Farrell considers options for 'biggest game of our lives'

BBC News

5 days ago

Halfway through his post-match chat at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne on Tuesday night, Andy Farrell, really for the first time on this tour, gave it the Gettysburg Address in terms of what lies in wait for the British and Irish Lions against the Australia in Saturday's second Test.The storied Melbourne Cricket Ground. A crowd of 85,000-plus. A chance to win the series and put their names in Lions history. "If you can't get up for what's coming, we're all in the wrong place," said Lions coach Farrell. "To me, this is the biggest game of our lives, every one of us."That's a heck of a statement given the magnitude of some of the contests these players have appeared in over the years, but there was no doubting Farrell's sincerity. This is huge right enough. The MCG isn't just a sports stadium, it's a palace sitting on hallowed ground. It's gobsmacking in its scale even when empty. When full, or nearly full, it'll be a momentous place on Saturday night when the Lions walk out there.But which Lions? The inference from the camp is that Joe McCarthy, a big performer on this trip and a fine player in the first Test, is not going to be fit for Saturday. McCarthy hasn't trained all week.Farrell said he will see how the Ireland lock is on Thursday but the team will have been named by then. Too late for Big Joe, sadly.The word, also, is that Mack Hansen, a strong contender for the bench if all things were equal, is not going to make it either. Farrell says Hansen's foot injury is progressing but then posed a question of his own about whether he was progressing quickly enough. A rhetorical question, you sense.
The Keenan or Kinghorn conundrum
When it gets to this stage of the tour, with one win required to take the series, you start reading the tea leaves on everything Farrell says. The coach was critical of aspects of his team in the 24-19 win against a fired-up First Nations and Pasifika XV on Tuesday night."We started to play the game a little bit like an exhibition match and it was never going to be like that," he said."We weren't earning the right to play. There's an allure of space that we thought was there and it wasn't there. We kept playing out the back and big wide passes and getting hit behind the gain-line and making it tough for ourselves."Given that Blair Kinghorn went wide in an exhibition-type way in the first half - and got intercepted twice - the feeling was that Farrell was talking about his full-back.Scotland's Kinghorn, a class act, was deemed to be one decent night away from taking over from Hugo Keenan at 15 in the second Test, with the Irishman not having had his best performance in Brisbane.What now? What about the exhibition barb? Farrell confused things further when he said that Kinghorn was very "assured". Two intercepts flew in the face of that.That said, Kinghorn was just back from injury and has a brilliant body of work with Toulouse all season. So, Keenan or Kinghorn at 15? It's a tough call. Maybe Keenan starts and Kinghorn is on the bench as cover for wing and full-back.
Ringrose and Tuipulotu centre partnership?
Wings Tommy Freeman and James Lowe played below par in the first Test but it would be a surprise if either lost their place. The centres? Now that's an area of intrigue.Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu formed a formidable partnership in Brisbane. Maybe Jones could have been more clinical at times, but he played well. Garry Ringrose is now fit again, though. Does that change things? Very possibly, given that Ringrose looked to be in the box-seat at 13 before getting concussed against the Brumbies and missing out on the first Test.Ireland's Ringrose spoke glowingly of the Scottish centres on Tuesday night. "What has impressed me most is their skill at the line," he said. "What is expected of centres is to be able to carry when it's tight, play through the line when it's on, then pull the trigger."Those two are exceptional at that. It's been brilliant training against them, training with them, picking their brains on decision-making based on what they see. "From playing against Scotland and watching them play for Glasgow, it's unreal to actually work with them and have those conversations. They're unbelievably intelligent, skillful, physical and both of them are all-court in what they do."High praise, but Jones and Tuipulotu would have eulogies for Ringrose, too. It would run the risk of an uprising in Scotland, but a Ringrose-Tuipulotu partnership on Saturday is a very real prospect.It would be brutal on Jones, but this is an unforgiving landscape. We're talking of players of supreme class. Ringrose is arguably that bit more of a rounded player than Jones. It's fine margins.
What changes would McCarthy's absence bring?
With McCarthy likely to be ruled out, who comes in? Tadhg Beirne might step up into the second row with Ollie Chessum coming in at six. Again, it's the tea leaves talking. Farrell doesn't give much away.The bench is an area of significant interest. Same front-row cover, for sure. If Chessum is promoted, Farrell needs another lock and line-out jumper. James Ryan has almost been the forgotten man of this tour so far, but he was going around crushing people on Tuesday.He was taken off after 54 minutes. Why? For fear that having been yellow-carded already he might be heading for a second one? Or to rest him? There's also the case of Scott Cummings whose tour began badly against the Western Force in Perth.Since then, Cummings has grown steadily. He's physical, busy and impressive. He put in an admirable performance at the Marvel Stadium, but he played 80 minutes. If Farrell had him in mind for a bench spot on Saturday wouldn't he have spared him a full game of attrition against such a hard-hitting opponent?You watched the sheer power and might of some of the First Nations and Pasifika XV and wondered what Joe Schmidt is doing in not picking them in his Wallabies team.Taniela Tupou at prop, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto at lock, Seru Uru and Charlie Gamble in the back row were immense and caused the Lions a world of trouble. Yes, it was the second-string Lions but power is power and Schmidt's boys lacked it in Brisbane. Maybe the great man has miscalculated in bypassing some gigantic options under his nose.When Jac Morgan was taken off after 51 minutes the implication was that he had done enough and that he was likely to be on the bench for the second Test. Wales, perhaps, are about to have some Lions joy at last. Josh van der Flier and Henry Pollock both went the full 80 minutes. Probably not a good sign.
Has Farrell done enough to make the bench?
What of Owen Farrell? There was a near comedic moment in the aftermath of Tuesday's game when Farrell Sr was asked to comment on Farrell Jr's performance."How do you think you played?" father asked son."He asked you…" son told father.Farrell the son played well in what was his first 80-minute game since 27 April and only his third 80 minutes since last October. If it's Farrell versus Bundee Aki for a bench spot, who wins? Farrell can cover 10 and 12, but Aki is more battle-hardened. It's a conundrum. Not a bad one either.Whatever way Farrell and his coaches slice it, it still looks highly decent, it still looks like a side more than capable of finishing the job in a stunning setting on Saturday night. The personnel might change a tad from week to week, but the outcome, says the smart money, will remain the same.