British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland has made no secret of why he has made six changes to his starting team and some key switches to his bench for Saturday’s final test of the series against the Springboks in Cape Town - in a nutshell, his team is out to play more ball in hand rugby.
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Gatland didn’t make the change many British and Irish critics were calling for by opting for Scotland’s attack orientated Finn Russell at flyhalf, but he did include Russell on his bench, along with the pacy Exeter No8 Sam Simmonds.
With Eliot Daly still among the reserves, there is a massive attack orientation from the Lions bench.
But it won’t just be in the second half once he has made changes that the Lions coach will be wanting his team to be bolder with their approach than they were when they lost the second test last weekend.
“Look, we definitely want to play some more rugby,” said Gatland when asked if the changed selection meant a change to his game-plan.
“We just didn’t get that opportunity in the second half (last week). In the first half, we got some bounces. Then in the second half we got nothing in the air. We’ve tried to get some momentum but we never got into the game in the last 20 minutes of the second test. Finn Russell comes onto the bench because he’s a little different.”
CHANGES TO BACK THREE AND MIDFIELD WERE ANTICIPATED
Ali Price, the starting scrumhalf who comes in for Conor Murray, is probably the quicker of the two scrumhalves, so that swop makes sense, while the other two areas that were changed, the midfield and the back three, were combinations that were placed under intense scrutiny by the overseas media following the Lions’ defeat last weekend.
“We felt that there were certain things from the weekend (where we fell short), particularly the aerial battle,” said Gatland.“We were also disappointed with the last 20 minutes and giving away eight penalties - four we considered needless. We’re not complaining about the result, it was a tight game and with 60 minutes on the mark, it was close.”
Liam Williams comes in at fullback for Stuart Hogg to address the aerial battle short-fall, while fellow Welshman Josh Adams comes in on the wing for Anthony Watson to leave Duhan van der Merwe as the only survivor from the back three that played last week.
Bundee Aki will bring greater physicality to the midfield combination, with Robbie Henshaw moving to outside centre to give Gatland an all-Irish midfield that has played a lot of rugby together.
“Bundee and Robbie have a pretty familiar combination and that midfield has always been a debate for us. We are looking for the physicality Bundee brought in the South Africa A game and the chance for Robbie to move out (to his more familiar position).
DOUBLE CHANGE TO FRONT ROW
In the forwards there has been a double change to the front row, with Ken Owens replacing Luke Cowan-Dickie at hooker and Wyn Jones now fully recovered from the injury that forced him out of the first test at the 11th hour.
Marko Vunipola moves to the bench to accommodate Jones while Kyle Sinckler is the other prop on the bench pending his hearing on Tuesday following a citing for alleged biting.
"We felt Wyn Jones was very unlucky to pick up that injury. He’s back fit so it’s that combination with him and Ken (who know each other well),” said the Lions coach.