Wallabies v British and Irish Lions: Five takeaways as tourists ‘absolutely outplayed’ in win that ‘cannot be understated’
Wallabies lock Nick Frost celebrates against British and Irish Lions in third Test.
Following a 22-12 win for the Wallabies against the British & Irish Lions, here’s our five takeaways from a wet weather clash at Accor Stadium in Sydney in Saturday.
The top line
If you’re a Lions fan, the 2025 British and Irish Lions series fizzled out like a damp squib in the torrential rain and thunder of Sydney. However, life is always about lenses, and if you’re an Australian, you might just be saying this was the start of a new era for the Wallabies, avenging a defeat last weekend that didn’t sit well with them.
Inspired by Nic White, Will Skelton, Tom Hooper and Taniela Tupou, the Wallabies were faster, more direct and more physical than at any stage in this series, and their sheer suffocating power caused havoc in the Lions composure, forcing penalty after penalty and getting every advantage possible in the four key areas of lineout, scrum, breakdown and the airwaves.
Australia’s tries came from Dylan Pietsch, Max Jorgensen and Tate McDermott, and the Wallaby dominance was so great that the Lions never managed to reduce the lead to that crucial ‘one score’ margin.
Nevertheless, Lions tries came from Jac Morgan, a man that perhaps deserved it more than any other, and England’s Will Stuart, who again showed his wonderful appetite for try scoring.
The Lions can point to many external influences as factors for the loss, but they would just be excuses and nothing more; the weather, their injuries, the disjointed nature of the match, but the simple truth is that they were absolutely outplayed, one to 23, by every single one of their opponents in a match that might just be pivotal for Australia as they move into a home Rugby World Cup in 2027.
Nic White swansong
For a man that’s been on the end of so many Wallaby disappointments over his long and distinguished career, this was the perfect ending to White’s superb Test contribution in the Gold and Green of Australia.
From the off, he was the terminal thorn in the Lions side, the man that created the shape, inspired the niggle and controlled the territory. His kicking accuracy was the absolute foundation of the Wallaby win, kicking 11 times down the tramlines, giving his aerial players a target that they gratefully accepted on an outstanding six occasions and making over 260m from his efforts.
Wet weather rugby is an art form, one that thrives on one-pass plays with the occasional miss move, all played close to the breakdown and at pace. And when you’ve the size of players such as Tupou and Skelton eagerly running thundering lines at pace, then the ability to create phase pressure is there, and that’s precisely what White did. Add in his speed of service and his intensity and it’s clear White’s final moments in the Wallaby shirt will be ones he’ll remember forever.
Coach killers
If one term summed up the Lions performance in this game, it was ‘coach killing’.
The amount of unforced errors in handling, forced errors under pressure in the breakdown and set-piece, and penalties coughed up through Wallaby aggression were legion.
Once Maro Itoje went off, the Lions lineout fell to pieces, returning a measly 74% on their own throw as Nick Frost and Jeremy Williams picked off the throwing of Dan Sheehan. It removed any form of platform on a day where lineouts were critical to get momentum and retain possession from the kicking strategies.
With Andrew Porter struggling to stay square under Tupou’s power, the scrum offered very little until Ellis Genge came on and won a couple of much-needed penalties, the Lions will be really concerned as to the quality of both aspects of their set-piece.
It was the same story around the breakdown, where Australia helped themselves to eight turnovers on the floor, as the Lions simply lost the initial collision time and time again. The Aussies won 113 of their 115 rucks compared to the Lions winning 65 from 69, a clear showing of their superiority in phase work and continuity, and much of it caused from the brilliance of White and his clever one-pass work around the contact area.
Add in 21 handling errors and the inaccuracy of the Lions was staggering. Sure, a lot of it was down to Wallaby pressure, but there’s no excuse to the huge error count in a Test match of this nature.
Context
The context of this win in terms of Australian rugby’s profile cannot be understated. In a nation with four or five choices of winter sport, competition for eyeballs is everything and a whitewash in this series may well have seen public confidence and interest fall off a cliff for once and for all where the code of Union is concerned.
It wasn’t only the scoreline itself; it was the spirit and the physicality that the Wallabies displayed, 23 men intent on putting to bed the harsh criticisms that came their way. It’s fair to say every man in Gold and Green outplayed their opposite number; the back-row was sensational, with Hooper quietly starring with 15 carries, the outstanding skipper Harry Wilson starring both sides of the ball with 34 powerful metres from 11 carries, a turnover and some really calm and positive leadership under pressure.
In the backline Len Ikitau had a stormer; two turnovers and five defenders beaten in 11 thrilling carries showed the quality of the Wallaby centre as he really exposed the defence and positioning of the aging Bundee Aki.
With Frost and Williams shining in the lineout battle, Williams also grabbing two turnovers in 30 minutes, the Wallaby pack, who came close last weekend in Melbourne, simply owned the Lions in every aspect and their performance will take both hope and form into the 2025 Rugby Championship.
The longest game
It was truly the longest game. A match that lasted some two hours and 42 minutes from the first whistle to the last, saw a combination of series injuries, notably to James Ryan who was stretchered off after Skelton’s knee accidentally connected with the Irishman’s forehead, thunder and lightning and a gamete of stoppages caused by errors under pressure, saw the game start and stop as many times as a school bus on the run home.
Credit to Nika Amashukeli and his team of officials; they got the big pictures and the big calls right under huge pressure, communicating clearly the protocols around the weather and ensuring that the injured players saw the care they needed.
However, there will undoubtedly be scrutiny over one incident – and it’s our favourite subject of rugby clearance. Dan Sheehan went in low to clear but clearly connected with McDermott deep inside the ruck with his elbow. It was one that the officials didn’t see, but had they done so the only question would have been which colour card was appropriate.
Did the timings play into the Wallaby hands? Perhaps – in so far as you could argue that the stoppages gave the big Wallabies like Skelton and Tupou to gather second wind into their behemoth bodies, allowing them to go again.
The final scoreline says 2-1 to the Lions; however, given where Australia were before the series started, and given the depth of riches at the Lions disposal, the cold light of day might suggest that Andy Farrell’s men underperformed – and if one single penalty call last weekend had gone a different way, there may have been a very different looking scoreline.
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