Maro Itoje at disruptive best for Lions after fearing his spot was at risk

Times

9 hours ago

'He played all right, didn't he?' As he spoke, Andy Farrell nodded towards the man to his left. Maro Itoje's performance in an eight-try 52-12 victory over Queensland Reds had just put to bed any notion that the British & Irish Lions may go into the first Test against Australia without their captain in the second row. If those thoughts had not crept into your mind, they had certainly begun to formulate in Itoje's.
Farrell, the head coach, had replaced Itoje with 11 minutes remaining of the Lions' defeat by Argentina in Dublin, when they were striving for a try to win the game. That was a fairly remarkable occurrence in itself given that Itoje's average match time over the past two years is above 76 minutes. Itoje was then rested for the first game on tour, when Joe McCarthy delivered a bold and bristling second-row performance in a 54-8 victory over Western Force.
It would be unprecedented should Farrell omit Itoje from the first Test starting XV. Mike Campbell-Lamerton gave up his place in the team in 1966 but it is believed that no coach has dropped or omitted the captain from Lions Tests on the grounds of form. Driven by his own lofty standards and inspired by McCarthy's display in Perth, Itoje was determined not to become the first.
The 30-year-old delivered a trademark disruptive performance in Brisbane, scrapping and competing for everything; carrying hard, winning turnovers, snaring intercepts, stealing lineouts and making 18 carries. He even bagged a try as the Lions scored eight and hit a half-century of points for the second time in five days.
'The whole point of these tours is you're with great players, and you see great players performing well, and it gives you extra motivation to perform well,' Itoje said.
'I guess, despite my role as captain, I know that if I'm not playing well, then it doesn't matter if I'm captain or not, I won't be in the team, so I need to make sure that my performance is where it needs to be.
'I want everyone to play well, all of my team-mates. Our job as players is, one, to work together, and that's really important, and two, to make all the coaches' jobs as hard as possible when it comes to picking the team.'
That pressure to perform was not limited to Itoje. Jac Morgan had not torn up trees in the Argentina match either and here was his second opportunity to start a Lions game. There is a high chance the Lions will select Ollie Chessum or Tadhg Beirne at blind-side flanker, to reinforce the lineout and add beef to the pack, leaving Morgan potentially in competition with Josh van der Flier and Tom Curry for the No7 jersey.
The sole remaining Welshman on tour responded positively to the challenge, winning three jackal turnovers, making 21 tackles and demonstrating that he can also be a powerful carrier; an attacking role he rarely gets a chance to play for his country because Wales are usually going backwards.
'Do you know what I thought was pretty pleasing? When you play your first game and you're dying for another one to come around, I was pretty impressed with most of those players who had a second chance today,' Farrell said. 'That's exactly what we want to see, a reaction.
'Maro was obviously one of them. I thought Jac Morgan was everywhere. Bundee [Aki] was a lot better, Jack Conan looked strong. That's exactly what we want. The competition for places has started and there's reactions all over the place. Long may that continue.'
Farrell had hoped that Jamison Gibson-Park and Finn Russell, starting in the half backs for the first time on the back of a walkthrough and one training run, would deliver some 'all-singing, all-dancing rugby'. They combined well, with England's Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith operating as excellent understudies off the bench. Those two units look set now for the first Test on July 19.
When the Lions get it right in attack, they are devilishly difficult to stop because of their power, their running angles and the lateness of their passing. Elliot Daly supplied a lovely assist for Tommy Freeman's first try, after some delicious handling in midfield had helped the Lions to get outside the Reds defence.
Even the big units have a soft touch, with Chessum and Conan combining to create a try for Duhan van der Merwe, who dived over in the corner for the third try after Andrew Porter had driven over from close range. Had the Lions' accuracy in attack matched their ambition, they would have been further ahead at half-time than 21-12.
The Lions were more direct after the interval. Aki came to the fore, carrying powerfully and eating up yards after contact, and the Lions added five more tries, from Itoje, Morgan, Freeman, Smith and Huw Jones, scoring 45 unanswered points.
'I thought the Reds came out of the blocks very well. But once we settled down, once we got a bit of continuity at times, we played some excellent rugby,' Farrell said.
'If we were more clinical, then it would have been better for us going in at half-time, certainly as far as the scoreline is concerned. If you compare entries into the 22 in comparison to last week, I thought we lacked a bit of composure at times there. I thought our defence throughout was pretty good.'
Not every Lion had a performance to remember. Van Der Merwe will be disappointed as his vulnerability under the high ball and in defence was exposed by a Reds team whose plan was to test the Lions wings in the air. Freeman passed, Van Der Merwe failed. The Scotland wing is devastating in attack but too much of a risk for the Lions to start in the Tests.
There were also some now familiar concerns for Farrell to address, particularly early on in the game when the Reds went for the Lions at the set piece. The lineout is not operating smoothly. Farrell was bemused by the scrum penalties conceded by the Lions and said he would 'seek clarification', which is coach code for saying he disagreed with the calls. 'I obviously know that we've got a world-class front row, there's no doubt about that,' he said, pointedly.
Overall, Farrell was content to move on to Sydney, where they play the NSW Waratahs on Saturday, with the win, although the injury to Daly hangs like a dark cloud over the match — and will likely have major ramifications on the Lions Test selection.
The versatile and experienced Saracen had been rested for this game after delivering two classy performances, with Hugo Keenan in line to make his Lions debut. But when Keenan pulled out of the game after going down with a bug in the morning, Daly was promoted to start at full back.
The unexpected call-up, just as he was leaving the gym, extended Daly's remarkable run of featuring in every one of the Lions' past 11 match-day squads, dating back to the opening fixture in 2021. In his three-tour Lions career, Daly has missed out only four times in 22 games.
Daly had some lovely touches in this game too. But he went in to tackle Jock Campbell, the Reds full back, and immediately spun away in pain. This may be a diagnosis from the back of the main stand but his reaction was a reminder of Billy Vunipola's body language when he broke an arm against Ospreys.
Bravely, Daly played on. But he could not move his left arm when walking or running. He left the field shaking his head and grimacing, before departing the stadium for an x-ray with his left arm in a sling.
Suffering a tour-ending injury is cruel. The circus cannot stop. Tomos Williams, the scrum half, has returned home after sustaining a hamstring injury in the act of scoring a try against the Force. He, like Daly, was in Test-match form.
Farrell must now switch his focus to Saturday's game and start to work out which of Keenan or Blair Kinghorn will be the Lions Test full back. Neither has yet played a game on tour.