So 40 players, who's in?

[Mr Mwenda]

Local rugby clubs organising anything?

[Numbers]

Oops. Bollocks then. The NZ scrum has had at least parity with the home nations more often than not. The perception of weak All Blacks scrums goes back to Stephen Jones basket ball comments and the one 13 man scrum of England pre-2003 WC, it's bOllocks.

The problem is that that isn't what I was saying. I wasn't suggesting that the NZ scrum was especially weak, rather that it isn't used to grind out penalties. NH scrummaging is different not because it's better but because it's seen as an end in and of itself.

Grinding out penalties from scrums won't beat the All Blacks (or the Souper teams, frankly). Modern tests average about 12 scrums a match. There's no way enough of those will be the Lions put in and in kickable position to overcome NZ's average 33 points per test (under Hansen v 3N/6N teams).

It won't win them tests but it will contribute to the scoreline, I don't think anyone thinks the Lions will play wide against a very skillful ABs side, their only chance is to keep it as tight as possible.