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Tommy Bowe wants the British
and Irish Lions to batter Australia into submission at ANZ Stadium, drawing on
the pain of past failures to triumph in tomorrow’s series decider.
Head coach Warren Gatland
has picked his most powerful team for the final Test, with four of the six new
arrivals — Jamie Roberts, Toby Faletau, Mike Phillips and Sean O’Brien —
leading the physical assault on the Wallabies.
The Lions have lost every
series since South Africa in 1997 and Bowe, a veteran of the epic struggle
against the Springboks four years ago, insists the recent history of heroic
failures must be addressed.
“Last week we did so much
defending. We were on the back foot an awful lot and when we had the ball we
kicked it away. If we can play rugby tomorrow we can do a lot of damage,
certainly with a lot of the players we’ve got in this team. There are huge ball
carriers there.
“If we can hold on to the
ball, keep battering over the top of the Aussies, hopefully it will cause a bit
of damage. There’s a huge amount of emotion in the squad at the minute. We
realise that it’s 16 years since we last won a Lions series.
“The disappointment of
losing out to a try in the last six minutes of the second Test in Melbourne was
heartbreaking. We’ve taken a lot from that, we’ve regrouped and we’ll leave
everything out on the pitch tomorrow.”
Outside of Clive Woodward’s
abysmal 2005 tour to New Zealand, since 1997 the Lions have made a habit of
falling agonisingly short having given everything to the cause.
That scenario unfolded four
years ago when Morne Steyn landed a penalty with the last kick of the game to
give South Africa a series-clinching 28-25 victory in the second Test.
Fast forward to 2013 and the
margins have been even finer, with the Lions winning the first Test 23-21 and
losing the second 16-15, with last-ditch penalties almost altering the result
in both games.
“I just remember the
disappointment of it all in 2009. I remember the disappointment of the second
Test when we lost to that last kick. I just hope it doesn’t come down to that
again,” Bowe said.
“The first two Tests against
Australia have been really close, neck and neck stuff. Everybody will be giving
everything tomorrow. We know exactly what we need to do and we want to play
some rugby.
“We were a little bit
passive last weekend, we let Australia take the game to us and we need to
reverse that tomorrow.”