Why the Lions should take positives from ‘clunky' Argentina defeat despite Andy Farrell fury

Independent

7 hours ago

Andy Farrell was in no mood for excuses. Having just watched his British and Irish Lions suffer defeat to Argentina in his first game in charge, the head coach was given every opportunity to equivocate the result or palliate the performance. The gathered media offered him plenty of chances to blame a lack of time together or the familiar first-game struggles of past tours. That he did not do so reflects a demand for the high standards he feels the Lions should always set.
'We have to say it how it is,' Farrell stressed as he took exception to a gentle enquiry about whether it was good to have got this game out of the way. 'Losing hurts, especially in this jersey. We need to find solutions pretty quickly and be honest with ourselves because some good has to come from this.'
Such declarative language was perhaps a surprise. There was little outside expectation on the Lions to immediately produce something resembling their best and yet Farrell's tone was striking and strict; he felt that they, and by extension he, had not given the best account of themselves in a first fixture in Dublin.
It feels a tough analysis of a performance that probably contained as much good as bad. It must be remembered that they were playing an Argentina side ranked fifth in the world, a nation of increasing consistency, depth and threat who emerged as deserved winners. The Pumas, too, had limited preparation time but the cohesion they showed reflected a national team that have grown together, the sharpness of their strikes in transition contrasting particularly with their hosts.
But there was plenty otherwise to encourage Farrell and his staff, an emergent identity on show. The thought was that, even with their considerable talent, the Lions may play it safe to work their way in; if anything, they went the other way, overly ambitious and expansive, the offloads coming often and a clear emphasis to work the ball out of the back of their forward pods and then to the edge. If anything, captain Maro Itoje reflected afterwards, the side might have been better served going slightly more direct at times. But that will come with time.
A hallmark of Farrell's Ireland has been the intricacy of their attacking phase play, willing to work from ruck to ruck with multiple layers. It takes time to develop such a system, and the men in green are aided usually by the Leinster connections, the transition from club to country made much easier – an advantage that the Lions yesterday did not enjoy. Perhaps it was little surprise that some of their best moments came when Northampton's Fin Smith and Tommy Freeman were able to connect. Too often, however, an extra pass was given when it did not need to be, an offload forced and falling to floor or into Puma paws.
'It was clunky,' harsh critic Farrell said of the attack. 'We created quite a bit at times but we weren't able to finish it off. This is new to this side, so we expected to be better but we are at where we at.
'The amount of balls that we threw blindly either on to the floor or to the opposition was a standout. The scraps on the floor always seemed to go to Argentina, so there was a bit more fight and hunger from them that we can't accept.'
There are a few Leinstermen and Finn Russell to still work up to speed in the backline, with the Scot and Garry Ringrose likely to slot in to midfield against the Western Force next week to look at another possible Test combination. Farrell's bulky backline looked at several moments to be providing the dents and demolitions demanded of it, with Duhan van der Merwe and Freeman roaming impressively in the opening half-hour, and Sione Tuipulotu linking nicely in a slightly different role to the one he usually plays for Scotland. There may be, though, a call for another distributor – not necessarily in midfield, with James Lowe and Mack Hansen so adept at inserting and illustrating off their wings.
The power-packed backline helped make up for a slight lack of beefy carriers in the forward pack. Ellis Genge, impressive at scrum-time too, was punchy in the loose, while Pierre Schoeman was also called upon regularly after relieving the English prop. Ben Earl, as ever, got through a mountain of work, too, but the back five balance did not feel quite right, despite some initial breakdown joy. The lineout suffered for the lack of another long-limbed option, while Jack Conan feels an increasingly important figure to provide extra ballast either from the start or off the bench.
A long flight to Perth will give the Lions plenty of time to chew over the gristle and tastier titbits from their opening course. It may be that on further digestion Farrell finds his Friday night feast rather more pleasant but his underscoring of the sky-high standards expected of the tourists may also serve them well.
"He gives it to us straight, there's no mucking around and we're old enough to take it on the chin,' Bundee Aki stressed. 'Faz set out a challenge for us to win every game and we've just got to learn quickly.
"You can feel the frustration of the boys in the changing room. (But) that's the great thing about rugby, there's always another couple of days to be able to rectify what was wrong so I'm sure we'll bounce back quickly as a group.'