Both coaches have named their sides for the final Test in Auckland on Saturday morning, as the Lions shot at history/immortality/climbing Everest/the finest achievement in the history of man zooms sharper into focus.
The Lions took some down time this week in the absence of a midweek game, and the squad have travelled to Queenstown for lighter training, along with some relaxation, which has included bungee jumping and couple of cheeky beers.
It's all been pretty innocent, and there haven't been any England-at-the-2011-World-Cup-style shenanigans, but the fact that the Lions have taken a bit of a break this week has led to questions at the All Black training camp, with Jerome Kaino responding to a question on that very topic:
I’d rather be training, to be honest. Yeah, although jet boating in Queenstown does sound pretty good. I’m sure they’ve thrown some training in there somewhere, but hey, if that’s what they think will get the best out of their players, then good on them.
That topic came up on tonight, with Brian O'Driscoll admitting that the Lions could have been slightly "smarter" about their time off:
I have an appreciation for the number of miles on the clock at this stage. The Lions have completed a full season, are into week seven of a seven-week tour, they have a huge amount of training done over that time. They definitely need some time off their feet, of that there's no doubt.
Queenstown was where they decided to go...I definitely think they could have been a little bit smarter about social media. I saw one or two posts of a couple of lads having a beer mid-afternoon. I've no problem with lads having a few beers, but there's no need to promote it to the world. The All Blacks are looking at that, and it is adding fuel to the fire. 'Have these guys switched off already? Are they happy with 1-1?'
If I was an All Black, that's how I'd be looking at it. 'Are they on easy street? We're here grafting because we are hurting from last week'. I appreciate that they need down time, but I think they could have been a small bit smarter about how they went about that.
Gerry Thornley was on too, and he disagreed, saying that it wasn't much of an issue, saying that most players had merely been relaxing in their hotel, and the break consists of a relaxing of the regimented rules up to now: players have had a few days of being allowed to get up when they want for breakfast, and just enjoying a rare day off: they haven't had any up to now.
That said, Thornley admitted that the downtime might become more of an issue if the Lions fall to a heavy defeat on Saturday.
Listen to the full slot on the Newstalk website.
