by Maro Itoje warned the British and Irish lions not to take the Wallabies lightly when they were trying to “do something special” in the second test in Melbourne.
The Lions hope to seal the series at MCG on Saturday after beating Australian rugby in Brisbane last weekend to take an advance of 1-0 after an excellent performance in the first half.
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These are strong favorites to win in Melbourne and win the Quadrian affair with a game to lose, although it is for a Wallabies backlash after a slow start of the team of Joe Schmidt a week ago.
The return of Will Skelton, a former ITOJE’s -team teammate at Saracens, and Rob Valetini are significant increases for the local team when they were trying to physically correspond to the Lions.
A crowd of 90,000 or more is expected at MCG and Itoje thinks that his team must be ready for both their opposition and the opportunity.
“When you wear this jersey and represent the lions you know, it comes with a huge honor and a sense of responsibility, and we know that we are not playing an ad team.” Underlined Itoje.
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“Wallabies are an appropriate team, I played them last year in the fall [with England] And we lost against them when we were supposed to win. This is a team that can punish you if you don’t get the game correctly.
“When you spend time in Melbourne and you speak to the inhabitants, they hold the MCG with a truly special respect. It is a real opportunity and a privilege for us to play there in what will be an incredible stadium and crowd. If that reaches full capacity, it will certainly be the biggest stadium in which I played. This is something that we are looking to relax.”
The Lions were visited this week by Martin Johnson, who presented the test side with their shirts after having run in two tours.
England Lock Itoje has often saved the best games in the Lions series and the World Cup, with the 30 -year -old young man established as a big game interpreter.
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Although it is its 32nd start of a long season, the lock is ready to leave and admits that matches like this bring another level of it.
“As a professional athlete, the accent is always put on what you do, but not all the games are equal,” said Itoje. “Not all games mean the same thing. And this game, last week, these games are not equal to normal rugby games. They are special. So, of course, there is a higher level of concentration. This requires a higher level of intensity and a higher level of diligence to what you want to do.
“I guess this kind of games is almost the reason why you want to play rugby. You want to play rugby and be one of those huge opportunities maybe a little online danger, but even more the opportunity to do something special, the opportunity to do something that lives in memory for a long time, and to create special memories with your friends and your colleagues and colleagues.”
