Nick Cain sizes up the task ahead of the Lions in Saturday’s first Test in Brisbane

Mike Phillips versus Will Genia is the one clash which seems to encapsulate better than any the differences between the Lions and Wallabies ahead of this weekend’s pivotal opening Test in Brisbane. Call it the ‘slabs of red meat’ against the ‘dirty
Diggers’, this is a series being billed as Lions power against Aussie guile – and the differences between the No.9s recognised widely as the best in the world sums it up.
Phillips is a lurcher of a scrum-half with a big, rangy 6ft 3in frame more typical of a No.8 or blindside, while the terrier-like Genia is more of a traditional build at just under 5ft 9in.
Where Phillips is a force of nature who surges round the corner with tremendous power and clever shifts of direction and balance, especially when he is in the opposition 22, Genia is more of a box of tricks.
The Wallaby is a brilliant playmaker, but he also has the power and pace to be a strike runner. His acceleration around the fringes frightens defenders, and he alternates it with a snappy service and a wickedly accurate kicking game from the base.
This combination of creator and finisher in one package means that the opposition can never afford to take their eyes off him. Last but not least, Genia is reputed to be pound-for-pound the strongest member of the Wallaby squad – freakishly so. He is able to bench-press 400lb (180 kg), well over double his own bodyweight.
If that makes him sound more like Genius than Genia, it sums up why those predicting a comprehensive Lions victory in this series should tread carefully. The Wallabies may not have the depth of international class available to the tourists, but they have world-class match-winners in key positions, and no-one more than their scrum-half.
For the record, Phillips has been on the losing side five times when Wales have played Australia with Genia opposite him, and he has yet to finish on the winning side. That is not quite the psychological barrier it sounds when you take into account that three of those Australian wins were by three points or fewer – but it still means that Genia has the Indian sign on the big Welshman.
Phillips dismissed it when I asked him this week whether Genia’s win-loss ratio over him rankles.
“Not really. It’s a different team now. It’s the Lions and a totally new concept. I’ve been playing well for the last four or five years, and I’m comfortable where I am at with my performances. I’ve got to go out there and deliver again, and that’s what I’m focusing on doing – and, hopefully, being part of a winning side.”
However, Phillips, outstanding for the Lions in South Africa four years ago, keeps his assessment of the Australian scrum-half pretty spare. “He’s a top player, and has played well for a number of years now. He certainly makes them tick – so it’s going to be a good battle, and, if I’m selected, it’s one I’m looking forward to.”
One renowned coach who would not go with Phillips for the opener is Wayne Smith, the 2011 World Cup-winning All Black coach giving Ben Youngs his endorsement.
Smith’s overview is that the Wallaby defence is good enough to resist a route one battering and that despite their size and strength, the Lions will have to be smarter than that to win this series.
Smith says: “Youngs is a great arc runner and quick to clear turnover ball. There is much more zip about his play than the other two halfbacks. Phillips is big and physical but doesn’t get a backline going like Youngs.”

Youngs also has had significant successes against Genia. His winning run started in 2008 when they were on opposite sides when England beat Australia in the U20 World Championships in Newport, and was embellished when Youngs made his first senior start for England, scoring a try in the 21-20 win over Australia in Sydney in 2010.
It continued when Youngs finished top again in England’s 35-18 victory at Twickenham in 2010.
The main positive to come out of this for Lions coach Warren Gatland is that he has two scrum-halves with contrasting styles and skills to combat the Genia threat.
What will make the job easier, whether it’s Phillips or his English rival, is a pack which is expected to put the Australian forwards through the mincer. The concern that I have is that the stereotype of a Wallaby scrum in full retreat, with props buckling left, right and centre, could prove hopelessly out of date.
Australia’s first-choice front row is not to be sneered at. Benn Robinson is a loose-head who has helped to arrest the slide that was turning Australian scrummaging into a laughing stock, and with 56 caps is no soft touch for anyone. He even managed to tough it out against Lions wrecker-in-chief Adam Jones last summer against Wales.
Ben Alexander has also made significant advances and is now a seasoned Test tight-head with 48 caps, and has been spurred on by serious competition from another big unit, Sekope Kepu. Both will fancy their chances against a rookie like Mako Vunipola – and will be delighted that the Lions did not include Andrew Sheridan in the loose-head cavalry called up following the departures of Cian Healy and Gethin Jenkins.
Veteran hooker Stephen Moore (76 caps) completes a hefty, experienced trio, and the word from the Wallaby camp has been that they intend to attack the Lions at their assumed point of strength.
If it is true, as Vunipola suggested in these pages last week, that the Lions have not done much live scrummaging, it could be a costly oversight. Scott Sio, a promising loose-head who has just left the Wallabies camp to return to the Brumbies ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Lions, posted this notice: “In the past it’s been said we don’t quite have the standard at set-piece, but over the years it’s really built up, not only in internationals but in Super Rugby, too. We’re going in with the mentality to win every scrum.”
Sio added: “You’ve always got to think you can get ascendancy at the set-piece. That’s what they build their game around and they’ll come at us very hard. You can’t go into the game thinking, ‘let’s get parity’. You’ve got to go in thinking, ‘let’s really take it to them and try to get some dominance’.”
It is hard to believe, however, that the Lions forwards coach, Graham Rowntree, will allow the Lions scrum to be caught on the hop as they were in Durban four years ago. Vunipola has played out of his skin and deserves his chance and, with Adam Jones and Richard Hibbard or Tom Youngs alongside him, he should be able to hold up at scrum-time as well as contribute mightily around the pitch.
Another crucial area where the Lions selectors have not had a clear reading from the matches so far is in midfield. Some of this has been inevitable because of the lack of top quality opposition, and the shoulder injury to Manu Tuilagi against the Reds also muddied the waters.
What seems clear is that the understanding between Jonathan Sexton at No.10 and Brian O’Driscoll at 13 is a crucial play-making axis. So far, O’Driscoll has merited his place, however, the toll on his body is also apparent in his frequent pit-stops for repairs.
Should Tuilagi recover he could come into contention at 12 given the way he combined slickly with Sexton and O’Driscoll against the Western Force. However, Jonathan Davies is fit, gave a good account of himself against the Reds and Waratahs and has shown such versatility and form that he could take the inside-centre shirt from Jamie Roberts even if Roberts’ leg injury proves less serious than feared.
Irrespective of who partners O’Driscoll, the Irish talisman will be faced with a ferocious tussle of his own with Adam Ashley-Cooper, one of the quickest and most elusive backs in the Southern Hemisphere opposite him. Ashley-Cooper’s credentials suggest that O’Driscoll will have to delve deeply into the bank of experience he has accumulated over 131 Tests to keep him in check.
The biggest selection snag that Gatland faces – as does anyone putting forward a first Test team – is that the lack of competitive opposition gives a false register. The Reds and Waratahs games are the only exception to that, so, excluding players who are currently on the injury list (but who may recover, like Tuilagi), here is my starting XV and bench to play Australia in Brisbane:
Leigh Halfpenny; Alex Cuthbert, Brian O’Driscoll, Jonathan Davies, George North; Jonathan Sexton, Mike Phillips; Mako Vunipola, Tom Youngs, Adam Jones, Paul O’Connell, Alan Wyn Jones, Tom Croft, Toby Faletau, Sam Warburton (capt).
Replacements: Alex Corbisiero, Richard Hibbard, Dan Cole, Richie Gray, Justin Tipuric, Ben Youngs, Owen Farrell, Sean  Maitland.
Whatever the 23 selected, Phillips says the 2013 Lions have a stronger Test side and squad than in 2009: “You look at the Leinster side – they’ve won three European Cups since – and the players from four years ago have improved.
“The Welsh lads have won Grand Slams and Championships and been involved in big World Cup games. So everybody has developed, moved on and got better and stronger and more experienced.
“And with the likes of Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell we have some legends there to add their influence. It’s looking like a good squad – but we have to go out there and make sure it’s a winning squad.”
Part of that will be being confident in Brisbane, but not overconfident.