Spinning it all the way around NZ

Remember the fairy tale Pinocchio?
You know the one about the puppet whose nose grew every time he told a porker.
Well, Lions rugby coach Sir Clive Woodward is lucky he's not burdened with the same problem.
Otherwise he'd be ashamed to look himself in the mirror?.if he could get close enough to do that, of course.
Woodward just had to be stretching the truth in his comments made after the Lions had struggled to beat a patched-up Otago side at Carisbrook on Saturday night.
He's obviously an intelligent man but who was he trying to kid when he lauded the effort and talked about the feeling he had that "something special" from the Lions was in the wind.
To me it was spin of the worst kind.
If you are going to talk lavishly about something at least do it at a time when those you are trying to convince haven't seen for themselves an entirely different story.
Yes, the win over Otago was an improved effort by the Lions.
But when you consider their struggles against Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, the New Zealand Maori and Wellington that was hardly surprising, was it?
What Woodward conveniently forgot to mention, however, was that for what already seems like the umpteenth time on tour the Lions backs were missing in action.
As an attacking unit they offered absolutely nothing and it was just as well for their side that the forwards, especially the tight five, wreaked enough havoc to give their team a winning advantage.
An advantage which was always likely to happen with All Blacks Oliver and Ryan missing from the opposing eight.
It mystifies me how Woodward, or anybody else for that matter, could see that win over Otago as good news for the Lions leading into the first test against the All Blacks in Christchurch this coming weekend.
All the portents are that very few, if any, of the Lions team who played at Carisbrook will be required for test duty.
And if that is the case then how did it help the Lion's test chances one iota.
I suppose it might given their confidence a boost but surely those who take the field in Christchurch will be acutely aware that the opposition there will be considerably stronger than what the "dirt trackers" struck in Dunedin.
Indeed the gloss being put on the latest victory could have a negative effect from a mental viewpoint as it will have made the first stringers even more aware that any slips up in the first test and their chances of playing again on tour could be down the gurgler.
I mean when you have a thousand players on tour-well, not quite that many- the temptation to chop and change when things aren't going well must be all the greater, mustn't it?
Having said all that, I do believe that if the Lions are to fluke a test win it will come at Christchurch.
For the life of me I can't understand why the All Blacks didn't play a full strength side against Fiji just so as to get combinations gelling.And by not allowing their players to turn out for provincial teams they have deprived them of valuable match practice as well.
So in the first test at least the All Blacks are vulnerable and the many pundits who are already touring a 3-0 whitewash might be wise to keep their money in their pockets until that one is out of the way.