NSW Waratahs v British & Irish Lions: Five takeaways as ‘staggering’ error count undoes ‘flawless’ set-piece with ‘immense’ Scot hailed
The British & Irish Lions' set-piece impressed on Saturday.
Following a 21-10 victory for the British and Irish Lions over the NSW Waratahs, here’s our five takeaways from the fixture at Allianz Stadium in Sydney on Saturday.
The top line
The British and Irish Lions maintained their 100% win record in Australia, but they failed to deliver the statement performance they needed.
The Waratahs, without six Test players and with only 26% territory and 33% possession, defended like their lives depended on it and gave Andy Farrell’s men a torrid time with their brilliance in defence and a superb shift on the floor, keeping their losing margin to only 11 points on a greasy and damp floor in Sydney.
The Lions suffered a blow before kick off when Henry Pollock pulled up lame with a tight calf. Scott Cummings came in to deliver an immense shift, but with Tadhg Beirne moved to the blindside, the Lions looked a little unbalanced in their back five, despite a thundering effort with ball in hand from Ben Earl.
The Lions’ tries came from Huw Jones (2) and Player of the Match Alex Mitchell, with the ‘Tahs replying through Darby Lancaster and Ethan Dobbins.
Farrell expressed his frustration post match, admitting it wasn’t the standard he’s expecting from his team and the Lions will be disappointed with their complete inaccuracy in finishing despite the win.
Nonplussing
As the final whistle blew, the excitable stadium announcer bellowed ‘What a spectacle of rugby we’ve seen tonight!’. One can only assume he was watching the New Zealand v France highlights on his iPhone because the match seen on the pitch was at best, hard fought, at worst, completely non-plussing.
The Lions’ error count was staggering; turned over 10 times in total, made 14 handling errors and conceded 12 penalties, as Charlie Gamble gave the Lions breakdown an absolute rinsing on the floor as he shone with 12 tackles, four turnovers and finished third in the Waratahs’ carrying effort.
The scoreline, considering the Lions enjoyed 74% territory and 67% possession, demonstrated the complete lack of clinical accuracy from the Lions.
However, Mitchell did his very best to ignite the Lions backline, grabbing a try and beating eight defenders from his breaks and sniping around the rucks, and certainly putting his hand up for Test inclusion.
Jones and Sione Tuipulotu demonstrated just how good their centre partnership might be too, with Tuipulotu treating the crowd to the offload of the evening to his pal Jones, who screamed over for his second try of the evening.
Ben Earl, despite a couple of silly penalties, will be chuffed with his evening’s work; Earl topped carries (21) running metres (114m) and defenders beaten (9) in a glittering display of power carrying that put his name firmly back into the Test reckoning, but the back-row balance suffered from the pre-kick off change, with Gamble really a thorn in their side all evening.
Error-strewn
Richard Wigglesworth stressed at half-time that the Lions had been masters of their own downfall in terms of penalty count and handling errors in contact.
Clearly the Lions weren’t listening as the second period started with a daft offside penalty that gifted the ‘Tahs their second try of the match, and immediately afterwards, both Josh van der Flier, admittedly going for the line (something Ellis Genge repeated later) and Beirne lost the ball in contact.
13 handling errors, seven of them reasonably unforced, summed up the inaccuracy of the British and Irish Lions in contact. Perhaps it was due to trying to force through the superb physicality of the Waratahs defence, perhaps it was nerves of trying to deliver perfection in a helter skelter game, but the issues plagued the Lions in terms of both their continuity and their handling ambition.
In the 1-3-3 pod system the Lions employed, there’s no need to make the miracle pass or to take the ball out of contact; once the collision is won then the support is there and the Lions avarice in trying to make those extra contact metres, the ‘one’ becoming isolated time and time again, cost them so many opportunities to create phase pressure through patient ball in hand work.
It didn’t help that the Lions didn’t have the type of backline player that smashes through contact like Tommy Freeman does, and it was interesting to see how the Lions rejigged their approach to accommodate Duhan van der Merwe in that role when he came on.
Set-piece shines
It made no difference which set of front-row forwards that the Lions used, they simply smashed the Waratahs scrum up front, and that includes the massive figure of the Tongan Thor, Taniela Tupou.
Initially, Pierre Schoeman and Finlay Bealham did a fantastic job – a feature of the Bealham scrummaging technique is how far he’s prepared to extend into the hit – he is prepared to go a nano second earlier than his two partners, allowing the three to wrap into the hit around him. Their hooker, Luke Cowan-Dickie also strutted his stuff, 100% in both areas of the set-piece, as he struck up a fine relationship with the outstanding Cummings.
Enter the likely Test front-row of Ellis Genge, Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong – and they simply carried on the fine work of the starters, but adding even more work in the loose – with Genge shining despite falling foul of the Lions propensity to run away from support clearers.
With the Cummings-run lineout returning an almost flawless display, the Lions might have a few issues they need to work on, but the set-piece is a platform of encouragement.
Selection thoughts
The Huwipulotu centre partnership shone despite the lack of impact in the scoreboard, with Jones taking his try count on tour to three in a great personal effort.
But the breakdown that went so well against the Queensland Reds, with Jac Morgan shining, really came off second best with a real lack of impact in clearing and ruck support. Van der Flier led the Lions tackle count, but was completely outplayed on the floor, and the Lions missed the work of Morgan and Tom Curry around the contact area. Earl, however, carried wonderfully well all evening and there’s little doubt he’ll be in the Test 23, if not the starting eight in a straight fight out with Jack Conan. Both men will serve the Lions well – it’s just a case of in what order.
Hugo Keenan made his long awaited Lions debut, and with Mack Hansen again putting in an enormous workload, the effort count certainly isn’t lacking. However, Blair Kinghorn looked different level on the wing in his aerial work and there’s little doubt Farrell will want to try him at 15 before the Test series starts in earnest.
With the front-rows shining, Cummings’ display might just throw a curve ball into the Test thinking. There’s only one lock spot to play for with Maro Itoje nailed on and with Joe McCarthy and Ollie Chessum already performing superbly in their chances, there’s little doubt that the engine room is an area of strength for them.
There could be a curve ball though; with the form of Chessum and the versatility of Beirne could we see a lock on the flank? Given the size of Australia it may very well be the case and at the moment that man may be Chessum. We watch with anticipation.
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