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Henshaw braced for backlash from 'massively dangerous' Springboks
By PA
Robbie Henshaw insists the British and Irish Lions are ready for South Africa’s backlash when they attempt to clinch the series against the world champions with a game to spare.
The Lions enter Saturday’s second test at Cape Town Stadium in a position of strength after edging a tense opener 22-17 as they pursue equal footing with the famed tours of 1974 and 1997.
But Henshaw recalls from Ireland’s visit to South Africa in 2016 that the Springboks are highly resilient and he is expecting a ferocious response by opponents fighting to save their series.
“Everyone knows we are in such a great position at the moment and it’s in our hands to go out and back it up,” the Leinster centre said.
“It’s going to be very tough but it would be unbelievable to have it wrapped up in two games.
“South Africa are going to be emotionally driven. After the last game, they were saying that when their backs are to the wall, they’re a dangerous team.
“I know that personally from playing here with Ireland in 2016, when we beat them in the first test and they came back and managed to overturn us to win the series.
“They are massively dangerous and they are going to be well up for it. We need to be ready to match their power and the fire they’re going to bring.
“We are expecting them to come out of the blocks fast and to throw everything at us.”
South Africa led 12-3 at half-time of the first test but fell away after the interval in the face of a spirited Lions fightback.
“There’s a huge onus on us to go out there and back it up. We know that last weekend wasn’t perfect in any sense. It was a real arm-wrestle,” Henshaw said.
“They won the first half and we came back and overturned them but there’s definitely room for improvement on our side.
“We’ll be looking to execute and take our chances when they come and keep the pressure on them. We have to bring the level of our performance up again.”
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I guess the other option would be to start ALB, he's looked good in the 12 so far when he starts and sets up those outside him. But that would mean putting the vice captain on the bench, which is unlikely. Another option would be to drop Reiko to the bench and play Proctor, though he's gone home so that's not going to happen either.
Both of those players just offer more of the soft distribution skills good centres learn from playing their careers there. Unfortunately that's what's lacking with the current combo.
Go to commentsWhatever let's see if this load of waffle is still valid in 2 years time. ABs will rise we have a lot of new talent coming through. The NPC was the highest standard for years. The game is changing to suit the fast pace we like to play. We get to play the Springboks more, including the franchises, which will make us better! Overall I am optimistic. I will add having watched the England game multiple times we made most of the play. England are an awesome physical team, but you can expect the All Blacks to get better and better at executing the chances. It could easily have been 5 tries to one instead of 3 to 1.
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