The Lions players were off duty on Sunday but there was no rest for the coaches. They had a momentous meeting in the diary and it was bound to have dragged on for hours.
The time has come for Warren Gatland and his assistants to make some big decisions. There would have been several pressing items on the agenda, starting with the captaincy.
Alun Wyn Jones appeared to prove in his 26-minute comeback appearance against the Stormers on Saturday that he has already recovered from a dislocated shoulder in just three weeks.
Alun Wyn Jones has recovered superbly and the veteran should be selected and made captain
He didn’t do much but he did enough, just by taking his fair share of contact. There were no signs of discomfort.
The veteran Wales lock has not had enough game-time, of course, but the Lions management will trust the 35-year-old’s judgment, and if he says he is ready to play a Test against the Springboks, they will believe him.
Now he is here, it surely makes sense to pick him to start as captain. Jones is not someone to rush back into the squad just for him to watch from the stand. And he is not someone who would explode off the bench as an impact replacement.
He is a leader and talisman with an aura and presence — a figure capable of inspiring the men around him, engaging well with the officials and antagonising the opposition. He is a risk worth taking next weekend.
The last Lions tour provides a cautionary tale. Peter O’Mahony captained the B side in the series opener and it just wasn’t right. The decision backfired. When Sam Warburton was fit to be reinstated, the Lions came alive.
It is now time for Warren Gatland to choose his British and Irish Lions squad for the first test
For all the talk of leadership groups, the captaincy still matters. Gatland and Co have to get it right this week.
But they have many issues to address and many of them are interlinked. Conor Murray was chosen to deputise for Jones, on the basis that he was a front runner to start the Tests.
But the Irish scrum-half has not appeared to relish the role. His form has been modest at best and he has been upstaged by Ali Price.
The Scot was superb again on Saturday and must start against the Springboks.
There are also other captaincy candidates at hooker but that position has been blown wide open by Luke Cowan-Dickie’s tour de force against the Stormers.
It was one of the standout individual displays of this campaign and prompted a
