"It's do or die. These guys are a little bit hurt with the manner of the defeat...and we'll see what they're made of this week."
The Lions go into tomorrow's second test against New Zealand fully aware of their brief: win or the Series is lost. After a disappointing 30-15 reversal against the All Blacks last Saturday, Warren Gatland's side are now in must-win territory. Speaking to the media after the Captain's Run, defence coach Andy Farrell says they've learned a lot from the defeat;
"It's been great (this week) A lot more time than normal to review and to put to bed the first test and get the learnings out of that and move onto this one. You can see in the boys a real ownership in what they want to achieve and they've led that very well."
Perhaps somewhat bowing to pressure, the Lions' management team have made significant changes to the squad who go out on Saturday with the weight of four nations on their shoulders. Peter O'Mahony, who captained the side in the Test defeat, drops out entirely from the matchday 23. His place in the backrow is taken by Tour captain Sam Warburton, while Mario Itoje replaces clubmate George Kruis in the second row.
23 players. One huge match.
— British&Irish Lions (@lionsofficial) June 29, 2017
ICYMI: Your Lions team for the second Test is... #NZLvBIL details 👉 https://t.co/C4wo734l5S #LionsNZ2017 pic.twitter.com/7pRIwcrJQI
Perhaps the biggest change, and risk, comes in the midfield axis. Jonny Sexton takes the 10 jersey, while Owen Farrell shifts into centre at the expense of the unfortunate Ben Te'o. Despite their lack of game time together on tour, defence coach Andy Farrell says the pairing are working well together;
"It's been seamless. There's a lot made of the axis... But it's about the bigger picture, it's about the team. It's about having another experienced voice, and eyes and ears out there."
The must win clash gets underway at 8:35am on Saturday 1st July in Wellington.
"We've talked about it all week that this is the biggest game of our lives"#NZLvBIL #LionsNZ2017 #AllForOne pic.twitter.com/SD1zCxlZWD
— British&Irish Lions (@lionsofficial) June 30, 2017
