Hogg Can Finally Show His Lions Credentials
The Rugby Paper|June 28, 2020
Nick Cain looks at the contenders for each position
Nick Cain
Hogg Can Finally Show His Lions Credentials

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.

This story is from the June 28, 2020 edition of The Rugby Paper.

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This story is from the June 28, 2020 edition of The Rugby Paper.

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