As the British and Irish Lions set their sights on the weekend, what seemed impossible before the tour, is now only 80 minutes away. A series win against the Webb Ellis Champions!
The All Blacks, are the undisputed force in World Rugby, from schools, club/provincial and ladies competitions; and before the tournament they were 1/6 to win the series outright, 3-0.
After the first test, the usual hard luck stories come out from Northern Hemisphere media; ‘we need to be more clinical’, ‘give away fewer penalties’, ‘make first up tackles’, and all was riding on the second test, a do or die, all eggs in one basket scenario.
As with the All Blacks time and time again, they strangled the opposition with their forward pack, pummeled them into submission and then let their silky backs don the jazz hands and do the pretty stuff. They always believe they can do it and have done it consistently for years.
That’s what they tried to do this time, but the Lions fronted up and limited their effectiveness as much as they could but just as the tide was turning in the All Black favour as it generally does, BOOM! (thanks Jurgen Klopp!!)
The behemoth that is Sonny Bill Williams had a rush of blood to the head, or shoulder in this case and in the process of tackling Anthony Watson’s head without wrapping his arms, he copped a red card. The first one in 50 years for an All Black in a test match.
Where am I going with this, you might ask?
The power of belief for the Lions started then! They now had a chance, 14 vs 15 for the 55 remaining minutes and they made it count!!
They played unlike most of what we had seen from them in the previous six weeks, they played with confidence and outscored the All Blacks with Trys, 2-0. Even down a man, the AB’s don’t cough up tries that easily and ones from Falateau and Murray, along with Owen Farrell’s boot, sealed the day.
Now is when the real belief will need to come in!
The series is drawn one a piece and the Lions are facing the All Blacks in the final test with their full complement returned however, the Lions now know they are beatable, Ireland did it in November 2017 in historic fashion in Chicago, Australia the year before and South Africa before that.
The stage is set, battle lines have been drawn and at 8.35 am on Saturday, 8th July, 30 players will go head to head to be crowned series champions, the odds are in the All Blacks favour once again but if the Lions believe they can, who knows, the odds may be turned.
“If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right” Henry Ford
No matter what you do if you can make people believe you can do achieve anything.
#Believe
Patrick
