have an outstanding No.8" – Jamie Heaslip "lacks a bit of heart sometimes" and Andy Powell "can't get in the Cardiff side and has shown us all his tricks". He still thinks those are the two players who will go though.

At openside he "is not so sure about Martyn Williams who is a wee bit off the pace at Lions level – remember how he was wiped out in New Zealand." Instead he'd choose Wasps' Tom Rees, "the best openside out there."

The blindside choice is easy however. "I'd take Ferris and Croft. Ferris is a hard bugger and Croft is different: he's good in the lineout, good at creating space and supporting ball carriers, so quick at chasing kicks down and will be good on the hard grounds. If he wasn't injured I'd have looked at Strokosch because he's a hard man who would relish the physical confrontation."

Behind the scrum Telfer is just as expansive. Mike Phillips will be the revelation of the tour. Mike Blair won't go, but Chris Cusiter probably will. Stephen Jones or Ronan O'Gara weren't up to it in New Zealand and they've only got worse. How the Boks will rumble down the 10-12 channel all day. Why James Hook at inside centre could be the answer. Why the loss of "film star" Gavin Henson is a crucial blow. How he wouldn't take Shane Williams.

Telfer's knowledge of players is encyclopaedic, his experience of living with Lions unparalleled by any except McGeechan. As he expounds at length and in stunning detail about fringe candidates I was barely aware of, one thought keeps intruding: what a pity that the class of 2009 will leave these shores without the Melrose man to guide their way.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Really good read,thanks for posting!

[tones]

Now thats interesing!

[jezzer]

I still have a sneaking suspicion Toby Flood will be the test out half.

[Donny B.]

I still have an irrational fear Toby Flood will be the test out half.

Fixed that for you. This guy shouldn't even tour, let alone start the test.

[tackle-bag]

Interesting. If it's a team of bruisers they're looking for, they could go with: 15. Byrne; 14. Bowe, 13. BOD, 12. Shanklin, 11. Cueto; 10. Jones, 9. Phillips; 1. Sheridan, 2. Ford; 3. Murray; 4. Jones, 5. O'Connell; 6. Jones, 7. Ferris, 8. Heaslip.

[TrapperChamonix]

TB, Not sure I'd agrre with classifying the following as bruisers Bowe, Cueto; Ryan Jones, 8. Heaslip. You can think of the likes of Monye, Worsley etc as being more physical.
I think he has hit on a couple of home truths here.
- Need to front up physically, which is something the Lions didn't do in NZ. I'd expect POC to front up, but it is unlikely that he will dominate the Boks like he does the 6 Nations.
- The 2 best o/h's in the 6 nations were Jones and O'Gara but neither are of sufficient quality to win the series. So he may have to risk Cipriani due to the lack of alternatives. Personally I believe that if we win, it won't be by scoring more trys, so getting a 90% kicker on the field will be the most improtant choice. In 97 as much as we rememeber Scott Gibbs knocking OS Du Randt on his arse, the most important pick that McGeechin and Telfor made was moving Neil Jenkins into the fullback slot so that he could kick his way to victory.
- He challanges accepted wisdom on a number fo players in a brutal truth kinda of way. Shaw and Martyn Williams and Shane WIlliams. He also favours Henson, which wouldn't get much suppor tthis side of the Irish sea.

[ceemec]

Interesting. If it's a team of bruisers they're looking for, they could go with: 15. Byrne; 14. Bowe, 13. BOD, 12. Shanklin, 11. Cueto; 10. Jones, 9. Phillips; 1. Sheridan, 2. Ford; 3. Murray; 4. Jones, 5. O'Connell; 6. Jones, 7. Ferris, 8. Heaslip.

I think that team would get battered particularly the back row. If it's bruisers they're looking for I would envisage a few changes. Hines ahead of Jones, Strokosch and Leamy ahead of Heaslip and Jones, Roberts ahead of Cueto. I think the test team could end up being very different to what we're expecting especially in an area like the back row. I think several players are going to get down there and lack the stomach for it and fade into the background. McGeechan in the past has had no problem with picking the team as he sees it at the time and I expect it to be no different this time.

[StuF]

Back row...