Hurricanes – B&I Lions

The British & Irish Lions will continue their New Zealand tour with a midweek test against the Hurricanes in Wellington, hoping for a bounce back win after losing against the All Blacks over the weekend. The Game will take place at 07:35 GMT on Tuesday morning.

The Hurricanes are one of New Zealand’s best domestic club teams, being rated as the 2nd overall favorite to win the 2017 Super Rugby Season. Hurricanes have amassed a record of 10 wins and 3 losses in the competitions so far, playing offensive and entertaining rugby. The hosts will be buoyed of getting back 4 of their International players for this match – however, Ardie Savea, Perenara and Barrett have not been released by the All Blacks and will miss out.

The Lions haven`t looked particularly great in this tour so far. Early matches showed a lot of problems with chemistry, which was to be expected by a team composed from the best players from 4 different Nations (England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland). The visitors did increase their level in the last couple of weeks, with two big wins against the Maori All Blacks and against the Chiefs, but it all came crashing down last Saturday as they were outplayed in their first match against New Zealand – losing 15-30 and being lucky not to lose by 20+ points.

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Team news & lineups:

The Hurricanes will have a strong lineup with 4 players released back to them by the All Blacks team. However, they will be without 3 of their best players (Savea, Perenara, Barrett), who remained with the NZ squad. As for the Lions, they will change the entire lineup that lost to New Zealand, giving chances to some other players from their large squad.

Hurricanes: 15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 13 Vince Aso, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Otere Black, 9 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 8 Brad Shields (c), 7 Callum Gibbins, 6 Vaea Fifita, 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Mark Abbott, 3 Jeff To’omaga-Allen, 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 1 Ben May

British & Irish Lions: 15 Jack Nowell, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 George North, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 James Haskell, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Joe Marler

Even if the Lions will rest many of their first choice players and will virtually field a mix of their “B” and “C” squad, this is still a very strong team – as they have a ton of depth. They shouldn`t lose too much strength despite the changes.

For the Hurricanes however it will be very difficult to compensate the absences of Barrett, Perenara and Ardie Savea. These are some of the best players in the world, absolute backbones of the team, and their absences hit Hurricanes in very important areas of the pich.

Barrett is arguably the best player in the world and the entire Hurricanes game is built on his playmaking ability. And that game starts from Perenara making the first pass as a scrum half. Losing this combo of world class players will be hard to deal with for the Hurricanes.

The Lions did show improvement in terms of chemistry and playing relations as this tour went on. While that might not be enough to challenge the mighty All Blacks, it should be enough to take care of New Zealand’s club teams – especially when they miss 3 crucial players, like it`s the case for the Hurricanes. Just last week The Lions beat the Chiefs (also without key players) by 28 points. While the Hurricanes are a bit better and miss less player than the Chiefs, it`s not by much.

I can see the British & Lions winning this. The players who will take the field will be relatively fresh after not playing so much in this tour, and will be motivated to to a good job in order to snatch a spot in the lineup that will play Game 2 against New Zealand next weekend.

My tip is a British & Irish Lions win, I reckon the bet makes a lot of sense even if other punters disagree and are pushing the odds up. Lions should take advantage of Hurricanes being depleted in the playmaking department and take control of the game, imposing a slower kicking game, making it physical – which should be the key in this match and earn them the win. Prediction: Hurricanes – British & Irish Lions 21 – 26.

Pick: British&Irish Lions
Odds: 1.70 @ Unibet
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 5.60
Event date: 27 June