Russell and Gibson-Park, the dream that is about to become a reality
In a stadium that has in its day danced to the tune of many different teams from many different sports - the Kangaroos and the Jillaroos, the Reds and the Roar, the Matildas, the Broncos and the Dolphins - it's the Lions that will fill the place on Wednesday in Brisbane.Formerly the site of a burial ground and then Lang Park sports stadium, named after a particularly fiery Presbyterian minister from Greenock in Renfrewshire, the Suncorp stands on some interesting terrain in the inner city.When people say there's an elephant in the room in this place they're literally talking about an elephant. Carley, a circus animal, was a beloved performer on this land in the 1950s, so much so that they buried her here after the poor thing performed her last trick for the entertainment of the masses.The Queensland Reds - coached by Les Kiss who for six years was an assistant with Ireland and for another three was the director of rugby with Ulster - will be looking to do a different kind of burial.Much of the preamble to the Lions' second game on Australian soil has, unsurprisingly, centred around the half-back partnership of Scotland's Finn Russell and Ireland's Jamison Gibson-Park, two players that serve as a constant reminder that rugby, though a playground for big beasts, can still be artistic and beautiful.Their combination is one that will have people shifting forward in their seats with quickening pulses. Rugby is forever in danger of eating itself with its inexorable march towards grunt and aggression, but these two remind you of why you might have fallen in love with rugby in the first place.Not many have ever had their rugby heart stolen by a one-dimensional big banger. But Russell and Gibson-Park and their potential to thrill? That's different. They've never played together, but Wednesday is the night it happens and if it's all right then we're going to be seeing a whole lot more of it in the Saturdays to come.They're very different people - Russell gregarious and charismatic, Gibson-Park quiet and laidback - but they're one and the same when it comes to how the game should be played: fast and furious, off the cuff and adventurous.Scrum-halves are supposed to be loud and bossy, but Gibson-Park isn't either of those things. His Lions and Ireland coach Andy Farrell calls him horizontal, such is his unflappable personality.His speed of thought is electrifying, his accuracy when firing passes that are so on the money that they can eliminate two and three defenders in an instant is unerring.His quick taps bamboozle defences, his support lines mess with their heads, his ability to scan a field and know in an instant where the space is is a large part of the reason why Ireland have been so consistent over so many years. He's a totem of that team - tiny but towering at the same time.It's said that there is only one Antoine Dupont, but that's not really true. There's one and three-quarters and the three-quarters is Gibson-Park. At his best, he's very much in the same conversation as the great Frenchman.And now we get to see him play with Russell, the great conductor at 10, a figure of growing authority on the back of a confidence-boosting and trophy-laden season with Bath.The double threat is what Lions' fans have wanted to see. Normally a coach wouldn't necessarily play his first-choice 10 on Saturday and Wednesday, but Farrell is making an exception in Brisbane because he, as much as anybody else, is mustard keen to see how these two will gel. Why wait? Just crack on.They've had a few training sessions but no game time together. Will the lack of familiarity get in the way or will it be chemistry from minute one? Intriguing.
Race for Test places intensifies as Lions take next step
The Lions Test jigsaw is still far from complete. The other day Farrell said they were only getting started in putting things together, but the reality is that come post-match against the Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday there'll only be two more games before Test week and only one of those - the Brumbies in Canberra - has the look of a telling contest.It's early days but, equally, time is slipping away. It's the glorious contradiction of a Lions tour. If Hugo Keenan is to keep himself in the race at 15 - where the more versatile Elliot Daly and Blair Kinghorn are the main contenders - then he needs to send a message at the Suncorp.On the wing, James Lowe and Mack Hansen look to be in the box seat, so Tommy Freeman needs to do something to change the picture again. Duhan van der Merwe is the other wing on Wednesday. He's not the work-rate type operator Farrell values so much, so he's got a lot to find.The midfield has changed at every turn with Farrell exploring every option. It's Huw Jones and Bundee Aki on Wednesday. Potentially devastating in the first Test. Watching from the stand, Garry Ringrose and Sione Tuipulotu. Also potentially devastating. Some incredible talent is going to miss out when the big stuff swings around.Unlike, say, the 2017 tour to New Zealand there are few moral certainties for the Test pack this time around. Back then, you had a set of mostly unchanging and hardcore forwards playing the big games - a front-row of Mako Vunipola, Jamie George and Tadhg Furlong, a mix of Alun Wyn Jones, George Kruis and Maro Itoje in the second row with Sean O'Brien, Taulupe Faletau and, when fit, Sam Warburton in the back row.There isn't that kind of clarity now. Dan Sheehan is a shoo-in at hooker and Itoje is a certainty at lock. There are others who are ahead in their individual races, but they're nowhere near nailed-on like the class of 2017.Itoje is in no danger, but could do with a dominant performance on Wednesday. Seven of the pack of eight against the Reds have points to prove.The hosts should be better than the Force last weekend - fifth in Super Rugby compared to ninth - but they're still diminished. Hooker Matt Faessler and centre Hunter Paisami are the only two of eight Wallabies who have been released by Joe Schmidt.Barring a shock so ground-shaking that it could wake lovely Carley from her slumber, the Lions will win. But how well will they win - and how intoxicating will that half-back partnership prove now that it is almost a reality rather than an exciting figment of the imagination? Questions, questions as the Lions drive on.
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