Revitalised Wallabies dominate British and Irish Lions to avoid series whitewash
Dylan Pietsch scores the Wallabies' first try in Sydney despite a desperate tackle from the British & Irish Lions' Finn Russell.
Despite an extended delay just after half-time due to turbulent weather and the threat of lightning, the Wallabies finished their series against the British & Irish Lions on a high as they clinched a 22-12 victory in Sydney on Saturday.
In a drama-filled encounter, play was stopped early in the second half due to a lightning storm and the players were off the field for 40 minutes before the match resumed.
In the end, the defeat means the Lions failed in their bid to seal a 3-0 series whitewash against a revitalised Australia outfit, who dominated for long periods and were deserved winners in the end.
Tries from Dylan Pietsch, Max Jorgensen and Tate McDermott got the job done for the Wallabies while Tom Lynagh slotted a penalty and Ben Donaldson added a couple of conversions.
For the Lions, Jac Morgan and Will Stuart crossed the whitewash and Finn Russell slotted one conversion.
Click here for scorers
The match started with heavy rain pelting down but, despite that, the Wallabies held a slight edge in the territorial and possession stakes.
The home side had the better of the early exchanges and after an extended period camped inside the tourists’ 22, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii did brilliantly to draw in a couple of defenders before offloading to Pietsch, who dotted down in the left-hand corner.
The rest of the half was a slugfest as the sides went hammer and tongs at each other in a bid to gain the ascendancy but point-scoring opportunities were few and far between.
The Wallabies did most of the attacking during the rest of the half but they were met by a resilient defensive effort from the tourists and the only points scored during the rest of the half was a 34th minute penalty from Lynagh.
Five minutes prior to that, Lions skipper Maro Itoje was forced off the field for a HIA, which he failed, and it was a similar story two minutes before half-time when Tommy Freeman also departed as the hosts held an 8-0 lead at the interval.
The attritional nature of this encounter continued in the second half and shortly after the restart James Ryan also had to leave the field due to a head knock, while the Wallabies lost the services of Lynagh due to a similar injury.
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Proceedings were then brought to an abrupt end due to the atrocious weather and after that extended break the teams returned to resume hostilities.
The visitors did most of the attacking as they tried to narrow the gap but things went pear-shaped in the 55th minute when a pass from Blair Kinghorn to Bundee Aki close to the halfway line was fumbled by the centre and Jorgensen pounced on the loose ball before racing away to score the hosts’ second try.
The Lions needed a response and that came in the 61st minute when Morgan burrowed his way over the try-line from close quarters but despite that score, the Wallabies finished stronger.
Australia were once again camped inside the Lions’ 22 during the game’s closing stages and in the 69th minute the visitors were reduced to 14 men when Ronan Kelleher was yellow carded for a cynical defensive foul close to his try-line.
The hosts made full use of their numerical advantage as McDermott then scored what proved to be the match-winning try after selling the defence a dummy deep inside Lions territory.
Despite that score, the visitors did not surrender and Stuart added some respectability to the final score when he dotted down from close quarters in the game’s dying moments.
The teams
Wallabies: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Max Jorgensen, 13 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Dylan Pietsch, 10 Tom Lynagh, 9 Nic White, 8 Harry Wilson (c), 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Tom Hooper, 5 Will Skelton, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Billy Pollard, 1 James Slipper
Replacements: 16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17 Angus Bell, 18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Jeremy Williams, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Andrew Kellaway
British and Irish Lions: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Blair Kinghorn, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 James Ryan, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Ollie Chessum, 20 Jac Morgan, 21 Ben Earl, 22 Alex Mitchell, 23 Owen Farrell
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (GRU)
Assistant Referees: Ben O’Keeffe (NZR), Andrea Piardi (FIR)
TMO: Marius Jonker (SARU)
FPRO: Richard Kelly (NZR)