Maro Itoje urges Lions' first-choice team to deliver against Brumbies

With the first Test next week now would be a perfect time to issue an emphatic statement

A verdict has finally been reached in the "mushroom murder" trial that gripped Australia, but the jury is still out on the touring Lions. With the first Test next week, now would be a perfect time to issue an emphatic statement and the captain, Maro Itoje, is urging his well-stacked team to do exactly that.

There have been glimpses of some highly effective Lions combinations at various stages on their travels, even in defeat to Argentina in Dublin when their attacking shape showed initial promise. What has held them back, aside from every Lions squad's perpetual search for cohesion, has been an occasional tendency to play too laterally rather than going route one and blowing the front door off its hinges.