Lions Triumphant by Sam Warburton

Author:Sam Warburton [Warburton, Sam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781471113147
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

5

First Test, Last Kick

It was an anxious time. Selection for the first Test was what everyone had been waiting for. It was what everyone had come to Australia for, after all. I’ll let you into a little secret and say that I knew that I was playing before the others, because Warren Gatland had asked me on the Monday to go with him to meet the referee Chris Pollock on the Wednesday. It was a pretty big clue that I was in.

On the Thursday the team was announced publicly (with the players having been told on the Wednesday) and it was the second largest press conference I have been in. Only the conference before the World Cup semi-final against France in 2011 comes close. I had had a sense all tour that the press were waiting for me to show nerves or provide some evidence that I was feeling the pressure. At this point I honestly wasn’t. I don’t feel nerves until match day. So when a journalist asked me how I felt to be leading the Lions in a Test at the young age of 24 and how I would cope with all the responsibilities of being captain, I played the whole situation down and just replied: ‘Happy days!’

I suppose the one surprise to those outside the squad was the inclusion of Alex Corbisiero at loose-head prop. He had not been an original selection for the tour and had played just one full game, against the Combined Country team. He had also not previously played on tour alongside his Test hooker Tom Youngs. But I think Warren had looked at the weather forecast, which suggested showers were possible, so he wanted Corbs’ extra technical expertise at the scrummage, thinking that Mako Vunipola could come off the bench later and make a really powerful impact in the loose.

‘I’ve no doubt that [Australia coach] Robbie Deans has looked at Mako technically at scrum time,’ said Warren. ‘Mako coming off the bench will give us a huge amount of impetus and that’s a big strength of his game. Technically, Alex is probably a little bit sounder and potentially we feel we might have a little bit of an edge at scrum time, although it will be tough contest.’

I remember Graham Rowntree saying to me when we spoke at Syon Park that Mako could have a real impact off the bench, so I was thinking then that he might be in with a shout of a Test spot on the bench. However, the tour unfolded for the loose-head props rather differently from how anyone would have expected, and Mako had played so well that I thought he would start, mainly because he had been on tour for longer than Corbs and knew the calls and the patterns better. That is not to be disrespectful to Corbs, who is a superb player, as he was to show in this series.

Otherwise it was the same pack that had started against the New South Wales Waratahs.

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