British and Irish Lions hold no surprises for Robbie Deans

Sydney: Australia coach Robbie Deans was unsurprised by the British and Irish Lions squad selection and expects the tourists to play to traditional northern hemisphere strengths of power and tactical kicking in three Tests that will give his players the “ultimate rugby experience”.

In return, Deans promised a distinct gameplan for his Wallabies and expects to be able to call on 110-cap flanker George Smith as well as troubled back Kurtley Beale to take on the tourists in the series in June and July.

New Zealander Deans also looks likely to employ the power and pace of code-hopping fullback Israel Folau after describing the former rugby league international as a potential “legend” in union.

As for the Lions, Deans said he had expected compatriot Warren Gatland to pick a hefty core of Welshmen in his squad — there were 15 named — particularly after their 30-3 hammering of England in the last match of the Six Nations.

“I guess when you name a squad of that size, there’s never going to be too many surprises,” Deans told a news conference at the Sydney Football Stadium.

“They’ve gone back to what they know, which is no great surprise.

“They’ll play to their strengths, it’ll be very much gain-line orientated and if they get past that they might try to play a bit, but I don’t think they’ll play a lot behind it.”

Deans said he did not think the selection of just two specialist flyhalves in Jonny Sexton and Owen Farrell was a risk and expected Jonny Wilkinson to be on the first flight to Australia should either suffer an injury.

“They know they’ve got a great backstop ready to go,” he said of England’s 2003 World Cup hero.

The versatile Beale, who ended last year as Wallabies flyhalf, returned to practice with the Melbourne Rebels this week after being suspended indefinitely for punching two teammates in late March.

“He’s very good,” said Deans. “I think the light’s come on for him, so to speak. I spoke to him last night, he’s going through some routines dealing with the history and by all accounts it’s going well.

“The critical thing is Kurtley dealing with life, not whether he plays a test match or not. If he deals with that, he’ll deal with (playing) easily, what he does in-game he does instinctively.”