Stimpson’s was the pick, Back combining cleverly with both wings to open up the initial attacking position, Regan setting the important ruck wide on the left and Catt hitting his full-back with a cut-out pass that might have been measured by the Ordnance Survey.”I still think that our selection meeting will be longer rather than shorter,” McGeechan said last night, clearly meaning every word. Unfortunately for him, his general handiwork at full-back lacked organisation and, with missed tackles creeping in both in close and out wide, the Lions were far more vulnerable at the interval than they need have been.”We defended pretty poorly for a 25-minute spell and you can’t afford to do that when there is such good rugby being played by your opponents,” Ian McGeechan, the Lions’ coach, said. “When we stopped working we looked bloody awful, but I take my hat off to these players for their attitude and their total belief in each other. There were good things as well, especially in the second half.”Bentley, such a force of nature on this tour, started the good things rolling with another of his lung-busters from the backwoods of his own half.
He crossed from right to left, bursting tackles asunder at will, to put Beal in under the posts and when the Northampton wing claimed a second on 56 minutes following some visionary stuff from Will Greenwood and the ubiquitous Back, the visitors were in clear blue waterPaul Treu’s 63rd-minute strike, created by Goosen’s slide-rule grubber to the Lions’ line, raised the Bokke hopes momentarily but last-quarter tries for Stimpson, Beal and Catt spiked the home guns for good. That score was instigated by Bateman and delicately massaged into existence by Wainwright and, of all people, Mark Regan, who delivered the sweetest of passes going left.Tim Stimpson’s magnificent goalkicking was the difference at that point; somehow, Newcastle’s occasional marksman once again kept pace with Neil Jenkins, his great rival for the No 15 shirt in the Tests by banging over nine from 12 for 26 points. Had it not been for the sheer top-of-the- ground speed generated by Catt and those outside him, the Lions’ frailties up front might have been exposed by Dale Santon’s physical pack of mix and match Emergers.Indeed, the South Africans were within a point at the break, the accomplished Warren Brosnihan and the classically equipped Marius Goosen scoring tries to remove the sting from Graham Rowntree’s early rumble to the corner. There was energy from Neil Back, brains from Rob Wainwright, clever hands from Tony Diprose on his first Lions’ performance, pace from Mike Catt and a hat-trick of tries for Nick Beal on the left-wing, but the identities of the genuine Test contenders could be scribbled on the back of a Penny Black.The claims of the hitherto feared England front row were almost certainly sacrificed on the fast-retreating altar of another dodgy scrummaging performance, although the selectors may just fancy Leonard’s vast experience when push comes to shove with the Boks.
Outside him, John Bentley made a significant pitch for a wing place this weekend with a performance full of muscle, passion and character.But those two and, just conceivably, Jeremy Davidson and Jason Leonard aside, it was difficult to imagine too many other names featuring in last night’s all-important selection debate. Allan Bateman, competing manfully but unenviably against Jeremy Guscott for a place in the only side that now matters – the one to play South Africa in Cape Town on Saturday – offered as complete an interpretation of the outside centre’s art as is likely to be seen on this trip and he may yet feature prominently in the series. Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Mary Pierce are drawn to meet in the fourth round. In the opening round, the Spaniard plays Britain’s Clare Wood, and Pierce must account for Belgium’s Dominique Van Roost, who made such a good impression at the Australian Open.Jana Novotna, the No 3 seed, appears nicely placed to make progress in Monica Seles’s half. Seles, seeded to play Hingis in the final, has an opening match against Australia’s Rachel McQuillan.As to the other teenagers, Anna Kournikova meets Chanda Rubin, the marathon woman, and Venus Williams is a possible third-round opponent for Amanda Coetzer, who capitalised on Steffi Graf’s errors in Paris.. Emerging Springboks 22 British Isles 51
The Lions’ proud all for one and one for all approach to beating the Springboks may still be official policy, but their equally democratic strategy of avoiding a split between the Test XV and the midweek journeymen no longer stacks up.
It seems harsh to say so, for the tourists were never in much danger of meeting their Waterloo in Wellington yesterday, but most of the participants had such a clear stamp of the dirt-tracker about them that motorcycle scrambling might now be an option.
There were notable exceptions. Indeed, Chang might have difficulty advancing beyond a first round match against another Aussie, Todd Woodbridge.Martina Hingis, the women’s world No 1, opens against a qualifier and is projected to meet the big-serving Brenda Schultz-McCarthy in the fourth round and the powerful Lindsay Davenport in the quarters.Iva Majoli, who defeated Hingis in the French Open final, could play the 16-year-old Swiss in the semi-finals here. Whatever Stich achieves this time, he intends to bid auf wiedersehen to the championships.If Andre Agassi decides to make an appearance he will play Spain’s Carlos Moya, a finalist at the Australian Open.Pete Sampras, who might well be facing Boris Becker in the quarters, opens against Michael Tillstrom, who brought his fellow Swede Stefan Edberg’s Wimbledon career to a close in the second round last year.Michael Chang, No 2 in the world but demoted to fifth seed, will do well to make it to a possible fourth-round match against Australia’s Pat Rafter. Britain’s Jamie Delgado is a possible second-round opponent for Henman, who 12 months ago became the nation’s first man to reach the last eight since Roger Taylor in 1973. Thomas Muster or Gustavo Kuerten, the French Open champion, are the other seeds in Henman’s quarter. Muster opens against Britain’s Chris Wilkinson.As cruel draws go, the first-round match between Germany’s Michael Stich, the 1991 champion, and Jim Courier, the runner-up in 1993, takes some beating. “There are a lot of matches you would have chosen before that one,” he said “It could have been an easier draw, but it works both ways.
It’s tough for him as well.”He added: “If you’re going to do well at Wimbledon, you have to play these guys sometime. It’s probably better to play them on the first day, when the court is lusher.”Last year, Rusedski defeated Canada’s Daniel Nestor in the first round, so he might be able to pass on a few tips to Tim Henman, the British No 1, who has drawn Nestor on this occasion.Henman, the No 14 seed, is in Ivanisevic’s half of the draw and is projected to meet Richard Krajicek, the defending champion, in the fourth round. Bear in mind, though, that if they do meet at the All England Club the pyrotechnics will be scheduled to continue for at least three sets.Rusedski, who came within the width of the net-cord tape of defeating Ivanisevic in the semi-finals at Queen’s before losing in a tie-break, 20-18, was certainly not despondent after learning that he had drawn Philippoussis. The BBC, however, will no doubt have opportunities to put the captions to further use throughout the fortnight, particularly since Philippoussis, seeded No 7, is projected to play Goran Ivanisevic, the No 2 seed, in the quarter-finals.Witnesses to the bombardment when the 20-year-old overpowered Ivanisevic to win the Stella Artois title at Queen’s Club last Sunday will know what to expect.
