The British & Irish Lions step up their preparations for the forthcoming Test series in South Africa with a tricky assignment against Japan on Saturday at Murrayfield.
The Lions haven’t failed to win their opening game of a tour since the last time they played on British soil back in 2005, being held to a 25-25 draw by Argentina.
Warren Gatland’s men are 1/14 favourites to get the ball rolling by seeing off Japan, who are big underdogs at 6/1, but they shouldn’t be underestimated.
Once seen as international whipping boys, the Brave Blossoms have come on leaps and bounds in the last six years, reaching the quarter-finals of their home World Cup in 2019.
They beat Scotland and Ireland on route to the last-eight, so plenty of this Lions squad will know exactly what kind of threat they pose.
Jones Brings Experience to Fresh-Faced Lions
The majority of the Lions squad has spent the last week at a training camp in Jersey with only a few notable absentees and Gatland says he’s been pleased with how the squad has gelled.
However, there are bound to be plenty of teething issues which only emerge when the team gets a taste of competitive action, making the prospect of the Lions covering a handicap set at -18.5 points a daunting prospect at 50/59.
In his two previous tours as head coach, Gatland has certainly shown he knows what he’s doing, guiding the Lions to a series victory in Australia and a draw in New Zealand.
Those performances against the Wallabies and All Blacks are all that have mattered at the end of the day and have masked a few stumbles along the way, particularly in the warm-up games.
The last Lions tour nearly got off to a disastrous start when a jet-lagged side avoided an embarrassing defeat to the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians.
They would go on to lose twice on that tour to the Blues and Highlanders, and Japan are now arguably the equals of those Super Rugby franchises.
Despite naming a 37-man touring party featuring 21 players who have previously pulled on the famous red jersey of the Lions, Gatland has put his faith in new recruits for the tour opener with half of Saturday’s side making their debuts.
Scotland duo Duhan Van Der Merwe and Rory Sutherland have gotten the nod to feature on home soil, while Irish trio Tadhg Beirne, Jack Conan, Bundee Aki and Wales wing Josh Adams are also in from the off.
Aki will partner Robbie Henshaw in an all-Irish midfield, but Gatland has chosen to mix it up when it comes to the other combinations in the side with Conor Murray and Dan Biggar the starting half-back pair.
Beirne, Conan and Justin Tipuric, who has replaced Hamish Watson from the original starting line-up, will form a new-look back-row, while captain Alun Wyn Jones will be joined by Ireland’s Iain Henderson in the second row.
Brave Blossoms Won’t Get Blown Away
That new-look Lions side will be going up against a Japan team featuring many of the stars of their World Cup run.
Head coach Jamie Joseph has selected a squad with a total of 476 Test caps, led by the experienced Michael Leitch and they are a team which knows each other well.
Japan played their first game since their quarter-final loss to South Africa against the Sunwolves on June 14th, a valuable run out for Joseph’s side after a lengthy period of inactivity.
They had to fight hard to see off the former Super Rugby side 32-17 and can be expected to produce better at Murrayfield.
Japan were granted Tier One status last year after stringing together some impressive results and they come into the game having won eight of their last 10 matches, their only losses in that time coming against South Africa.
Their ability to score points quickly and the forecast dry weather in Edinburgh means they should keep be able to keep it close, with Japan +18.5 available at 4/5.
The Lions failed to cover that size of handicap in five of their seven tour matches in 2017 and it could be worth taking Gatland’s men at 11/2 to win by 6-10 points instead.
*All odds correct at time of writing