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No one expected the British and Irish Lions to play with the panache and skill expected to win a Test series from their first tour match but this performance against the Royal XV was abysmal. The Lions were more rugby pussy cats than roaring, dangerous beasts.
The first surprise in the match was the small crowd, officially 12,352. The reason given is that Pretoria is not too far down the road and the fans were there for a real rugby match.
The second surprise was the appalling play from the Lions for the first hour of play.
With only 13 minutes of play left, the Royal XV led the Lions 25 – 13. This was virtually game over, if (and it is the ifs of sport that make it such an intriguing business) the second division players from the high veldt had only taken their time to work through to a victory.
Instead from the kick-off Shane Byrne (the best of the Lions along with his captain Paul O’Connell) put in a high ball which was allowed to bounce. Byrne got his foot to the ball twice with speculative kick-throughs. The ball sat up for him finally to grab and plant across the tryline for a crucial try.
The Lions then missed try after try as the Royals XV began to kick poorly and fall off tackles.
The Lions began to use the rolling maul which can no longer be dragged down. The referee, Marius Jonker allowed the mauls to stop and start several times. Inevitably, the Lions scored. And then at the end there was a breakout with Ronan O’Gara scuttling away to score between the posts.
In the end the scoreline 37 – 25 looks respectable. But against second rate opposition which was allowed to look first rate, the Lions could only score four tries. They conceded three tries.
The general consensus of the British rugby writers is that the Lions got their (inevitable?) bad tour match out of their system. ‘All we know for sure at the moment is the Lions can finish a game extremely well,’ insists The Sunday Times rugby writer Stephen Jones.
This brought a sardonic retort from one of his readers: ‘Marvellous match. Huge fan turn out, top performance from England’s and Ireland’s best. Bring on the Bulls.’
You can’t take too much out of an opening match, of course.
But the Lions pack, especially the bigger players looked to be heavy-footed around the field. Perhaps the altitude got to them early.
The back line on the day, which had only one youngster Keith Earls (who had a shocker), was loaded with stars. But only Byrne really enhanced his reputation.
The Lions will surely get much better. But on the evidence of their opening match and the superb play of the Bulls down the road at Pretoria, the Lions will have to get much better than just much better to stand any chance in the Test series.
The Bulls (who will form the brawn and brain of the Springboks, surely) played like rampaging bulls.
The Lions, for most of their match, played like pussy cats.
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Allan said | June 1st 2009 @ 8:40am | Report comment
I was most impressed with the contribution of Shane Byrne, who despite having retired 2 seasons ago as Ireland’s Hooker played a sterling game at Full back for the Lions. At least according to your report. Get you facts right, the Wales and B&I Lions Full back is Lee Byrne. You do your credibility no good at all. Why pay any attention to you match reports when you don’t even know who played?
Amateur Hour said | June 1st 2009 @ 10:16am | Report comment
I haven’t seen the match, but my English mate who had assured me at lunch yesterday that his faith in the Lions has reached new lows and he is now more than ever convinced that they will go down 3-0. Whatever happens it should make for interesting viewing. Let’s hope that their first match wasn’t indicative of the quality that we can expect over the next 2 months.
Allan – marvellous comment, hugely insightful, top performance.
van der Merwe said | June 1st 2009 @ 10:21am | Report comment
Ja, the final scoreline really flatters the B&I Lions. Several stars made complete asses of themselves and watching the “Royal” loose forwards dominate Europe’s finest must have been really disconcerting for the latter’s coaches. The backline was predictable and unimaginative, obviously this team had only been together for a week or so, but that hardly excuses the amount of basic handling errors. Spiro, you rightly mention O’Connell as being one of the better players on the field, but as far as captaincy and decision making goes, he was poor. Why did he not go for the posts and get a decent lead to relieve some of the pressure? Even later in the game, when his team were still trailing, he seemed reluctant to kick at goal. Obviously the Lions were expected to put a cricket score on their opponents, but if it weren’t for the cowardice of the Royal 15 fullback, it would have reflected very poorly on him indeed.
I suppose, I’ll add the usual “early days yet” cliche now.
Allan said | June 1st 2009 @ 10:37am | Report comment
Thanks Amateur Hour – I can’t standing sneering ‘experts’. Van Der Merwe. I agree with you point about O’Connell, he carried the ball V well in the second half but I’m surprised that the press haven’t picked up on his failure to go for the posts rather than kick for line out. It cost about 9 points by reckoning – 9 points that would have really taken the pressure off.
Viscount Crouchback said | June 1st 2009 @ 11:34am | Report comment
O’Connell really needs to stop carrying so much ball. He just doesn’t have the physique for it. I’m convinced that it’s an ego thing, but he needs to put his ego to one side for the good of the Lions.
Also, the Lions ought to have enjoyed at least four penalties at scrum-time. They were all over the Highveldt scrum, but Marius Jonker resolutely refused to notice when the locals were wheeled or collapsed or popped up. One might be tempted to put this down to generosity on Jonker’s part, but it happens all the time in rugby now. Refs are persistently ignoring collapsed scrums. It makes a mockery of the whole thing. Why even bother engaging if the referee will allow the team putting in to just flop onto the turf?
I suspect that the IRB is encouraging referees not to waste too much time re-setting scrums.
Hoy said | June 1st 2009 @ 2:09pm | Report comment
I reckon if the ball is at the back when the scrum goes down, you might as well get the ball out and let the game run. A pet hate of mine is when the halfback has his hands on the ball, the scrum goes down, and the ref pulls it up to be reset.
Viscount Crouchback said | June 1st 2009 @ 2:23pm | Report comment
Completely disagree, Hoy. If the team putting in isn’t strong enough to keep the scrum up until the ball is gone then they deserve to be penalised. Referees nowadays are scared to blow up for fear of being seen to spoil the game with a succession of re-sets.
The truth is that most refs don’t have a clue who is doing what at scrum-time and are therefore delighted for the ball to get away from the set-piece as quickly as possible.
Re-sets might be boring, but the emasculation of the scrum is even worse.
Spiro Zavos said | June 1st 2009 @ 3:30pm | Report comment
Lee Byrne, thanks Allan. Also there were references during the game and in the British media from the despised experts about O’Connell’s unwillingness to take kicks at goal from easy shots. My feeling about this is that the Lions were rather arrogant and believed that the Royal XV would somehow disintegrate before them, something that did not happen until the last 10 minutes.
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Ian Noble said | June 1st 2009 @ 9:35pm | Report comment
Spiro
On another post I mentioned the Lions lost their first game in 1997 and yet won the series. This time it will be tougher.
Of course we want to win, but imho the Lions is much more than winning rugby games. 50,000 BI fans will be supporting them; great fun, good rugby, great for the coffers of SA. The Lions will improve, Geech knows his way around, but to be frank their work during the week in the Townships and spreading rugby is just as important, together with the rugby gear both new and old sponsored by rugby clubs and individuals throughout the British Isles.
The decision by O’Connell not to take kicks at goal was really the opportunity to have the ball in hand and shake off the rustiness of the first game, just imagine the outcry if the Lions had won through penalty kicks and fewer tries. Many touring sides over the years perform poorly in the first game, the real test will come after the first three games as Geech has chance to play all the squad and assess the best combinations.
Knives Out said | June 1st 2009 @ 9:55pm | Report comment
I see that tabloid is still as popular as ever in Australia. Btw, are the Bulls still one-dimensional bully boys, Mr. Zavos or have we had a change of heart?
van der Merwe, I couldn’t be bothered to debate you but I struggle to see how a scoreline could flatter the Lions when realistically they fluffed countless scoring chances.