Sir Graham Henry On The Changes To The Lions Team He Would Make For The 2nd Test

Sir Graham Henry knows a thing or two about the Lions & The All Blacks.

The legendary coach is the only man to have both coached and coached against the Lions, and reckons Gatland will need to make a few changes to his team and his tactics ahead of the 2nd Test in Wellington.

He told Brian Moore’s Full Contact show on the Daily Telegraph website:

“I would imagine the Lions would change their middle (second) rows for the next Test.

“I think the two English boys (Maro Itoje and Courtney Lawes) will start the game.

“I thought No.8 (Taulupe Faletau) was absent in the first Test and I don’t know if anyone else can add to what they’re doing there.

“The Lions will believe they can do it and this group of players have got some belief.

“They created some chances early in the first and second halves and had they taken those chances it could well have gone right down to the wire

“The Lions have to go into the second Test thinking they’ve got a sniff here and though the All Blacks go in strong favourites the Lions have a chance but they’ve got to play out of their skins.

“The Lions played with a huge amount of spirit and their defence was superb. They got beaten by a better side and it’s simple as that really.

“They got beaten at the scrum, they got beaten at the breakdown the All Blacks took their try-scoring opportunities, the Lions didn’t.

“The scrum needs to improve. If you can’t scrum you can’t win in my opinion and I don’t know if personnel changes can change that.

“The All Blacks had an ascendancy at scrum. They were rock solid and their second try was due to blowing the Lions off the ball.

The second thing is getting quick ball from the breakdown. It’s a different mentality of being very positive at the breakdown and it’s a huge part of the game. The Lions got beaten decisively at the breakdown and I think that may have been a key factor of the game.

“And the other thing is the back-three got flaky on the high ball and that where Rieko Ioane scored his second try. Liam Williams and the two wingers struggled with the high ball. Watson, Williams and Daly are better than that.

“The back three for the All Blacks did make a couple of mistakes but generally they were very solid, whereas he back three of the Lions struggled as the game went on under the high ball.”