The final Lions tour match before the first Test against the Wallabies on Saturday is taking place tonight in Canberra as the Brumbies host the British and Irish Lions. We’ll have live scores and commentary from 7.30pm AEST.
Already much has been made of the scheduling of this fixture.
Jake White has come out whinging that as the top team in the Australian conference the Brumbies should have had prime billing against the Lions in the form of a Saturday night game.
The problem for the ACT side is that Canberra Stadium can host just 25,000 people, just as Newcastle did against the Combined Country side, whereas the Reds packed out Suncorp Stadium with 50,000 and the Waratahs packed out Allianz Stadium with 40,000.
Money talks and Canberra is too small.
The Lions meanwhile would no doubt prefer a full week of preparation in Brisbane ahead of the first Test rather than this detour into the nation’s capital.
The team that runs out tonight will feature not a single starter for the first Test on Saturday.
In fact the best any of the Lions players on display tonight can hope for is to force their way onto the bench.
This makes the Brumbies the most likely of the Australian teams to topple the Lions. The Brumbies are best able to cover the loss of their Wallabies and have the bonus of two players being released from camp to play tonight.
The front row is a little inexperienced and the second row lacks grunt but the backrow and backline doesn’t miss a step.
Kimlin and Fainga’a will be strong all game, Speight is the best finisher in the country and Mogg may be the only man in Australian rugby who has the capacity to win a kicking duel with Lions fullback Kearney.
The Brumbies would have had an unchanged halves pairing too but sadly Nic White has suffered a shoulder injury at exactly the wrong time of the season, for the second year running.
Injuries are striking the Lions before the test series even begins with Manu Tuilagi (shoulder), George North (hamstring) and Brian O’Driscoll (groin) all suffering minor niggles while Tommy Bowe’s tour has already ended and Jamie Roberts’ is in doubt after a suspected torn hamstring on Saturday night against the Waratahs.
Gatland is in fact putting his backs in cotton wool with only one backline player (outside the halves) originally named in the touring party.
Shane Williams, the Welshman with the dancing feet is called out of retirement for one last hurrah and the English backline of Twelvetrees, Barritt and Wade is lifted wholesale to provide cover for the Test starters.
Apparently a small amount of rain is predicted for the match which could spoil the event and would probably play into the Lions’ hands. It’ll be a cold game, but that won’t surprise the Canberra faithful.
Despite that this should be a close game and the Brumbies are primed to knock off the Lions in an upset.
Join us on The Roar from 7.30pm AEST for live updates and scores.
dmac
Guest
"Second string" as in "second choice". Yes.
dmac
Guest
I don't want to get into it because the Brumbies don't deserve to have their victory tarnished. It was a much weaker Lions outfit than took on the Reds and Waratahs. Just enjoy the moment and don't overstate White's genius.
David of Canberra
Guest
sorry, mate, you're way off the pace - there were 11 first-choice Brumbies not available through selection to the Wallabies and injury. Only two of the Brumbies last night had played for the Wallabies - a bit different to the Test caps out on the field from Wales, England, Ireland and Scotland.
James
Guest
A 'straight provincial team' and a 'franchise' are not mutually exclusive.. Anyway a great win!!
Sage
Guest
So you need to use excuses when you come here. Gotcha.
Jiggles
Roar Guru
2001 faced super teams.
Red Kev
Guest
I was going to say that my preview article was spot on, then I read it and realised someone at the roar did some serious polishing of the prose (I smell Brett's hand as a Canberra native).
sportym
Guest
Was it not something like 500 test caps v 28. And rathbone has 26 of those ;)
Ben.S
Roar Guru
It's taking place in Australia. Of course it is.
Gormon Kinchley
Guest
I didn't know that the Lions Tour was an Excuse making competition.
Pabs
Guest
Well done to the Brumbies best team definitely won. I have to say I had grave concerns about the lions team before the kick off. They looked so dejected. Was this the realisation that they had not made the test team? Twelvetrees, Barritt, Wade, all did not have good games but as someone has already said its hard to criticise them too much when the ball they were getting was pretty dire. Best was terrible tbh and this performance highlights why he was not originally picked when so many felt he should have been. He's been in this dip in form for a while now. I think the lions management missed a trick by not making changes at half time but Gatland was obviously very reluctant to use any players that may be on the bench for the test.
Ben.S
Roar Guru
Barritt was on holiday. Wade and Argentina were in Argentina. What I find frustrating is a) Gatland's pre-match comments stating that dropping a game wouldn't be a huge loss as long as the Test series was won. He said that prior to the tour and then attempted to take some steam off it by subsequently stating that obviously everybody would have a fair crack at the Tests. That isn't what I would infer from the above comment, were I an actual player; b) the reluctance to use his subs - Best should have been hooked at half-time, and Grant, for all his endeavour is not dynamic enough to be in a front row with Best and Stevens. The pack was unbalanced, and whilst the backline injuries obviously played a factor not selecting a third 10 was always an unecessary risk, as was carrying Rob Kearney with them all this time. Lots of little issues seemed to compound themselves. Lastly, this is no great Brumbies side. It was passionate and physical, but nothing exceptional, and this might put a spring in the step of the Wallabies. I think it's the sort of game that puts cracks into a tour. Rant over. Hoping for more on Saturday.
jeznez
Roar Guru
Smith was excellent, got shunted around once the reserves came on but stiffened back up a bit once Oosthuizen came on - was still getting driven back but the Brumbies managed to win two scrappy balls on their own feed late in the game that were crucial.
LionRampant
Guest
I agree. The backs were a new "scratch" outfit. Not without experience, however. But they couldn't be expected to knit together as well as a fully-drilled unit. That said, the English 3 have all been together in Argentina. Grant, the Loose-Head Prop, is new-ish to the Lions, but has come from the Scots Tour in South Africa, so he's not gone cold with off-season. The rest of them have all been there from the start. Well, Rory was a bit late, but not much. There's not much else for them to do but Scrum, Lineout, Breakdown, Ruck & Maul. Which of that went well? They lacked leadership, aggression, nous, go-forward, game-management and cohesion. The only good thing to come out of it (for the Lions....) is that any ideas of complacency will be well and truly rinsed out of those red shirts prior to the tests. Wakey-wakey time, ye useless slabs of red-meat ye.
jeznez
Roar Guru
Still got two front jumper locks and a back rower leading your lineout. I lean towards Douglas off the bench and Kimlin at 6, Palu at 8, while MMM and Horwill fill the locks. You lose an experienced caller but have a taller lineout than we have had in a long while. Given Kimlin being released to play tonight I can only suspect he would be considered as a bench player at most. Mowen must have the inside running having been kept in the squad.
Ben.S
Roar Guru
The lineout was disgraceful. Gatland selected two 4 locks, but Best threw out numerous wonky throws, so obviously you can't play percentage rugby if you're struggling at the breakdown. Twelvetrees was always dealing with ball well behind the gainline. It pretty does make them 2nd stringers. Matt Stevens, for example, was off the pace 2 years ago, has put a stone on since then and isn't even the best 3 at Saracens. Given the form that David Wilson showed in Argentina and against the Barbarians his non-selection looks outrageous, and the same applies to Joe Launchbury. These comments were all made prior to the Lions leaving the UK. Anyway, Wade and Twelvetrees are 2nd choice for England and Hogg is a 15. You can't expect any side to turn something on with only one training session together, especially against a side like the Brumbies who play such basic rugby.
bennalong
Guest
But he makes basic errors too often. I have no doubt he'll deal with these issues but they happen too frequently to rave about him as Wallabies 10 right now Having said this his tackling is top class and he hits the line fearlessly !
By the sounds of it the problem wasn't so much in the backs, but more the control from the forwards. As I said missed the full match, will have to wait for a rerun. Still doesn't make them second string players though.
Ben.S
Roar Guru
Tbf to the backs (especially the inside backs) they were living off of disgraceful ball. I actually feel pretty sorry for Youngs and Twelvetrees. Youngs has been snappy all tour and then he's dealing with that sort of dross.
bennalong
Guest
Steven Larkham was a fullback !