RUGBY: Mick Cleary
RESPECT is not a concept which the Afrikaner has traditionally handed out with any great generosity to his fellow men. It took the profound dignity of Nelson Mandela, not to mention many years of incarceration, finally to prick the nation’s conscience into doing the decent thing. The British Lions have chosen a more direct means of claiming their due twopennyworth of deference. They have made Martin Johnson squad captain and left out Mike Catt.
Johnson stands 2m and weighs 113kg. The detail is but part of the story. It is what Johnson represents, as much as what he is, which will make an impact. He is the bristling, stroppy, physical, cussed face of British rugby. He is the Lions’ statement of intent. He is also a throwback, a skulking, beetle-browed reminder of that brutish lot of 1974 who not only won the Test series but destroyed Springbok manhood in the process.
That is what Johnson brings to the party. It is not the most sophisticated message to convey but it is an important one. Johnson was not chosen for his oratory, his diplomacy or even his tactical insights. He will not win friends, or woo princesses, by his fine words or rugged looks. But he will influence those who matter, those who sit a few feet apart in either dressing-room, through the honesty of his endeavour and the sturdiness of his stance. And yet his appointment is a gamble.
Johnson will operate in unknown territory. He has never captained a national side before and has only a few club games under his skipper’s belt. He will be desperate to make an impression. Too desperate, perhaps. The best thing Johnson could do when he arrives in South Africa is to head for the beach. The season has taken its toll on his beleaguered body.
Jack Rowell, the England manager, tells how he gauges the point in the season by the amount of bandage round Johnson’s ankle. The more tape, the later in the year it is. Instead Johnson will now be out there leading from the front at every training session.
It’s not that Johnson’s appointment is a mistake. There was no obvious alternative candidate. It could also be both the making of him and of the tour itself. Sport is not a precise science and it’s good to see the selectors making a bold choice. Either Ieuan Evans or Jason Leonard would have been a safer option. They would also have been softer options. At least these selectors are declaring their hand and challenging the opposition.
Johnson’s occasionally volatile temperament is not a worry. Nor is his taciturn demeanour. It matters not a damn whether Johnson is a dab hand at handling the media. Johnson needs only to be articulate on the pitch.
If only Mike Catt had been given the opportunity. The prime reason the selectors left out the Bath flyhalf is not because they have doubts about his ability, but because the South Africans do too. Catt was born in Port Elizabeth of an English mother. The South Africans figure that if he hadn’t come to England in his late teens then he would be no more than a workaday provincial player in South Africa.
It may be a harsh judgment, but it’s out there doing the rounds nonetheless. The Lions are so anxious not to cede an inch on that critical terrain, the five psychological inches between the ears, that they have overlooked Catt’s vastly improved last showing in the Five Nations against Wales. Catt is soiled goods – inconsistent, vulnerable under pressure and known to the enemy.
Even so, I would have taken him for his versatility. He is also worth investing in as a strike runner and flat passer, one able to launch the wide game which the Lions hope to play. As it is they are hopelessly locked in at fly-half and full-back, two vital positions. The need for a proven goal-kicker has shaped the selectors’ thoughts. They would probably hire an air ambulance for the entire trip if it would guarantee Neil Jenkins playing. As it is, the Welsh flyhalf-cum-fullback will not have to prove his match fitness after recovering from a broken arm. Goal-kicking is that important.
Hence the inclusion of Northampton’s Paul Grayson, the back-up No 10 to Gregor Townsend, as well as the late acquisition of the kicking coach, Dave Alred. But if Grayson plays, then there is no need for Jenkins, and vice-versa, which means that Grayson will always be paired with Stimpson at full-back, Townsend with Jenkins; so your expansive game is stymied at either No 10 or No 15.
The Lions are long on character but less surefooted when it comes to proven performance. This is no slight on the young bucks in the party, the uncapped Leicester centre Will Greenwood, or his club colleague and Irish No 8, 21-year-old Eric Miller. They richly deserve their opportunity. No, the concern is that there are too many players, seven, from the second division as well as an excess, five, from Northampton, a club who have under- achieved this season.
It makes no sense that Northampton’s Matt Dawson is in at scrum-half ahead of Kyran Bracken. Newcastle’s rugby league import, John Bentley, owes his place ahead of Adebayo, Logan and Sleightholme, on past rather than present deeds.
In the pack there ought to have been a place for Gloucester hooker Phil Greening whose mobility and ball-handling would have been an asset on the hard grounds of the veld. Greening, though, may well be getting a quick call if the shoulder of Irish hooker Keith Wood fails to make the grade over the next few weeks. Wood declared himself in great shape on Thursday after his enforced three-month rest.
The tour does not begin for seven weeks yet. The Lions, though, have already made an important move. They’ve sent their reputation on ahead to ambush any Springbok notions of superiority. One thing is certain. The Lions won’t lose the mind games.