Saturday morning is the as big a contest as you're going to get in rugby, as the All Blacks and the Lions play out the final match of the tour, with the results evenly balanced. The red card in last weeks encounter was a crucial moment, providing the Lions with a opportunity to level the series, which even then was hard enough to do.
It's an incredibly tough task to beat the All Blacks because they are completely obsessed with winning. That's on top of having the best coach in the world right now, and a good handful of the best players, with skills at a level that the rest of the world aspire to. They have a huge pool of players to draw upon, but can't quite help themselves hoovering up talent from the islands around them - I've had them called the All Pacific Islanders before which is a tad harsh, but Fekitoa and Naholo are examples of that in the current squads. And while they play a brilliant tactical game of quick rucks and amazing running lines, they're not shy of improving their odds by any means necessary - targeting Connor Murray in the first test for instance, until the attention on that stopped them in the second test. The pressure on the players and coach is immense - Steve Hansen's face is a study in extreme stress for every test. You're not just threatening to beat them, you're threatening to diminish their masculinity...lower their status...take away their mana.
So the 23 men selected again to represent the Lions are going to have to come up with a perfect 80 minute performance if they are going to overturn all of that. No change is a good thing to me, when you've moulded together players from four countries (well three mainly, sorry Scotland!) you want to chop and change as little as possible. I would have probably started with Jack McGrath myself, but then do you want Vunipola running around doing his stuff in the last 20 minutes with the match hopefully still in balance? Alun Wyn Jones will become the first player to feature in every Test on three consecutive Lions tours since the game turned professional in 1995. Four Leinster players, two from Munster - but they're a team now, no clubs, no countries, with a unique opportunity for players like Murray, Itoje, Edwards and the rest to shine.
The All Balcks are going for it with their selection, Laumape and Jordie Barrett have two caps between them, they're taking risks to get the result. Across the board, they have power, skill, excellence. It's cap no 100 for captain Kieran Read too.
I can't wait, and I can't help thinking there is going to be a final twist in the tale, a moment of magic from one of the Lions to open New Zealand up, and bring home the series win!
British & Irish Lions: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sean O’Brien, 6 Sam Warburton (c), 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 CJ Stander, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Ben Te’o, 23 Jack Nowell
New Zealand: 15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Joe Moody
Replacements: 16 Nathan Harris, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Scott Barrett, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Malakai Fekitoa
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