Bok coaches have high regard for new Lions captain

The injury that has ruled initial captain Alun Wyn Jones out of the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa means that the Springbok brains trust of Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber will be plotting against a team led by someone they know pretty well in the forthcoming series.

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Irish scrumhalf Conor Murray will now lead the tour group that arrives in South Africa on Monday morning ahead of a six-week tour that will be highlighted by the three-test series against the world champion Springboks that begins in Cape Town on 24 July.

Murray was a key part of the Munster team that Erasmus and Nienaber coached for two years and they rate his leadership credentials highly enough not to have been surprised by Saturday night’s announcement that he is the new tour captain following Wyn Jones’s unfortunate injury.

“I enjoyed working with Conor when we were at Munster. He is a no-nonsense guy, he is to the point and gets the job done and is brilliant at what he does. It was a privilege to work with him,” Nienaber told an online press conference on Sunday.

“We lost him to injury at the back end of the 2017 season when we were due to play a big match against Saracens and while I am not saying we would have won the game had he been there, his absence was felt a lot. What you get in him is a steady head and a player with good skills and experience and he will make a great tour captain for the Lions.”

National director of rugby Erasmus, who was director of rugby at Munster, backed up what Nienaber said.

“Everybody knows about their injuries and having to get replacements this late will be disruptive. The closer to the tour and the matches so the tougher it gets for you if you have injuries,” said Erasmus.

“We both know Conor well and we know he can do a good job for them. I agree with what Jacques says about him. If you look at that Lions squad and how they played against Japan, with only a week together and some guys not available yet, you’d have to say they did well against Japan, who we struggled against at the World Cup.

“For a team that has not played together before I thought they found their rhythm quite quickly. They will build from there and I look forward to seeing what they do when they start the tour against the Lions this week.”

'WILL HAVE TO DO OUR HOMEWORK WELL'

Erasmus is right when he suggests the Lions found their rhythm quickly, perhaps quite surprisingly so.

However, Nienaber wasn’t so surprised as he feels Gatland’s previous experience as a British and Irish Lions coach means he is well versed on what is needed on a Lions tour.

“They were able to hit their straps early on and it didn’t surprise me as this is Warren’s fourth Lions tour and his third as head coach,” said Nienaber.

“That is one of the great strengths of Warren being there as head coach. He has worked out the formula for getting the players from four different nations aligned quickly. You could see that clearly in Saturday’s game.

“What their game against Japan confirmed to me was what we knew: they are a team made up of a combination of the best players from four different countries. They have a well balanced squad and we will have to do our homework well. We will have to be on top of our game to beat them and I am looking forward to what will be a nice challenge. That’s why they call it a test match.”

Wyn Jones was ruled out of the tour party after dislocating his shoulder in an awkward fall just seven minutes into the warmup game.

The Lions went on to win the game 28-10, scoring four tries to one in the process, and most of what came out of the pre-tour clash was positive for the tourists, who had impressive attacking shape and fluidity for a composite team that was largely playing together for the first time.

The Lions open their tour of South Africa by playing the local version of the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday (6pm kick-off).