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NZ Herald
a day ago
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
PR guru Alastair Campbell's schtick summed up 2005 Lions ‘car crash' rugby tour
'Alastair Campbell? THE Alastair Campbell? You must be b----y joking!' But Clive Woodward wasn't. The Lions head coach didn't do gags. He didn't do mundane either. Big gestures. Expect the unexpected. The Clive Way.
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Alastair Campbell's schtick summed up car-crash 2005 Lions tour
'Alastair Campbell? THE Alastair Campbell? You must be b----y joking!' But Clive Woodward wasn't. The Lions head coach didn't do gags. He didn't do mundane either. Big gestures. Expect the unexpected. The Clive Way. But even though I had headed up the 2005 Lions tour media committee alongside Stephen Jones of The Sunday Times, neither of us had anticipated Woodward appointing the most famous spin doctor in the land for the tour to New Zealand. It is true we had badgered Woodward about beefing up his media operation as the Kiwis would be throwing everything at the tourists from the moment they touched down in Auckland. We even joked when the process was dragging on that Campbell must be the target, never actually dreaming that it was true. Alastair b----y Campbell. It was a vanity appointment by Woodward. And there was nothing wrong in theory with that. Go big. Go hard. And Sir Clive did that on every front. More players (44 initially), more back-room staff, split coaching teams, one for midweek, one for Saturdays, Auckland base, fly in and out. Gigantism was the modus operandi. And it all fell terribly flat as the Lions were 'blackwashed', 3-0 in the Test series, 67 points differential between the sides, 12 tries to 3. Not even Campbell could spin that story. The Lions were a distant second on the field of play. That was the bottom line. The media game didn't strike gold either. Campbell took it upon himself after the abysmal loss in the first Test to address the squad, invoking military metaphors from the Iraq war. The squad was not impressed. There was plenty of fiddling and faffing on the practicalities, too, a mid-tour crisis meeting in Wellington with Woodward and manager Bill Beaumont, after press relations had hit the buffers because of too much stage management from Campbell's team. He had actually (briefly) returned to the UK at that point for a sanctioned bit of political business. While the cat's away… We did manage to get the media-players interaction loosened. My own final bargaining gambit was to tell Woodward at our pow-wow in the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel in New Zealand's capital that even the man from The Times reckoned this press operation was worse than the one Graham Henry had overseen as Lions coach in Australia four years earlier. That was the clincher for Woodward and thereafter there were fewer of Campbell's minions – 'Ben from No 10' as one of them was dubbed –listening in on interviews and fewer overbearing briefings given to players prior to their conversations with the press. There was nothing intrinsically wrong with Campbell's presence on the tour. There is invariably friction between a press corps and media officers. It just all felt a bit de trop, willy-waving is the term on the streets, I believe. It came to something when it was claimed post-tour that the media had missed a trick in not approaching Campbell and tapping into his vast experience. 'Er, what do you think of the Kiwis' dual-playmaker approach, Al?' To be fair, Campbell did acknowledge that he knew nothing of rugby. Perhaps that was why Lions (and longstanding Scotland) doctor James Robson ignored a request to hold back on releasing injury details during his first Sunday-evening press conference. 'I've known most of these [media] people for 20 years and I'm not going to change the way I operate,' was the gist of Robson's stance. There were various moments when the Lions massaged the message – the attempt to soft-soap the fact that Gavin Henson had not been selected for the first Test (Jonny Wilkinson was picked at 12, the first time in six years he had played at inside centre in a Test match) by orchestrating a seemingly relaxed photo-op chat between himself and Woodward – but, in truth, no one was duped. There was, of course, one major intervention – the fall-out from the spear tackle that ended Lions captain Brian O'Driscoll's tour after just 40 seconds in Christchurch. The double-hit from his opposite number, All Black captain Tana Umaga and hooker Keven Mealamu, created rugby's equivalent of cricket's Bodyline controversy. It was Campbell's territory – get on the front foot and dictate terms. The Lions did that all right, arriving at the media hotel at midnight following the evening kick-off for an impromptu conference to express their outrage. There were two further press conferences the next day as video footage emerged. By that time, the South African citing officer, Willen Venter, had decided there was no case to answer for the two All Blacks, although Lions lock, Danny Grewcock, did find himself in disciplinary hot water for a biting incident (coincidentally on Mealamu later in the game) and was to be banned for two months. 'Campbell just hacked us off' Rage, rage, rage – but no matter the merits of the Lions complaints, it got them nowhere. In fact, the New Zealand management felt it had the opposite effect. 'Campbell was brought out here to woo New Zealanders and all he's succeeded in doing is hacking us off,' said All Black assistant coach Steve Hansen, who had only just finished a two-year stint as Wales head coach. 'It has been counter-productive. The Tana business galvanised the whole team. There is no doubt that it was done to distract from the Lions' own problems, hiding the things that Clive wanted hidden.' Campbell was never a sharp-end issue for the media, nor, for the most part, for the players. It was meddlesome at the start but his presence did lend a veneer of difference. The Lions players took it on the chin, too, although Neil Back was not alone in finding Campbell's exhortation after the first Test to be beyond the pale. Campbell was debagged by Ireland lock Donncha O'Callaghan at one public function – japes or a lack of proper respect? Stand-in Lions captain Gareth 'Alfie' Thomas managed to get a word on Campbell's phone with Tony Blair. The tour was a car crash. The All Blacks were in their pomp. Or were allowed to be. Woodward was pilloried for the whole mess. Perhaps it all had to be tried once – the size, the expense, the Power of Four anthem, the Alastair b----y Campbell schtick – for the Lions to realise that it should never be done in that over-the-top way again. And it hasn't been.
Irish Independent
6 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Paul Kimmage: Old friends Geordan Murphy and Matt Hampson are still bringing out the best in each other
But by Tuesday, he had joined up with Clive Woodward's 45-man Lions squad in the plush Vale of Glamorgan Hotel just outside Cardiff, about to embark on the trip of a lifetime to New Zealand. Then yesterday, he was named in the first Lions side to play on British or Irish soil, for the pre-tour warm-up game against Argentina at the Millenium Stadium next Monday.
The 42
20-06-2025
- Sport
- The 42
Pride, infamy, and Argentina's rope-a-dope: Remembering the Lions' last meeting with Los Pumas
LIONS AND PUMAS don't cross paths in the wild but there have been rare tear-ups on the rugby field, the latest of which will see Andy Farrell's side seek to bear its teeth against Felipe Contepomi's Argentina at the Aviva Stadium. The British and Irish Lions thrice toured Argentina in the early 20th century and tonight's game in Dublin will mark the eighth meeting between the sides. The seventh, which took place 20 years ago at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, sits equally in Argentinian rugby legend as it does in Lions infamy. The hastily arranged fixture was designed to chip some £10 million (then €14.6m) off the cost of touring New Zealand with a party exceeding 80 players and staff. Head coach Clive Woodward's bigger-and-better approach ultimately ended in agony in Aotearoa, and were it not for eight minutes of stoppage time and a last-play Jonny Wilkinson penalty, the warm-up game against Los Pumas in Wales would have done the same. Only three starting players from the Lions' 25-25 draw with Argentina retained their place for the first Test against the All Blacks in Christchurch just over a month later. But for several of the rest of the squad that set off for New Zealand, that Cardiff fixture would become the closest they came to earning a proper Lions Test cap. 'Well, I'm claiming it, anyway!' laughs Scottish scrum-half Chris Cusiter, who came off the bench against Los Pumas as the Lions attempted to salvage their pride in the final quarter. For Wales' Grand Slam-winning captain Michael Owen, meanwhile, it was a game of additional significance. The Lions had based themselves in the Vale of Glamorgan, training at the University of South Wales Playing Fields where Owen had played with Pontypridd for over a decade. The back row sat as a Lions panelist in the same dressing-room seat as he did when he was a Ponty under-11. Then, with tour captain Brian O'Driscoll rested for the Pumas game, the Welsh skipper was asked to lead the Lions at his own national stadium. 'It all happened so quickly,' Owen tells The 42. I was 24 as well, quite young. 'I think the game was quite last-minute and the funny thing is I don't remember the exact moment I was told I'd be captain, which is strange because I usually have a good memory of these kinds of details. 'I'm not sure if you take it in at that age as much as you should do, really; as a player, you're just doing it, and then it's just happening. If I had the opportunity to do it now, I'd fully appreciate it because I realise as an older and wiser man that it's not an everyday sort of thing.' Michael Owen in action for the Lions against Argentina. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo Replacement scrum-half Cusiter, who was 23 at the time, equally struggles to remember Clive Woodward's team announcement from earlier in the week. But he remembers acutely the concoction of emotions with which he contended upon learning that he would make his first Lions appearance in the Lions' first ever home match, and at a ground which was already dear to his heart. 'Firstly, it was pure excitement,' Cusiter says. 'I got my first Scotland cap in the same stadium a year earlier — and it's an incredible stadium between the atmosphere and the design — so to get my first game for the Lions in the Millennium, I was really excited. 'Then there were the nerves — just about the game as normal, but also nerves around getting injured before boarding the plane and actually getting that experience of touring. 'Also, Jonny Wilkinson was at 10, so there was another factor!' Cusiter laughs. 'He'd obviously won the World Cup a couple of years before, and he was obviously 'Jonny Wilkinson', so it was a big, big deal to play for the Lions with him. 'The thing is, four years earlier, I'd gone out to Australia with my rugby club at the time, Watsonians, to watch that 2001 Lions tour. It was so surreal to actually wear the jersey, then, and find myself playing with all of these famous guys like Jonny, Shane Williams, Shane Horgan — all of these guys that I had admired.' The Argentine Rugby Union had been equally smitten when they were offered around £500,000 (€750k) to test the Lions' whiskers on the eve of the tour, some of the fee contingent on their fielding a first-choice team to bolster ticket sales in Britain and Ireland. That would prove a problem outside the Test window: the French season and European cup competitions had not yet finished. Six frontline Pumas featured in the Challenge Cup and Heineken Cup finals for French and English sides that same weekend. In all, 26 Argentinian players were forced to turn down invitations from head coach Marcelo Loffreda to join the national-team squad for the short-notice one-off. Loffreda's stocks were bolstered, however, when legends Lisandro Arbizu and Mauricio Reggiardo ended their international retirements having stepped away following the 2003 World Cup, and Federico Méndez agreed to come in from the cold for one final mission. With Mario Ledesma's starting position locked in, fellow hooker Méndez volunteered to start at tighthead. Head coach Loffreda granted him that starting jersey, but Méndez wore the number one of a loosehead, swapping shirts with Reggiardo. This wasn't a sleight of hand but something more pure: Méndez had made his debut for Los Pumas wearing number one in 1990 and he wished to bow out the same way 15 years later. Which is not to say that Argentina were averse to subterfuge in the lead-up. Advertisement Loffreda recalls reading somewhere in the English-speaking media that Woodward's all-star side would beat his ragtag outfit by 70-odd points. He instructed his players that Argentina would lean into that sentiment at every public opportunity in an effort to throw the Lions off the scent. As the Pumas boss puts it, 'We had eight days together to prepare for the game. We put a little plan in place — not a trap necessarily, but a plan. 'Before going to Wales, we did a press conference and said that for us, it would be an honour to play against the Lions; it was a privilege but we had to apologise because we didn't have our best team, and we talked about all the weaknesses in our team. We spoke about them so that they would underestimate us. 'When we arrived in Wales, we spoke to the journalists and said the same thing. We were really honoured, 'but the only thing is that we have a team missing lots of our best players because they are playing in playoffs for their clubs.' 'We thought it could influence the Lions players who would think, 'This will be an easy match.' We wanted them to think they had won before the game kicked off.' Two decades on from the Lions' come-from-behind, last-gasp draw, captain Michael Owen believes the Pumas' rope-a-dope at the very least contributed to his side's disjointed performance. 'I think that was part of the problem: with all of the talk in the media, I don't think we actually thought we could lose,' says former Dragons and Saracens back row Owen. 'We probably felt we were good enough as a collective to win the game, so the mentality was that it was a warm-up match that we would win — and Argentina immediately made it more difficult than we maybe expected. 'We obviously didn't play to our best capabilities. I don't know was it the short run-in or whether we got caught up in the media– well, I don't want to call it a circus, but all of the stuff around the Lions, and maybe we forgot that we actually had to play a game. 'You're playing for the Lions so you're on top of the world — but that's where rugby is at its best: it can trip you up when you take your eye off the fundamental basics. 'We were probably a bit too focused on things like attacking patterns and took our eye off really simple things like running hard with the ball and defence, which are the things that actually underpin a good performance. 'And it became a tough ol' match, didn't it?' Owen laughs. Scrum-half Cusiter was sprung from the bench for the final quarter with the Lions in a six-point hole. The sides had traded tries in the first half but the Pumas' superior scrum — with a tighthead at loosehead and a hooker at tighthead — coupled with the Lions' indiscipline had given Federico Todeschini the platform to positively punish the hosts from the tee. The second half was an arm wrestle, with Argentina routinely shutting the door in the face of the Lions' increasingly desperate advances. Young Scotsman Cusiter was sent on to pick the lock, partnering Wilkinson at half-back. Cusiter in action against Los Pumas. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo 'Aw, it all happens in a bit of a blur,' Cusiter says. 'It's almost the same feeling as that first cap for Scotland where everything's so quick and so intense. You're just kind of going on autopilot, really. 'I think the first few passes I threw… went to hand,' Cusiter laughs. 'I was aware in the moment of the occasion, the magnitude of it. For me personally, it was beyond my wildest dreams, I would say, growing up in Aberdeen, to play for the British and Irish Lions. 'And I'm aware of that dream becoming a reality, which in itself is surreal, and with that comes this pressure: you want to show that you belong there. You want to perform. 'We were all-out attack and we actually played pretty well in those last 20 minutes. We put them under pressure.' The Lions ultimately salvaged a draw, Wilkinson sparing their blushes with a pair of penalties. And let no more be said about it. 'Well, to be fair, wasn't there like seven minutes of injury time?' Cusiter laughs. There were, in fact, just over 88 minutes and 30 seconds gone — under the old timing system, it should be noted — when Wilkinson stroked over his final kick from left of centre. Cusiter believes Australian referee Stuart Dickinson was 'pretty generous to give us that opportunity not to lose.' And while the Argentinians were galled to have a famous victory snatched away from them so late in the day, Loffreda these days describes the game as 'such a special memory'. 'I worked as the team manager for Los Pumas in 2020 and 2021, the players asked me to tell the story about that game. So I told them and we had a lovely time remembering the match. It was an important learning experience for us.' Argentina, of course, went on to finish third at the following World Cup in 2007. Incidentally, their side of the story is that the Lions tried to negotiate down their match fee on account of the second- and third-string personnel they brought to Cardiff, but paid in full when they were reminded of the result. From the outside looking in, the Lions' performance against Argentina — minus plenty of their own star names, granted — foreshadowed a grim summer in the Land of the Long White Cloud. But when Owen is asked if there was a cloud hanging over the tourists as they boarded the plane the following day, he replies: 'I don't think so.' Related Reads Lions get started in sold-out Aviva after Schmidt shows Wallabies' hand 'Johnny is very different than what he was on the field' England's Freeman can be the 'untidy' wing that Farrell likes 'It's hard to think back to exactly how you were feeling at the time but I think it was a game where we felt we just hadn't sorted our basics out,' he adds. 'We were still excited going on tour. I don't think it was, like, a massive downer just because we didn't win. 'The thing is, you're going to New Zealand and they were amazing. I just don't think that we, as a Lions team, ever got the best out of ourselves on that tour. I do think the talent, the players, were there. But we sort of, for whatever reason, never really got close to maxing out the performance levels we were capable of. 'I do believe part of it was that Wales had won the Grand Slam, probably unexpectedly, which might have changed ideas around selection, but we also probably persevered with a few of the English lads who were just past their peak at the time. 'But I'm not saying that even if we had achieved our full potential, it would have been good enough to win a series against that New Zealand team. I'm just saying that I think we could have performed a bit better than we did.' On the latter point, Cusiter is in full agreement. 'It's probably changed a wee bit now but especially back then, rugby was the be-all and end-all in New Zealand,' he says. 'The challenge was not only beating that fantastic team with the likes of Justin Marshall, Dan Carter, Tana Umaga, but the fact that the whole country was massively against you. The media were absolutely savage from day one,' the Scotsman laughs. 'Like, they just went after us in every possible way. It was very, very hostile. 'I just don't see how we could have won it. I know Sam Warburton's team drew a series there 12 years later but we were just nowhere near. 'And there's been a lot of analysis done on Clive [Woodward]'s approach — and look, it obviously didn't work. There were things like everyone having their own rooms, and I think we definitely missed out on something there. But if Clive's approach had worked, it probably would have been the blueprint for touring parties for years to come. He tried something different. 'I think we were up against it regardless of Clive's approach because that New Zealand team were simply that good. 'Once we got beaten by the Maori in Hamilton, it was like, 'This is…' Well, let's just say, 'We're up against it here.' Woodward's 2005 tour didn't go to plan. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo Owen equally pinpoints that 19-13 defeat to New Zealand Maori on 11 June as the game in which he played his way out of the frame for a Test berth despite an otherwise bright start to his own tour. In all three meetings with the All Blacks, the Welsh captain's place in Woodward's 23 went instead to late call-up and international teammate Ryan Jones who, in fairness, was among the Lions' better performers in the Tests. 'That's just the way it goes, isn't it?' Owen says. 'I remember after the tour, I was gutted not to have made the Test team. 'When you're a player, your perception is warped. You either feel like a complete failure or a roaring success. And obviously there have been advancements in things like sports psychology since my playing days which encourage players to be more level, more process-driven. But at the time, having missed out on the Test team, I felt like I'd failed.' Cusiter narrowly missed out on a place in the matchday squad for the second All Blacks game in Wellington. With likely Test starter Dwayne Peel carrying a niggle, the Scotsman was taken off at half-time in a midweek obliteration of Manawatu to ensure his availability. Peel, though, was ultimately ruled fit on the eve of the Test, with English World Cup winner Matt Dawson backing him up from the bench. 'It didn't really matter for me,' Cusiter says. 'I just loved the experience, playing with all of those guys. That was everything for me. 'I think at that time, I was 23, and I thought all being well, I could get on another one or maybe even another two if I continued to play well. But y'know, for me, life didn't work out that way. That was my only tour. 'I never thought I'd get to that level in the first place', says Cusiter, who these days runs an alcohol retail business in California, where he moved shortly after finishing his career with Sale Sharks in 2016. 'I'm extremely proud looking back 20 years later that I had that experience of touring with the Lions, which is a very rare thing. 'I remember seeing a few guys in the years since talking about how disappointed they were in the whole experience. I don't feel like that at all. I have nothing but fond memories.' Time has been a healer for Owen — director of rugby at Hailebury College in Hertfordshire, England, for the last 12 years — who these days views the summer of 2005 through the same lens as his one-time teammate. 'Now, I just think, 'Wow. How amazing is it to have gone on a Lions tour? How amazing is it to have been a part of this thing?'' he says. 'I retired earlier than I wanted to and if you had said to me when I was 18, 'This is what you're going to do in your career,' I would have been like…' Owen pauses for a second, then breaks into a laugh. ''Thank you!'' 'I can still say that I played in six or seven matches for the Lions, which is pretty special. I'll take it.'
Irish Times
20-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
The Lions are in a no-lose position against Argentina, provided they don't actually lose
British & Irish Lions v Argentina, Aviva Stadium, Friday, 8pm – Live on TG4 & Sky Sports Action A bad dress rehearsal doesn't necessarily begat a bad performance, much less a good one, and the grim British & Irish Lions expedition to New Zealand 20 years ago cannot be attributed to the soporific 25-all draw between the Lions and Argentina in Cardiff. But it sure as hell proved to be an ominous portent of things to come. Jonny Wilkinson's sixth penalty of the night in the eighth minute of injury-time salvaged a modicum of pride for the Lions, whose head coach Clive Woodward rested captain Brian O'Driscoll and others, with Lawrence Dallaglio on the bench. Still, to put that draw in context, Los Pumas were missing 25 players through club commitments and their inexperienced side, captained by current head coach Felipe Contepomi , were given little or no hope of causing a famous upset. Two decades on, the Lions play a match in Ireland for the first time ever in what is, again, primarily a moneymaking venture which is understood to be generating around €4 million for the brand, with the last of the remaining tickets (priced from €148) selling out on Thursday. Ultimately, Friday evening's non-capped international, though historic, will be a footnote in history. READ MORE So, once more, the Lions are in something of a no-lose position – well, provided they don't actually lose – for this is again a scratch side missing 15 of its squad due to club commitments and injuries, including 10 from bulk suppliers Leinster. Even so, the presence of Maro Itoje as captain adds to the desire for these Lions to set a stronger benchmark than was the case in 2005, not least as his partnership with Tadhg Beirne could be a Test partnership in the making, as well as roommates. There's plenty of power and ball-carrying ballast in the front and back rows, the Northampton/England halfback pairing of Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith will have fond memories of their last visit here seven weeks ago, and ditto their Saints team-mates Tommy Freeman, who looks a likely Test starter, and Henry Pollock, for whom an impact role could well be a pointer to the Test series. Lions captain Maro Itoje during Thursday's session at the Aviva Stadium. Photograph:Any backline with Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu doubling up in midfield shouldn't be lacking in oomph. The general expectation is that they will ultimately duel for the Test 12 jersey, although if they become a combination you'd wonder who'd fill that role in the midweek games. Either way, this looks liken being a searching examination for the 23-year-old Pampas centre Justo Piccardo – who made his Test debut at the Aviva Stadium against Ireland last November off the bench – wearing the 12 jersey donned by Contepomi in Cardiff 20 years ago. Two decades on, one of the greatest overseas players to ever decorate Irish provincial rugby is back in familiar terrain, Contepomi having assembled a makeshift Pumas squad for their first game and first week's training in seven months, whereas this Lions team were training in Portugal last week. The brilliant Toulouse utility back Juan Cruz Mallia and Bordeaux Bègles lock Guido Petti are among those Pumas involved in the Top 14 playoffs this weekend, while props Thomas Gallo and Francisco Gomez Kodela are also missing. Contepomi's starting team retains nine of the starting XV which lost 22-19 to Ireland last November and 13 of both that matchday squad and the one against France the following week in their most recent outing. That core were also part of the Rugby Championship sides that secured wins over all three southern hemisphere rivals in the same campaign for the first time ever, helping them rise to fifth in the world rankings. It's a measure of this game's importance to Los Pumas and Contepomi that he has assembled a relatively experienced side sprinkled with hardened Test match players in the captain and hooker Julian Montoya, La Rochelle tighthead Joel Sclavi, flanker Pablo Matera and fullback Santiago Carreras. Los Pumas are invariably playing for a cause. Back in 2005, they were seeking entry into the 2005 Tri Nations but generally, as here, playing for Argentina is sufficient motivation, especially as the Lions have only granted them three meetings since their sole tour of the country in 1927. Tadhg Furlong during Thursday's Captain's Run. Photograph:However, this week also marks the 60th anniversary of a famous 11-6 victory over the Junior Springboks in Ellis Park on June 19th, 1965, a landmark win which effectively gave birth to Los Pumas. Furthermore, one of the heroes of that day, Arturo Rodríguez Jurado, aka El Trompa (The Trumpet) passed away last Sunday at the age of 81. The UAR (Union Argentina de Rugby) described him as one of the country's most outstanding players. 'They're a well-drilled, well organised team that's been playing some fantastic rugby, certainly over the last 18 months,' acknowledged Andy Farrell. 'Fifth in the world and beating everyone in their path shows where they're at. We realise as well just how special this is for them and what a privilege it is to be here at the Aviva with the Lions playing their first game in Ireland. It's a special occasion and it's great they're coming to the party.' Despite the extortionate ticket pricing and hotel gouging, the plentiful sightings of Lions tops around town on Thursday was a reminder how much the team means to rugby fans and despite the novelty of this fixture, the 'home' support should be significant. The Pumas also has a relatively callow-looking bench, with 23-year-old loosehead Bautista Bernasconi, hooker Boris Wenger (22) and scrumhalf Simon Benítez Cruz (25) are all wearing the distinctive blue and white hooped Pumas jersey for the first time. By contrast, as well as being out to make an early statement ahead of the Oz odyssey, Pierre Schoeman, Rónan Kelleher and Tadhg Furlong bring way more international experience, and what Pollock lacks in that he makes up for in his electric energy. All in all, it will be a surprise and even a slight disappointment if the Lions don't board Saturday's long-haul flight to Perth with something of a statement win under their belts. LIONS: Marcus Smith (England); Tommy Freeman (England), Sione Tuipulotu (Scotland), Bundee Aki (Ireland), Duhan van der Merwe (Scotland); Fin Smith (England), Alex Mitchell (England); Ellis Genge (England), Luke Cowan-Dickie (England), Finlay Bealham (Ireland); Maro Itoje (England, capt), Tadhg Beirne (Ireland), Tom Curry (England), Jac Morgan (Wales), Ben Earl (England). Replacements: Rónan Kelleher (Ireland), Pierre Schoeman (Scotland), Tadhg Furlong (Ireland), Scott Cummings (Scotland), Henry Pollock (England), Tomos Williams (Wales), Elliot Daly (England), Mack Hansen (Ireland). ARGENTINA: Santiago Carreras (Gloucester); Rodrigo Isgró (Harlequins), Lucio Cinti (Saracens), Justo Piccardo (Pampas), Ignacio Mendy (Benetton); Tomás Albornoz (Benetton), Gonzalo García (Zebre Parma); Mayco Vivas (Gloucester), Julian Montoya (Leicester, capt), Joel Sclavi (La Rochelle); Franco Molina (Exeter Chiefs), Pedro Rubiolo (Bristol Bears); Pablo Matera (Honda Heat), Juan Martin Gonzalez (Saracens), Joaquin Oviedo (Perpignan). Replacements: Bautista Bernasconi (Benetton), Boris Wenger (Dogos XV), Francisco Coria Marchetti (Brive), Santiago Grondona (Bristol Bears), Joaquin Moro (Pampas), Simón Benitez Cruz (Tarucas), Matias Moroni (Brive), Santiago Cordero (Connacht). Referee: James Doleman (NZR). Assistant referees: Nika Amashukeli (GRU), Andrea Piardi (FIR) TMO: Eric Gauzins (FFR) Head-to-head: 1910 – Argentina 3 Lions 28. 1927 – Argentina 3 Lions 37; Argentina 0 Lions 46; Argentina 3 Lions 34; Argentina 0 Lions 43. 1936 – Argentina 0 Lions 23. 2005: Lions 25 Argentina 25. Betting: 1-10 Lions, 30-1 Draw, 13-2 Argentina. Handicap odds (Argentina +15pts) 10/11 Lions, 22/1 Draw, 10/11 Argentina. Forecast: Lions to win and cover the handicap.
