Five quick hits: Wallabies vs British and Irish Lions, third Test from Stadium Australia

Australia Broadcast Center

a day ago

The Wallabies have achieved just their seventh Test win over the British and Irish Lions, in a match that finished well beyond its listed time.
Lightning stopped a gripping Test match that was physically demanding, and had the biggest and smallest players unafraid to muscle up.
Here are the five quick hits from Stadium Australia.
Any fears the Wallabies were going to come out of the sheds flat for the third Test, scarred by the heartbreak of last week, were extinguished in the opening minutes.
Desperate for a fast start, Australia chanced its arm, showing little regard for the wet and miserable conditions.
The up-tempo style of play was working for the Wallabies, who earned a five-metre scrum after driving Lions winger Tommy Freeman into his own in-goal.
The Wallabies scrum, put under pressure in Melbourne, held firm at the first time of asking in Sydney.
The Wallabies were patient on the Lions' goal line, hammering the defence with runs from the big forwards.
When the moment was right, Nic White spun the ball out to the left.
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii held the ball as long as he dared, drawing in two defenders, before passing to an unmarked Dylan Pietsch on the wing.
With cover defence scampering across, Pietsch held his nerve and scored well, diving for the line and showing terrific ball control despite the conditions.
Wallabies scrum half Nic White was allowed to have a farewell Test against rugby's most special team.
But the number nine had no interest in exiting Test rugby quietly.
White was in the thick of the action from the early moments, being the focal point of two melees.
The first came in the 22nd minute when White chose to pick a fight with Lions hooker Dan Sheehan.
That skirmish set off a chain reaction, with three spot fires emerging.
White was the focus of Lion-fury in the 43rd minute, when Tadhg Beirne took exception to a shove from White.
That led to more melees on the pitch, as medics came to the aid of Lions lock James Ryan, left motionless on the ground after copping an accidental knee from Will Skelton.
James Ryan's injury early in the second half paused the match for several minutes.
But while there was concern for the Irishman on the ground, another problem was forming in the skies.
The players and officials walked off with the medical cart, as lightning around Homebush forced play to be suspended.
Fans in the first 19 rows of the lower tier were encouraged to seek shelter in the concourse, while the players and coaching staff were thrown into the unknown.
Fans around Stadium Australia remained upbeat during the near-45-minute delay, while some took it too far and ran onto the field.
Four times, security was forced to enter a paying surface deemed unsafe because of lightning, just to escort patrons who wanted 15 seconds of notoriety from anyone who was watching.
How the teams handled the break was different once the match had a restart time. The Wallabies were on the pitch 10 minutes before the resumption, going through warm-ups.
The Lions, however, did not emerge from the sheds until five minutes before play resumed. That five-minute difference likely had little impact on the outcome, but served as an interesting point about how each side handled the same problem.
The opening minutes of the second half saw Test rugby at its best.
Coming off a 45-minute delay for lightning, the Wallabies and Lions waged a battle in the middle of the field.
With the Wallabies lead just eight points, whoever could score first in the second half was going to have a tremendous chance of winning.
Fortunately for Australia, the Lions blinked first.
Trying to pass quickly down the left flank, the Lions were unable to handle the wet ball that went to ground.
The ball popped into the arms of Max Jorgensen, who latched onto the footy like it was his most cherished possession.
Once he had the ball in his arms, Jorgensen made the Lions pay. He broke one tackle and then was sprinting down the sideline, never to be caught.
His try gave the Wallabies a 15-point lead and had Australian fans believing in a win.
It was the second time in this series that Jorgensen's brilliance caught the Lions off guard. The winger scored Australia's opening try in the first Test, snatching a ball out of the air and sprinting away for the score.
That try gave Australians hope in the first Test, and his try in Sydney put the Wallabies on the cusp of victory.
Queensland Reds player Tate McDermott came off the bench in all three Tests, but was one of the Wallabies' best in the series.
His introduction into the first Test sparked the Wallabies' fightback.
He held his own for 60 minutes in Melbourne as a makeshift winger, after Harry Potter succumbed to a hamstring injury.
With the match on the line in Sydney, it was McDermott again who made his presence felt.
Jac Morgan's try in the 62nd minute reduced the Wallabies' lead back to eight points, hoping to spark another comeback like they did seven days earlier.
But the Wallabies were not going to let another potential win slip through their grasp.
Camped on the Lions' goal line for five minutes, the Wallabies battled and toiled against a dogged defence.
Repeated infringements led to the Lions being reduced to 14- men when reserve hooker Ronan Kelleher was sent to the sin bin in the 69th minute.
Two attempted driving mauls had been stopped. More than 10 drives from around the breakdown had been repelled.
But amid the big forwards hammering away, it was one of the smallest men on the pitch to break through.
McDertmott saw tired defenders next to the breakdown, so darted from the back and ducked under their arms.
The scrum half then reached out and slammed the ball on the ground, sending the large contingent of Wallabies fans into hysteria.
The Wallabies had a 15-point lead again and they were not going to give it up. History had been achieved for a side so often written off.