Nick Cain’s tour verdict: Gatland shows he has Midas touch

After the gunsmoke had cleared at the ANZ Stadium, the massed ranks of Lions fans waited to cheer on the 2013 Lions before they exited the stands to  paint Sydney red – as well as drink it dry.
By that time most of the Australian fans had headed for home, but the Lions supporters who had invested so much in terms of hard-earned cash to support the greatest rugby touring team on the planet were going to savour the moment.  Delilah, belted out by Tom Jones, rang round the stadium as homage to the mighty Welsh contingent in the Lions ranks.
It was, after all the first series win since the victory over South Africa in 1997, and 16 years is a long time between drinks. But, this time, after the narrow miss against the Springboks four years ago, the debacle in New Zealand in 2005, and the knife-edge series defeat by Australia in 2001, there was so much to celebrate.
Their team had been superb, and they had witnessed one of the great pressure rugby performances by a Lions side. They feasted on a four try blitzing of an Australian squad convinced they were in the box seat going into the decider.
Yet, it was Warren Gatland‘s outfit that clinched the deal, with a record Lions Test tally. They rode the crest of a massive wave of pressure like super surfers, relaxed and yet razor sharp in body and mind after their mini-break in Noosa, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
The Lions victorious third Test captain, Alun Wyn Jones, said before lifting the Tom Richards trophy to tumultuous acclaim from the red army that his players had risen to the occasion despite two of the worst training days of the tour.
He suggested the squad couldn’t have caught a cold when they returned to active duty on Tuesday and Wednesday – but, in the end, it was the Wallabies who miscalculated most.
Their expectations that Jamie Roberts, restored to fitness for the first time in the series, would be used at every opportunity to bash up the middle were confounded with the canny Gatland shifting the point of attack.
Instead, it was Leigh Halfpenny who produced a brilliant all-court game to break the Lions individual points scoring record with 21. The full-back also played a big part in the Jonathan Sexton and George North tries in an eight minute surge either side of the hour mark which swept Australia aside.
Apart from Halfpenny’s heroics the main assault came at the scrum. This was transformed from the shaky pontoon we saw in the second Test thanks to an outstanding effort from Alex Corbisiero in his first outing since sustaining a calf injury in the Brisbane opener.
The Wallaby scrum was a wreckage from start to finish, conceding half a dozen free-kicks and penalties in the first-half alone.
The upshot was a result which confounded all predictions, with most pundits believing that there would be a single score separating the protagonists.
The relief was palpable as Gatland faced the media afterwards, and there was one statement from the Lions head coach which resonated loudest. He said, “The thing about Test rugby is it’s agony or ecstasy, there’s nothing in between. So, you have to enjoy it when it comes along.”
Yet, Gatland had been pilloried for his decision during the week to drop the Irish icon, Brian O’Driscoll, for the third Test, and he said that the vitriol of some of the criticism made it hard for him to enjoy the moment as he would have liked.
The criticism was out of all proportion, but Gatland, like his team, handled the pressure. The Wallabies may play in gold, but there is no question that the Kiwi is a coach with the Midas touch. Heineken Cups and Premierships with Wasps, Six Nations Grand Slams and Championships with Wales, and now the biggest prize of all, a winning Lions series.
It was fitting, too, that O’Driscoll demonstrated he is a bigger man than the mob who took up cudgels on his behalf, showing that he is a team man to the soles of his boots. As his Lions team-mates celebrated on the pitch he was among the first to congratulate them, showing that the bond within the team, and the selflessness that comes with it, remain at rugby’s core.
It should be remembered also that this series win was achieved against all odds, by a Lions squad with precious little preparation time due to the selfishness of Unions and club tournament bodies who will now reap a significant dividend from their success.
There is a danger the series victory will gloss over the fundamental problems Gatland faced in pulling together his squad in such a short time frame. Asked if it would be a mistake for the Lions’ organisers to congratulate themselves on the way they have handled the tour, Gatland added: “Yes. The interest it creates, the hype and the amount of money it generates, when the Lions negotiate the next series it’s got to be done properly.
“We were a bit frustrated at the start of the tour with the limited amount of time we had together, getting things on the road, because ultimately you want the Lions to be successful.
“It’s tough being part of the Lions, playing away from home against traditionally the top three sides in the world. It’s about the four Home Unions getting together with the clubs and thrashing out the proper preparation time in conjunction with the host nation as well.
“It’s fantastic experience, it’s generated a heck of a lot of money for Australian rugby and if you are going to do it, it’s got to be done properly.”
The 2013 Lions have done the sport in Britain and Ireland a huge service by putting Northern Hemisphere rugby back at the top table. New Zealand in four years time will almost certainly be a harsher challenge than the Wallabies, but for the moment it’s ‘Warrenball’ that rules, and deservedly so.