Warren Gatland, the Lions' the juggler

THE coach has to handle his star five-eighth with kid gloves.

Warren Gatland

BRITISH and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland was recently described as a cross between an orchestra conductor and a film director in terms of his creative thinking.

To those skills should now be added those of conjurer and juggler as he deals with preparations for the opening international against Australia, especially in the manner in which he handles Jonathan Sexton. Kid gloves and cotton wool would be appropriate.

After two continental flights, three games and as many different time zones in eight days and a beasting on the training field designed to build endurance, the Lions are getting into the real meat of their tour.

Sexton is essential to their hopes of a successful series and is probably the single most important player. When the Ireland flyhalf pulled up, albeit briefly, feeling his right hamstring during the second half of the hard-earned victory over the Reds, even the normally phlegmatic Gatland would have had palpitations.

Sexton, a 45th-minute replacement for the luckless Tommy Bowe, had treatment and continued until the end of the match. But, given his value, it was surprising that he was not removed instantly. He has had a scan and officially there is no tear and it is nothing to worry about. Privately, though, the management is more than a little worried. The Irishman and Owen Farrell, who has a dead leg, will sit out the next match against a NSW-Queensland Country XV tonight in Newcastle, with Stuart Hogg starting at fly half. "We have to make sure they are right," Gatland said. "Jonny will have to play again before the first Test."

The Reds game was instructive on several fronts. The expectation was that Sexton would line up at halfback in tandem with Mike Phillips for the international series, but Ben Youngs could cause a rethink. Youngs was "excellen", acccording to Gatland.

"There's a subtlety Ben brings to the game," Gatland said. "In the Wales-England Six Nations game, he was the player who caused Wales the most problems around the fringes. He played really well that day. He's also a different type of player to Mike Phillips and Conor Murray. I thought he did really well. He's confident in his own ability, takes the line on and offers a different threat to the other two."

What also became obvious from the match at Suncorp Stadium is that for all their laudable ambition to play an adventurous game, the Lions will be depending on a rock-solid pack and a dominant lineout, allied to unerring place-kicking from the penalties that they will hope to squeeze from that superiority.

Jonny Wilkinson may not be in Australia, but Leigh Halfpenny and Owen Farrell are every bit his equal in the kicking department. They have not missed in 17 attempts at goal between them in Australia, Halfpenny landing 11 in the one-sided defeat of a severely weakened Western Force.

Forward power is a traditional British Isles strength that is often sneered at in these parts. But there is a sense that for all their running skills, the Wallabies could be vulnerable at the set-piece. Here, rugby union has to fight to get noticed against the competition from Australian Rules and rugby league. From an economic perspective, rugby in Australia has to be packaged as "entertainment", which is a sad state of affairs.

The touring team should not feel that they have to apologise for playing to their strengths; there should be no sense of obligation to do anything other than win the series.

That is not to say that Gatland does not have some tricks up his sleeve. It will be about where and when the power and pace that the Lions do possess, in the shape of George North, among others, is unleashed.

"We can't be adapting the mentality of trying to soak up pressure," Brian O'Driscoll said. "We've got to try to feel we can have a purple patch in that first 20 minutes as well. We can take our game to the opposition."

Gatland does not expect the same fireworks from Australia that the Reds set off in Brisbane. He expects a more structured approach as befits international rugby. Gatland's selection for that first international is taking shape, but it is by no means nailed down.

"In an ideal world, with an international side you wouldn't have experimented as much as we did (on Saturday night)," Gatland said. "We'd like to have a couple more warm-up games ahead of the first Test. Our original thought was to have players backing up on Tuesday, but that hasn't been possible at the moment."

The back row remains the most competitive area. Assuming Sam Warburton shows no ill effects from playing his first rugby for seven weeks on Saturday - he lasted the pace well enough - he will start at open-side. At No 8, Jamie Heaslip, who is thriving in Australia, is clearly ahead of Toby Faletau, who seems somewhat muted.

The real competition is at blind-side, where Gatland is spoilt for choice. Does he go for Tom Croft's aerial threat at the lineout and his pace in the wider channels, or does he look to Sean O'Brien's power with ball in hand or Dan Lydiate's destructive tackling at close quarters ? It is a nice headache to have.

Tonight's side features six likely international starters in O'Driscoll, who will captain the team, Jamie Roberts, North, Heaslip, Richard Hibbard and Richie Gray.

The Times