Latest news with #Andy Farrell
The Guardian
12 hours ago
- Sport
- 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.
BBC News
17 hours ago
- Sport
- BBC News
'Discipline was right on the edge' - Man of Match Beirne
Man of the match Tadhg Beirne, speaking to Sky Sports: "It was a proper Test match, the last quarter was a battle. Australia will take confidence from that going into next week."Discipline was right on the edge. That will be a big focus for us."We managed the game well but need to focus on discipline more."I loved it, some of the games leading up weren't my best. But I hopefully did the shirt justice." British and Irish Lions head coach Andy Farrell was full of praise for flankers Tom Curry and Tadgh selections were questioned before the game because of their form on tour."Tom Curry and Tadgh Beirne were absolutely immense. Curry put in some shots defensively and Tadgh got the turnover very early doors. It didn't stop there," Farrell said."Conan's carrying was very much on the front foot. Those three guys I'm sure they'll be delighted with how they responded to being selected."Curry and Beirne are a man of their word and that's what they delivered."
BBC News
6 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
'It's different to a Test match at Twickenham'
The first Test against Australia on Saturday will have a different feel to it than a normal international game, says British and Irish Lions captain Maro 30-year-old will likely lead Andy Farrell's side out in Brisbane for his seventh Lions was announced as England captain at the start of this year but says leading out the Lions will be different than at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham."It's the grandness of it. It's the occasion. It's different to a Test match at Twickenham or in any other part of the world," Itoje said."The fans go crazy, the streets will be lined with people in Lions shirts, we won't be able to go anywhere so it is just a little bit different in that respect."It's an opportunity that one should relish. It's one of the great opportunities and events for us."
Telegraph
12-07-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Australian teams have not provided one decent opposition for the Lions
The received wisdom was that this would be the truest gauge yet of the British and Irish Lions' Test readiness, a timely collision with a collection of such grizzled internationals that Marika Koroibete and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto brought 89 Wallabies caps between them. And yet so hastily assembled was this AUNZ side, thrown together with only a week's training, that they appeared – on the strength of two early tries where the tourists could almost saunter around the fringes to score – to have neglected even basic defensive drills. All of which begs the awkward question of whether Andy Farrell's players have, after three weeks of criss-crossing the Australian continent from Perth to Brisbane, Sydney to Adelaide, seriously been tested at all. On the surface, a 48-0 victory brooks no argument. It is the first time the Lions have restricted any opponents to nil since Warren Gatland's team ran up 64 unanswered points against a New South Wales-Queensland country collective 12 years ago. But it also marks the last in a sequence of five Australian warm-up games conspicuously devoid of jeopardy. Traditionally, these itinerant preambles tend to throw up at least one upset: take the Brumbies' 14-12 triumph in 2013, or victories for the Blues and the Highlanders in New Zealand in 2017, or even the 17-13 win for South Africa A in a deserted Cape Town Stadium four years ago. On this occasion, though, the dress rehearsals have felt anything but precarious. The most persuasive explanation, of course, lies in the structural defects of Australian rugby. When the Lions embarked on their most recent tours of New Zealand and South Africa, they were facing the reigning world champions. Australia, by contrast, have slumped from third in the world 12 years ago to eighth today, with their last World Cup campaign running aground in a 40-6 trouncing by a Wales team who would lose 18 of their next 19 Tests. Ireland, England and Scotland – who, if we suppose that Jac Morgan falls just short of being selected as the Test openside, will comprise the entire starting XV in Brisbane next Saturday – are ranked third, fifth and seventh. The Lions' dominance so far is merely a reflection of a wider imbalance of power. Still, you wonder if there is a certain kidology at work, too. A simmering subplot has been the reluctance of Joe Schmidt, the head coach of Australia, to release too many Wallabies players back to their clubs, preferring instead to wrap his frontline choices in cotton wool. As such, the Waratahs had to make do without the game-changing athleticism of Joseph Sua'ali'i, while the Brumbies were deprived of the fast-twitch footwork of Len Ikitau. Despite Lions chief executive Ben Calveley demanding the strongest possible opposition at every stage, Schmidt has held firm, arguing that a mass release of his most valuable stars would be 'counter-productive'. That is his prerogative, but the upshot is that the Lions are heading into the Test series without the fullest examination of their credentials. You wonder, given the latest hiding meted out to the AUNZ scratch team, if the old Lions touring model has had its day. Back in 1971, when the legendary series in New Zealand lasted more than three months, the slow burn through the provinces made sense, with teams such as Waikato and Wellington harbouring the cream of the country's talent. It would be difficult, 54 years on, to make a similar claim about some of the sides bulldozed in Australia. Several have been strategically weakened, while the AUNZ XV were ultimately nothing more than an Antipodean Barbarians, with their peculiar retro kit as ropey as their discipline. Surely, there has to be a better way. If the teams served up as hors d'oeuvres are not at full strength, why can the Lions not deviate instead to the Pacific islands for the tune-ups? By any standard, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa would offer a more culturally enriching experience and a more useful measure of their Test mettle than a pop-up team created purely to flesh out the tour programme. So lucrative has the Lions formula become that there is little appetite for tinkering with the traditional rotation through the southern hemisphere. But there are the odd rumblings of revolution. Mike Phillips, a two-tour Lion, has called passionately for a future tour of France to be considered. 'Imagine the hype, packed stadiums, financial boost, and global buzz,' he wrote last week. 'A rugby powerhouse versus the iconic Lions – huge for the sport, fans and growth.' It is a reminder of how even the most sacred rituals do not remain relevant forever. While the Lions are a magnificent curiosity, they also need to adapt to thrive, and where better to start with some more imaginative scheduling? Farrell has every reason to be content with his side's 100 per cent record on Australian soil having lost their opening game against Argentina in Dublin. The questionable pedigree of the opposition, however, creates a risk that they are entering their three defining games not so much battle-hardened as undercooked.
