I thought that this week I would try to give my opinion on some key elements of how the sides play. I haven’t spent hours analysing games and it is pretty assumptive to think all New Zealand sides play the same, but I have put down my impressions on what I have seen. I have no doubt that others would dispute my views, and that’s fine but here goes.

It looks to me as if New Zealand sides look to get the ball wider, quickly while the Lions wrap forwards around the corner and use this to commit the opposition in defence to create gaps that they can exploit.

The Lions tactic is more of a collective effort to create that space with successive waves of forwards carrying ball, New Zealand sides prefer to allow their players to take on the opposition one-to-one in the wider channels, relying on individual skills to get the points. Interestingly it is often New Zealand forwards who are positioned out wide showcasing their fantastic ball handling. It happens too often to be a mistake so that must be part of their game plan.

The Lions “screen” more than New Zealand sides, this involves putting runners in front of the players you want to pass to as decoys and pulling the ball back behind them. This can be very effective and is a regular feature in Premiership games but it does put you further behind the gain line and at a disadvantage if the defence can get to your players and tackle them before they have made any ground.

New Zealand sides play to a structure , just a different structure from the Lions. They don’t just rely on individuality, their game is about making sure every individual understands their role and can perform it. Generally speaking if their 10 is under pressure then they don’t try to force things and have no problems with kicking long from their own half and relying on their defence to put pressure on the opposition.

This is interesting, we often talk about New Zealand sides attacking capabilities but an integral part of this is how well they defend without the ball to put pressure on the opposition and challenge their skills and decision-making to hold up. For me this must indicate a significant amount of training time working on defensive structures, so while most people are dazzled by their attacking brilliance they have a great defence as well.

In the last 3 games the Lions have enjoyed a greater share of possession in each game. In my view it is the combination of pragmatic kicking so the Lions have to attack from deep allied to that excellent defence that has made life so difficult for them to break down New Zealand sides down.

Finally I think that New Zealand sides are very clinical and their skills hold up under pressure. When they are in the red zone , they often convert the opportunities into points. They look as if they have a great skill set in both forwards and backs so when a 3 v 1 occurs, they are able to convert regardless of whether forwards or backs are involved. For all the desire to play to a structure plans can often go out of the window once the game starts , so while you would ideally want your best passer to play in the overlap, it is often someone else who finds themselves there. That player needs to be able to perform that passing skill.

All of the above really means nothing. The games have been very close and no-one has taken a pasting so far. The Lions game while, in my view different, can be a winning style and they will be working hard to polish it up. It does appear to me to be more structured and less reliant on traditional handling and running skills but there is more than one way to win a rugby game and at this level, there are no extra points for entertaining the crowd, it’s all about winning.

That’s it for this week , it should be fascinating to see how this tour develops as the Lions search for that winning form.

Webmasters Notes: Thanks Steve! This Saturday's fixture is a delicious one. Armed with Steve's thoughts we'd love to see you up at Tregorrick Park watching the game with us and seeing if he's hit the mark. Doors open at 0745. Breakfast from 0800. Game starts at 0835. Full details HERE