Smash hit

Before moving up the scales and back to the front row, a word about O’Driscoll; he leads the line quite brilliantly in attack but is even better in defence where Shaun Edwards, one guesses, would choose him as the man alongside whom he would take the last stand. It is only a hunch but something tells me O’Driscoll’s season is not destined to peter out. Deep down I have a feeling that he has a part to play in a more dramatic finale in Johannesburg. Maybe that is me getting soft in my old age.

If the series is to go the distance, the show ponies will need some grunt and guts from the pit ponies. Between the prop forwards, Matthew Rees has the toughest task of his life in stopping Bismarck Du Plessis and his props from squeezing the life and series out of the Lions. He will have to scrum with more power than a destabilised Lee Mears managed at the weekend and show a lot more form than he has displayed thus far on the tour.

He did play with some brio coming off the bench – a point the Lions management has made – but that takes us back to the question of whether the Lions improved or the Springboks ran out of steam and leadership.

The Lions will be ready for John Smit to play the full 80. It is imperative that if he and the other veteran South African forwards go the distance they must be stretched beyond their defensive limits. The Lions believe they are fitter than the South Africans and that Wales showed in the autumn that the way to beat them is to keep possession and run the legs off them.

It almost worked in Cardiff and it damn near worked in Durban. But the Springboks will tell you they were tired because of a lack of match practice and sheer end-of-season exhaustion. Again it is a matter of deciding between two wildly differing interpretations of reality.

If the Lions stretch the Springboks it is hard to see how they will check the Lions' midfield. The Springboks had glaring structural problems between 10 and 13 and have trusted the individuals to rectify those problems. In this area of play the money has to be on the Lions.

A school of thought had Ronan O’Gara down to start at ten because of superior tactical kicking but this neglects Stephen Jones’s ability to play on the gain line and find the right time and space to unleash the match-winners in the centre. The decision to plump for the Welshman over the Irishman is further proof of the positive nature of this Lions tour.

The Springboks barely made a line break last week and the Lions missed only three tackles. Rectify the scrum and rolling maul, cut down the penalties and the match is there for the winning.

Then there is the Pretoria factor – home to the nation’s most partisan supporters and high altitude. The ground and atmosphere lifts the Springboks more than Durban does. That’s a major factor in their favour.

I thought the Lions would nick the first Test last week, but would lose in Pretoria. Time to change tack; the Lions did lose but have such a zest and spirit for the series that I believe they could produce one of the great result of their history and win in the Bulls field – or maybe it’s the romantic in me coming out.

Hunches, hopes and dreams ... the stuff of tours, all I do know is that you would be mad to miss what could be an unforgettable game of rugby this Saturday.