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BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Lions start with promise but intensity drops off
In 2013, the final moments of the British and Irish Lions' first Test win against Australia had the entire Suncorp Stadium Kurtley Beale slipped, when attempting to convert a match-winning penalty, and the Lions escaped to lead the series Excitement. Edge-of-your-seat stuff. It is what makes the Lions so forward 12 years and Andy Farrell's side also delivered at Suncorp Stadium with a 27-19 victory - the Lions' ninth straight win in result was the same but the feeling was Lions were so dominant in the first 50 minutes that the outcome was never in side raced out of the blocks to lead 17-5 at half-time after tries by Sione Tuipulotu and Tom Curry. A 12-point lead did not do justice to their Russell at his mercurial best was dominating his head to head with rookie Australia fly-half Tom Lynagh and, in partnership with scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park, was running the Tom Curry and Tadgh Beirne, both of whom responded to questions over whether their form warranted a starting spot, were bossing the physical Ellis Genge and hooker Dan Sheehan were battering Australia's defensive line."The Lions looked battle-hardened, ready and a lot of the clunky stuff in the warm-ups had gone," former Lion Tom Shanklin told the BBC. "They looked sharp in attack, they knew what they were doing and Australia ran out of options."Finn Russell and Gibson-Park were quality. The way they pull the strings, the time they have on the ball, their decision-making makes everyone's jobs so much easier."Andy Nicol, a Lions tourist in Australia in 2001, heaped praise on Curry and Beirne."Tom Curry was off the scale," he told the BBC's Rugby Union Weekly. "He smashed players in contact and his metres after contact was amazing as well."Beirne was man of the match and played the full game, Curry played 57 minutes and I would happily have given it to him. He was outstanding, so was Maro Itoje." 'I want the series to be competitive' When Dan Sheehan added a third try early in the second half, the Lions surpassing their record score against Australia (31-0 in 1966) looked on the cards. This much-anticipated series opener was almost too one-sided."As a former Lion, I wanted the Lions to win but I want the series to be competitive," said Nicol. "At that point [24-5 up] there was a chance that it wasn't going to be."But as the Lions brought on their replacements, their performance dropped. They lost momentum and cohesion, giving Australia the chance to play themselves into some replacements Carlo Tizzano and Tate McDermott crossed for late tries to nearly bring the hosts back within touching Joe Schmidt's side showing heart to come back into the game, it was too late to ignite the crowd in Brisbane. The Lions' lead was never seriously noticed some Australian fans not watching the game as their attention wandered with the Lions seemingly cruising to victory."Ten to 15 minutes into the second half, a lot of the corporate boxes were full of Aussie fans standing talking to each other and not watching the game," he told BBC's Rugby Union Weekly."They had switched off and almost chucked the game, thinking it wasn't going to happen. That would not have been good for the series."The atmosphere was great in the first half."But the second half had nothing and there was no atmosphere in the stadium at all, even the Wallabies try... they weren't really celebrating. It was relief around me." 'The Lions would have gone up a gear' Former Ireland head coach Schmidt has come up with numerous masterplans over the years to defeat the world's best. However, his side failed to properly assert themselves until the final quarter against the England wing Chris Ashton said Schmidt had made a mistake in not releasing his players to face the Lions in their warm-up games. "If you have not faced them, even for 10, 15 minutes, how are you meant to expect the level or have some understanding what a Lions Test is about in the first 20 minutes?" he told BBC Sport. "You're not. And after 20 minutes, the game was almost over."In order to help spark an epic Test series, former Scotland captain John Barclay even found himself hoping Australia would score before half-time."I felt that if Australia had got close, the Lions would have gone up a gear," he told Rugby Union Weekly. "Australia did well off the bench but the Lions had so much in the tank."I expected a lot more from Australia. Joe Schmidt always brings a lot of detail to how his players can play the game but it looked like all the detail was missing."I think they will be much better next week, they have to be, but the Lions have so many more levels they can go up."The difference in class between the nines and 10s is night and day."His fellow Scot Nicol also feels the Lions can take their game to another level."If the Lions play for a full 80 minutes next week, I think there is a 20-to-30 point gap between these two sides," he will tell if these two dance partners are suited to produce a Lions series for the Cricket Ground is expected to have more than 90,000 people in attendance for the second Test next is a venue worthy of an epic.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Australia 19-27 Lions: First Test in pictures
The British and Irish Lions took a 1-0 lead in the three match series against the Wallabies with a 27-19 win in Brisbane, maintaining their record of never having lost an international in the Queensland tries, from Sione Tuipulotu, Tom Curry and Dan Sheehan helped the Lions take a comfortable lead but the hosts improved markedly in the second a selection of photos from the highly anticipated clash at the Suncorp Stadium. Copy here... (insert image block above)
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Lions lay down series marker and ease to victory over Australia in first Test
Winning the first Test does not guarantee a series victory but Australia are already hanging on by their fingernails. On the evidence of this contest it is going to take something remarkable to stop the Lions from finishing the job in Melbourne next Saturday and, with thousands of travelling fans cheering them on, Andy Farrell's side have firm control of their own destiny. There were moments in the first half when the Lions were so dominant it felt akin to watching a juggernaut thundering through the outback, scattering everything in sight like skittles. They were unable to sustain it but the visitors' dominance in the opening 50 minutes was such that the winning margin should have been wider. From Finn Russell's insouciant brilliance to Tom Curry's relentless tackling, the Lions were a cut above in the areas that mattered most. The last half-hour was more competitive – boosted by their bench the Wallabies won the last 38 minutes of the game 14-3 – but some of that was down to the Lions being able to take their collective foot off the gas. From a relatively early stage there was no doubt about the winners and tries from Sione Tuipulotu, Curry and Dan Sheehan ensured the Lions were in effect home and hosed by the start of the second half. The home side were at least kept in the game by the Lions' loss of second-half rhythm but they were 24-5 behind by the 41st minute. They should now be able to welcome back the forceful Rob Valetini and Will Skelton but if they finish a comfortable second in the second Test at the MCG the debate surrounding the future shape of Lions tours of Australia will intensify. That said, try telling the thousands of red-shirted Lions fans on the ground that winning in Australia will ever lose its lustre. Walking through the hordes on Caxton Street before the game, the occasional splash of gold was the only hint that another team might be involved. The now-familiar sea of red was in danger of becoming an ocean and it was the same inside the stadium. To stand any chance the Wallabies needed to find a way of silencing the red army as swiftly as possible. And avoiding the kind of self-inflicted howlers that, as David Campese can testify, can sway the biggest occasions. They reckoned without Russell, who never needs his opponents' permission to declare his genius. Having slotted an early penalty to reward a turnover forced by Tadhg Beirne, the fly-half gave the Wallabies further notice of his intentions with a lovely offload to a charging Sheehan. The Lions rumbled on towards the line and, with the defence stretched, another beautifully judged long ball from Russell gave Tuipulotu the easiest of run-ins. The Frankston-reared centre was desperate to be part of this tour back to his homeland for precisely this sort of moment. Worse seemed about to follow for the Wallabies when James Lowe escaped the clutches of Max Jorgensen down the left and Huw Jones appeared to have scored his side's second try. Luckily for the hosts, it was ruled out because Jones was still being fractionally held as he rolled out of Jorgensen's desperate cover tackle. Australia Wright; Jorgensen, Suaalii, Ikitau (Kellaway 68), Potter; Lynagh (Donaldson 60), Gordon (McDermott 58); Slipper (Bell 49), Faessler (Pollard 49), Alaalatoa (Robertson 57), Frost, Williams (Hooper 58), Champion de Crespigny (Tizzano 66), McReight, Wilson (capt). Tries Jorgensen, Tizzano, McDermott. Cons Donaldson 2. British & Irish Lions Keenan; Freeman, Jones, Tuipulotu (Aki 57), Lowe, Russell (M Smith 66), Gibson-Park (Mitchell 74); Genge (Porter 48), Sheehan (Kelleher 60), Furlong (Stuart 57), Itoje (capt), McCarthy (Chessum 43), Beirne, Curry (Earl 57), Conan. Tries Tuipulotu, Curry, Sheehan. Conversions Russell 3. Penalties Russell, M Smith. Referee Brendan O'Keeffe (NZ) Even without it the Lions still had a 10-point cushion and the Wallabies were clinging on in every sense. Without Valetini they were finding it hard to make any gainline dents and nothing was coming easily. It was a sizeable bonus, therefore, when Hugo Keenan was stripped of a high ball by Jorgensen and the wing stole away to put Australia belatedly on the board. The balance of play, though, was overwhelmingly with the Lions. They were winning the power battle and had a couple more decent opportunities before scoring their second try. This time it was Curry who provided the finishing touch from close range, to cap a typically influential half of rugby. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion The second half was only a minute old when the Lions scored again, a nice attacking line from Jones and Curry's pass putting Sheehan over in the right corner. The Wallabies almost responded through Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, only for the referee to rule it out for not dissimilar reasons to Jones's previous non-try. At that point, even so, the odds on the Lions scoring only one further penalty goal from Marcus Smith, on as a replacement for Russell who left the fray after 66 minutes with cramp, would have been lengthy. The Lions would have wanted their bench to supply more oomph but the Wallabies, by contrast, seemed to be energised by some of their replacements. Still, with Harry Potter having narrowly failed to score in the left corner, they had to wait until the last seven minutes for Carlo Tizzano and Tate McDermott to add a touch of respectability to the final scoreline. The Lions, for whom Beirne, Ellis Genge, Jamison Gibson-Park and Tuipulotu further enhanced their reputations, will not want that pattern to be repeated in Melbourne and will also be aware that no series ever runs totally smoothly. In 2001 they won the first Test in Brisbane only to contrive to lose the last two Tests. Last time around in South Africa, just when they felt they had an advantage, the same thing happened. The chief takeaway from this still Brisbane evening, nonetheless, will be the Lions' first-half superiority, rather than the second-half drop-off. While both sides will probably be better for this runout, Farrell's Lions are now in pole position and also appear to have more in the tank.
