Lions selection: It is risk and reward
The question of whether to rest your key players – in this case an entire first-choice XV – will always elicit strong debate and red-blooded emotions.
And despite the possibility of losing their first place on the Super Rugby rankings, should they come up short against the Jaguares in their final league match on Saturday, they believe the reward outweighs the risk.
Even though the matter had been debated to death in the days leading up to Tuesday's team announcement, the decision to send a 'B-Team' to Buenos Aires still provoked gasps of surprise.
However, Lions assistant coach Swys de Bruin, speaking to rugby365 ahead of the team's departure to Argentina on Wednesday, said having a 'rested' and 'fit' squad for the start of the play-offs next week outweighs the risk of conceding first place on the table.
Should the Lions win against the unpredictable and often erratic Jaguares team on Saturday, they will earn the right to host every game through to the Final – should they advance that far.
Defeat will see them finish second to whichever New Zealand team wins the Kiwi conference.
"However, now, if we win on Saturday, we will have a well-rested squad going into the play-offs," De Bruin told rugby365, adding: "It is a much-better situation for us to be in.
"Even if we lose, we won't finish lower than second, which means we have a home quarterfinal and semifinal.
"The reality is that our [eight] Springboks were away for a month [in June] and we have pushed them very hard," the Lions' assistant said, adding that another group of players were also away with the South Africa A Team.
"If we lose [on Saturday] we will get stick. If we had opted to play our frontline players and lost, we would have been given stick.
"I have learnt this lesson, during my days at Griquas and the Sharks, if you lose you get stick.
"If you listen to what some 'experts' say, then they differ so markedly. Depending on the result, the one will say: 'I told you so' and the other will say: 'Bad luck'.
"It is an absolute catch 22 situation.
"We simply have to do what we feel and trust is the best for our [the Lions'] situation.
"If we did not travel, we would not have even considered the option of resting players.
"I know from experience what travelling does to you – it is a mission."
De Bruin said they trust their squad system and have been rotating through the years, when people said they should not rotate.
"A few years ago we played a B team in a friendly against the Sharks that really upset them, but then beat the Cheetahs away.
"Our confidence grew from that.
"In the Currie Cup we almost made a huge mistake when we played a B team against Griquas."
Those are the risks and the rewards.
The Lions believe they will reap the rewards in the play-offs.
By Jan de Koning
@King365ed
@rugby365com
