Rob Howley promises ‘chaos’ as Lions prepare for the Blues with heated training session

Playing catch-up: Ken Owens, who will captain the Lions tomorrow, is put through his paces by Steve Borthwick
Getty Images
Jim Kayes6 June 2017

The Lions are promising to match the All Blacks’ attacking style and hope ‘chaos’ at training will lead to only their second-ever series win against New Zealand.

A day after head coach Warren Gatland took exception to suggestions the Lions would adopt the ‘Warrenball’ tactic of trying to bash the ball over the advantage line, used with success by Wales, attack coach Rob Howley tried to paint a very different picture, saying the Lions wanted to play expansively, just like the All Blacks.

“We want to play from one touchline to the next touchline, that’s the key to us,” he said.

Howley revealed training in Auckland had been “pretty heated” on the eve of tomorrow morning’s match against the Blues as the Lions went through an offloading drill.

Some of what took place in the contacts was “explosive”, he said, adding it was essential the Lions adapted quickly to the pace, intensity and physicality they can expect from their nine remaining tour matches.

“Rugby is dictated by speed of ball and numbers in the defensive line,” the former Wales scrum-half said. “It’s important that we are able to adapt and play what we see.”

The Lions have come under fire already after struggling to put away the provincial Barbarians in their opening match and with suggestions their attack will be too predictable.

The former All Blacks hooker didn’t react well to the criticism, caught on tape muttering with a few expletives that he didn’t know why he to keep defending himself.

Earlier he declared his players had a licence to express themselves; to be creative and spontaneous.

In Pictures | Provincial Barbarians vs British and Irish Lions

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“To match the All Blacks you have to display a bit of x-factor and that means an offload or something that is a little bit outside the box,” Gatland said.

“The players have to back their ability. We don’t want to be prescribed and play by numbers. They have been encouraged to demonstrate their level of skill and hopefully we can do that on Wednesday.”

Howley, who played the All Blacks just once in his 59-test career for Wales, made it clear the coaches know they have to match fire with fire on tour, and particuarly in the three-test series.

He said they’ve tried to replicate what they expect from the New Zealand sides by training in “chaos”.

“The one thing I think the players have really enjoyed, we call it rugby chaos, 15 against 15, it’s very unstructured.

“Obviously we are all aware of the pace of the game in the southern hemisphere and it’s really important that we get up to speed as quickly as possible.”

“We want to improve and we know we need to improve the next couple of weeks.

“We want to be clinical, relentless in our process and ruthless because in a couple of weeks we’re playing against the most ruthless side in world rugby.”

The Lions are wary of a Blues team sprinkled with All Blacks, although Howley said defeat was tolerable provided the Lions kept improving ahead of the Tests. As to whether the the Lions can match the chaos the All Blacks can create with some of their own, Howley said it was the plan but “the answer will come over the next four or five weeks”.

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