With Southland unlikely to pose too much of a challenge in Invercargill on Tuesday, tomorrow’s game against Otago in Dunedin will provide Clive Woodward with his final chance to assess his fringe players against worthy opposition. Amongst that group of possibles, all of whom are desperate to prove that they are worthy of a place in the XXII, at least, is Wales flanker and RBS Six Nations man of the tournament Martyn Williams.
Williams, along with his namesake Shane and Ryan Jones are the only three Welshmen starting on this occasion although Michael Owen will now get another chance from the bench after the withdrawal of Lewis Moody and with Simon Easterby coming in at No.6. For Shane Williams and Ryan Jones it’s perhaps asking a little too much to sneak into the back door, in terms of selection, but for Martyn Williams, the door is still wide open.
Of course the English media have forced the name of Back into the frame over recent days and with Woodward having shown so much faith in the Leicester Tigers’ openside in days gone by, it would take a brave man to bet against his selection. Having said that, Williams’s performance against the New Zealand Maori last week was far better than most seem to suggest and to be honest, the microscope should have focussed on the contributions made by Richard Hill and Michael Owen rather than the RBS Six Nations player of the tournament.
Still, it will take a monumental performance tomorrow (Williams is capable of achieving that) to prove the doubters wrong and to earn Williams the starting place he so richly deserves. Otago have some significant selections of their own and the likes of Josh Blackie, Carl Hoeft and Craig Newby will certainly have something to prove to the New Zealand selectors. They are just three of the provincial Highlanders on show with outside half Nick Evans another individual unlucky to miss out on a place in the All Blacks squad.
The contest, whilst handing a last chance to half a dozen of the Lions party, is sure to be physical, it always is on this remote part of the south island. Woodward said: “They will pose as big a threat as the other NPC sides. They will come at us and we have to take that in our stride and make sure that we front up as we did in Wellington.”
Williams will certainly hope to be one of them, although as we speak, a place on the bench is more likely than a place on the back row.
British & Irish Lions team v Otago
G Murphy
D Hickie
W Greenwood
G D’Arcy
S Williams
C Hodgson
C Cusiter
G Rowntree
G Bulloch (capt)
M Stevens
S Shaw
D O’Callaghan
S Easterby
M Williams
R Jones
Replacements
S Thompson
A Sheridan
D Grewcock
M Owen
M Dawson
O Smith
R O’Gara
Otago
G Horton
H Pedersen
N Brew
S Mapusua
M Saunders
N Evans
D Lee
C Hoeft
J Macdonald
C Dunlea
F Levi
T Donnelly
C Newby (capt)
J Blackie
G Webb
Replacements
J Vercoe
J Ardworth
A McClintock
A Soakai
C Smylie
R Mambry
J Shoemark
