Clive Woodward and Brian O’Driscoll at odds with the three-day break at Noosa ahead of make-or-break Test in Sydney.
Possible captain highlights Sexton’s leadership skills
With the news today that Sam Warburton is out of the third and deciding Test in Sydney with a hamstring injury, most observers have been speculating that Brian O’Driscoll will take over the skipper’s armband, and his column today in The Telegraph has all the hallmarks of a captain’s rallying call.
The Leinster man has said that the squad are clearly hurting after Saturday’s narrow defeat and said that their short break at Noosa is badly needed, not that they will be in tourist-mode during their visit.
“We have come north to this holiday resort to get body and mind in just the right place. We would have been here no matter what the results. And let me tell you, those smiles out in the Pacific Ocean were the first I had seen that day,” he said.
“Breakfast in Melbourne was quiet, very quiet. If you do not feel sick after defeat in a Test like that there is something wrong with you. And especially in that manner.”
He added that they have put the result behind them and also gave further insights into Jonny Sexton’s leadership skills both on-and-off the pitch. The Irish out-half is a vocal member of the squad on the pitch and could be seen giving instructions throughout Saturday’s contest, advice O’Driscoll felt was right on the money.
“Jonny Sexton was quoted as saying that “it was almost as if we were wishing for the game to finish rather than going out to get it ourselves”. Jonny actually said that during the match itself. It is so hard to protect a lead. You have got to keep playing, that is the best way to do it. If you protect a lead you get on the back foot, get very defensive, get very tight and stop playing.”
Warburton is a fine captain in his own right, but should O’Driscoll take over the mantle, it certainly won’t lessen the Lions challenge. Far from it.
Woodward disagrees with Lions preparation – oh the delicious irony
While in the aforementioned article Brian O’Driscoll was at pains to say their stay on the Sunshine Coast is necessary for both “body and mind”, Clive Woodward has been scathing of the three-day break to Noosa.
The 2005 Lions coach, who ironically was strongly criticised himself for his preparation of the large squad during the deflating tour to New Zealand, thinks that it is not what is needed after their bruising defeat on Saturday.
“Players are hardly capable of walking up stairs properly on the morning after a game, so to sit on a coach, then in cramped economy seats, then back on a coach would only worsen the stiffness and swelling,” he wrote in his Daily Mail column.
“It is the last place I would take the team. You have to lick your wounds and feel sorry for yourself for 24 hours and then get to Sydney to prepare for the biggest match of your lives.”
The pictures of players surfing and undertaking other water activities does not seem to sit well with the former World Cup winning coach, who also felt the second Test was a “very poor game”.
Let’s hope the break will allow the players recharge the batteries ahead of the make-or-break fixture in Sydney.
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