Warren Gatland faces tough calls for Wallabies Test after Lions loss

LIONS coach Warren Gatland faces several selection headaches for the first Test against the Wallabies after a stunning loss last night. 

Brumbies v Lions

THE dust has settled, if rather unsatisfactorily. The final match before the international series is over and at some stage this morning Warren Gatland, Rob Howley, Graham Rowntree and Andy Farrell will finalise the 23-man squad to face Australia on Saturday.

The coaches will have had a medical bulletin from James Robson, the team doctor and his staff, who will have worked into the small hours to furnish the head coach with as complete a picture as possible. How the players will be told whether they have received the ultimate honour in northern-hemisphere rugby is unclear. In the old days, a letter was slipped under a players' door, but, this time, it is likely to be at a team meeting.

The announcement will have to be handled sensitively. There will be several world-class players, particularly those in the back row, who will be crushingly disappointed. They must be encouraged not to let their understandable frustration affect the morale of a squad that is one of the happiest on record.

That is tribute to the management and especially Gatland and Andy Irvine, the tour manager. Gatland has been true to his word and ensured that every player has felt that he has had a genuine chance of making the team for the international matches.

The defeat by the Brumbies will have clarified his thinking over selection. Despite Gatland's protestations that there was still all to play for, in reality none of those who started yesterday could have harboured hopes of changing Gatland's mind as to his preferred 23.

Ben Youngs will be back-up scrum half to Mike Phillips and Richie Gray may have forced his way on to the replacements bench. At a pinch, so too could have Rob Kearney because he can cover full back and wing.

George North seems the head coach's biggest conundrum. The wing was ruled out at the weekend, but such has been the rate of recovery that there is said to be an outside chance that he may be considered. From being less than 50-50, it is reportedly a toss-up as to whether North could be fit, after coming through a demanding running session in Sydney on Monday.

If it was the final match of the series or a one-off international, North would almost certainly be picked. It is the ultimate risk-reward dilemma for Gatland.

The New Zealander has to weigh up whether to roll the dice and pick North subject to a fitness test or hold him back for the second international in Melbourne when he will be at full throttle.

In the front row, Adam Jones is a rock-solid choice at tight-head alongside, most probably, Richard Hibbard and Mako Vunipola, who has made the most of the opportunities afforded by the departures of Gethin Jenkins and Cian Healy.

Alun Wyn Jones and Paul O'Connell pick themselves at lock, while the back-row challenge to the hegemony of Sam Warburton, Jamie Heaslip and Tom Croft failed to materialise in Canberra.

Alex Corbisiero will have his supporters, so too Tom Youngs. Having been called up late, the former will be on the bench because Gatland could not usurp one of his original choices.

The latter's rumbustious, all-action style will be hugely effective from the bench. Dan Lydiate is admired by the head coach and Warburton enjoys working in tandem with him. However, Croft's lineout work, his speed in the wider channels and his competitiveness at the breakdown mean he should withstand the Welshman's challenge.

Phillips and Jonathan Sexton will be the half backs, Brian O'Driscoll and Jonathan Davies the centres, and Leigh Halfpenny and Alex Cuthbert two of the back three. Sean Maitland will probably be the other wing.

After the loss to the Brumbies, Gatland said: "We'll go back this evening and start thinking about it. We'll have a look at the tape and then start to put together a side to take on Australia on Saturday."

While most observers are unlikely to believe that the defeat in the sixth game of the tour would not have any material effect on the Lions as a collective, Jake White, the Brumbies and former South Africa coach, is not so sure.

"I have no doubt the boys in the Wallaby camp have seen this and said, 'It [beating the Lions] is doable now,'" he said. "Maybe a couple of days ago they would have thought it a massive uphill battle because the win over the Waratahs was a massive statement."

The Times