We’ll have to earn everything we get, says Lions coach

Vodafone Wellington rugby coach Jamie Joseph believes his side will have to earn everything they get in their defence of the Ranfurly Shield against Wairarapa-Bush at Memorial Park, Masterton, tomorrow.
Joseph expects Wairarapa-Bush to come out firing on all cylinders and to pose a good test for a Wellington team largely consisting of academy and club players.
"We're not listening to all the stories about how we should win by plenty, we know it's going to be a lot harder than that," Joseph said. "They (Wairarapa-Bush) have everything to gain and nothing to lose and you can bet they won't be shy at having a decent crack at us."
Joseph is a "little concerned" too that at the effect 'flu is going to have on his team as a number of the players named for tomorrow have been laid low by the bug in recent days.
He was still optimistic yesterday the starting XV would not have to be altered but was quick to add things could change over the next 24hrs or so "Right now we've got two or three players who are struggling a bit and we will be monitoring them pretty closely," he said.
Joseph sees the trip to Masterton as being an ideal opportunity to test the current depth of rugby in Wellington and, to that end, the selection of just the one Hurricane Super 14 player in the starting XV, wing David Smith, was deliberate policy.
"What we are doing is asking our promising players to show us they are capable of taking the step up to Shield rugby and it will be interesting to see how they respond," he said. " No doubt there will be a bit of nervousness around but that's not a bad thing."
Tactically, Joseph is keen for Wellington to play an expansive style of rugby but at the same time he wants them to remain structured and organised.
"We're not wanting any airy-fairy stuff, we want to start by doing the basics well and going from there," he said. "The emphasis will be very much on playing as a team, not as a group of individuals."