Lions remain committed to positive approach with ball in hand and attack coach does not want them to tighten up
I
n mid-November, cricket’s Ashes series will commence in the same Optus Stadium where the British & Irish Lions will kick off their tour of Australia on Saturday. There are some keen cricket fans within the Lions squad who stayed up late to watch England’s compelling final-day win at Headingley, but out on the training pitch the collective priority is not so much Bazball as its oval-shaped cousin, Fazball.
Andy Farrell, the Lions head coach, has been at pains since his squad’s arrival here to make two things clear. The first is that preparation time is of the essence and should not be wasted by endlessly second-guessing what might lie ahead. The second is that the touring side can not afford to retreat into their tactical shells after their loss to Argentina in Dublin last Friday.
Those two themes are neatly entwined in a catchy aphorism often attributed to Mother Teresa and cheerfully recycled by the prop Pierre Schoeman after a full-bore practice session in warm sunshine at Hale School in Perth’s suburbs. “Yesterday is gone forever, tomorrow might never come, now is the time to live.” Schoeman says: “That’s what we do as Lions. It’s about the here and now. That’s what’s really matters.”
