‘Hungry Lions prepare to storm MCG on day they’ve dreamed of’

Second Test match between Australia and the British and Irish Lions

Melbourne Cricket Ground Date: Saturday, July 26 Kick-off: 11:00 BST

Maro Itoje might want to ask his second-row partner Ollie Chessum to address the crowd briefly before Saturday’s kick-off at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

You can only imagine the power of Chessum’s words in the dressing room minutes before the Lions head into the MCG in front of an anticipated crowd of 90, 000 if he can sputter on the battle fever when speaking to journalists in a room in a school in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne on Thursday.

“This is everything international rugby is all about”, said Chessum of the Lions ‘ bid to win the series on Saturday.

“You have to walk toward it because if you don’t, you’ll be found out pretty quickly,” the saying goes. “Physicality goes up through the roof, the intensity goes up through the roof, the game speed goes up through the roof.

We’re only a few days away, but I’m chomping at the bit to get into it. “So I’m not quite ready and ready to go.

And he went on:” You have to]embrace the magnitude of the occasion] because this is everything you have ever dreamt of. If you didn’t, you would be making a long-term repercussion.

Everyone wants to be on the biggest stage with the chance to win a Lions series at the MCG in front of our families, and I can’t say that for everyone, despite my reasonable suspicions that I can. There’s nothing better. I’m anticipating it in all its splendor.

You could tell Andy Farrell was overreached a little on Thursday, but you could tell where he was coming from. The coach said that his boys were bidding for history on Saturday as the only Lions team to win back-to-back series in the same country, 2013 and possibly 2025. He made a mistake. It has been done before, but it is uncommon.

A better way of presenting it is that they are bidding to become only the second Lions team to go 2-0 up in a series in 28 years, only the third to do it in 51 years and only the seventh ever since this glorious thing started in 1888.

The Lions most recently won the series’ first two Tests during their 1997 “Everest” tour. The captain, then, Martin Johnson, may have been a coincidence when the team was given the jerseys on Thursday night in Melbourne.

Four of Farrell’s starting line-up on Saturday were not born back then (Chessum, Tom Curry, Tommy Freeman and Dan Sheehan), two of them were a year old (Andrew Porter and Hugo Keenan), Itoje was two, Huw Jones was three, Finn Russell was four and a handful of them were five. At age seven, Burundee Aki was the oldest.

They find 1997 to be a strange place. Since then, after two Tests it has been 1-1 against Australia, 2-0 to the All Blacks, 2-0 to the Springboks, 1-1 against the Wallabies, 1-1 against New Zealand and 1-1 against South Africa.

We will enter a territory unlike anything we’ve seen in close to three decades if the Lions live up to their billing of screeching hot favorites at the MCG.

All of this has a huge caveat in it. If we are examining the scale of the achievement if the Lions were to pull it off then you have to measure the quality of the opponent.

The Wallabies’ case is then.

Their backs are firmly pressed against the wall. They have spent the week hearing how their forwards were bullied for 50 minutes in Brisbane. They appear to have a lot of pride and a strong case to support. There must be an improvement in aggression unless they are completely dead inside.

To that end, they have brought back lock Will Skelton, an unfeasibly large human, and back row Rob Valetini, their best player over the past two years. Also appearing is Hooker Dave Porecki. In consequence, they ought to have a better line-out.

But for every point you might make about how the Wallabies could push the Lions all the way, there is a counterpoint which says they will not.

Valetini hasn’t played since June 14th, and Skelton hasn’t since played rugby since June 7. Since the end of May, Porecki has played 27 minutes.

Of Australia’s past 12 games, eight have been lost. Only three victories (Argentina, England, and Fiji) have come by five or fewer points. Scotland won by 14 points, New Zealand by 20, South Africa by 18 and 26 and Argentina by 40, respectively.

There is a 95% chance of rain on Saturday night in Melbourne. If the conditions are as predicted, the Lions forwards could win if the situation turned out to be more difficult.

A strong Lions team here. The pity is that they are not playing South Africa or New Zealand just so we could get a proper gauge on how good they actually are. They are formidable based on their first 50 victories against the Wallabies. Considering their final 30 points, which they lost their momentum with such a massive lead, were nothing more than formidable.

Naturally, the preamble contains a lot of information.

The Garry Ringrose story is a sickener. After suffering from a brain injury on Thursday, the center’s selfless and mature persona took himself out of the team.

He was likely denied entry to the first Test by a similar brain injury. It is completely chilling that Ringrose, having passed all his HIA tests across 12 days, having come through a game on Tuesday and recovery on Wednesday, did not feel right again on Thursday.

Concussions occur in the most ominous ways. Any test can be beaten by it. It can deceive any doctor. Ringrose called it knowing that the player might never get a chance to play a Test for the Lions, but only the player is aware of whether or not he is okay.

There is no doubt about next Saturday. He is 30 – young enough to still be world class in four years ‘ time but with a record of head injuries, you have to wonder.

Huw Jones was then abruptly reinstated after being dropped. Knowing that he was so close to losing his spot, will it hurt his confidence? Hardly. These men don’t necessarily believe that. You see, he will simply be fired up to the highest heavens as a result.

No such reprieve for Sione Tuipulotu, who was bizarrely and unfairly dropped when the team was named internally on Wednesday and who then suffered a tight hamstring on Thursday.

Farrell has some muscle on the bench if things get squishy. The replacements did not do a whole lot last weekend, but Ellis Genge, James Ryan (Scott Cummings might feel aggrieved) and Jac Morgan are all capable of upping the ante with their attrition.

Owen Farrell has the leadership and savviness, while Blair Kinghorn has the class. It’s currently irrelevant whether you believe he should be there. He is in the squad and he has to deliver.

They all act. It’s important to win on Saturday week and make it 3-0. Emphatic as you like. historical .

However, the MCG still needs to do a lot before they start considering pantheons and landslides.

If the Lions are all that they can be, then they will win and should win well, regardless of whatever fire and brimstone might be thrown at them.

Itoje remarked, “These games are the reason you want to play rugby.” You want to participate in these significant events with a small amount of risk. The opportunity to do something special, the opportunity to do something that lives long in the memory.

There is a higher level of concentration given the game’s size. Although not all professional sports are equal, there is constant focus on what you do as an athlete. Not all games mean the same thing. And these games, as we saw last week, are not comparable to regular rugby games.

There is a MCG waiting. The grandest stage in the land and the biggest crowd in Lions history.

Chessum continued, “Maro told us that what we produced last Saturday won’t be good enough this Saturday.” We’ll have to front up and take on the whole beast that is coming our way.