Any assessment of the Lions prospects of winning the 2021 tour of South Africa has to include an appraisal of their counter-attacking ability at full-back.
South African pitches are usually hard tracks that put a premium on the line-breaking threat of the full-back as the fulcrum of the back three. The other crucial component is that the 15 is the aerial commander-in-chief, both in defence and attack, whose ability to win the ball in the air – or to hoover up anything that bounces – is critical against a team that relies on kick-and-chase pressure as much as the Springboks.
Warren Gatland has three seasoned Lions full-backs to call on in Liam Williams, Leigh Halfpenny and Stuart Hogg.
Williams was outstanding as the Test full-back throughout the 2017 drawn series against New Zealand. The wonder try that Williams sparked in the opening Test against the All Blacks, when he swept up a kick and jinked past two defenders in his own 22 before cutting through to the halfway line was a case in point. His flair was rewarded when Elliot Daly and Jonathan Davies put Sean O’Brien over for the best try of the series – and it is exactly what the Lions will want more of in South Africa.
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