- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The Wallabies fought for 80 minutes but were ultimately overrun by the British and Irish Lions – going down 23-21 in front of a full house at Suncorp Stadium as the Lions took an early lead in the three-game series.
Debutant Israel Folau scored the opening try of the game after some exceptional build-up work from Will Genia, and also scored a brilliant individual effort mid-way through the first half.
But against the stellar kicking game of Leigh Halfpenny and the Lions’ midfield, Australia were simply unable to gain the upper hand.
Much will be made of the events that transpired on Saturday night, and there’s certainly no shortage of talking points and storylines that emerged. So what ultimately mattered most in the Lions’ win?
1. The Wallabies’ wayward boots
As has so often been an issue for the green and gold, once again Australia were left to rue missed opportunities in front of goal.
They always seem like such innocuous misses and don’t feel like the most important shots on goal, but they always add up.
And in a close game (like this one turned out to be) it was Australia’s wayward kicking that hurt them most.
James O’Connor left eight points on the field in the first half with two missed penalties and a missed conversion. None of them were easy shots, per se, but they were still very makable shots – especially on the international stage.
Where the Lions had the radar-esque boot of Halfpenny (though even he missed a penalty himself), Australia only made one conversion in the first half.
When the game was on the line – and on Kurtley Beale’s boot on two occasions – both times the Wallabies were left wanting in terms of their effectiveness in front of goal.
Which, given how the game transpired in terms of the final margin, those misses turned out to be much larger than what they seemed at the time.
An age-old problem turned out to be the Wallabies’ Achilles’ heel once more.
2. Individual skill mattered most for both teams
The Wallabies certainly weren’t embarrassed in their defeat to the Lions in game one and will certainly take plenty away from the tough loss.
And while their goal-kicking will again come under scrutiny, the Wallabies will know that it is simply those fleeting moments of individual skill that had the biggest impact in this game.
If they can control those individual moments in game two, they should be well primed to attack the Lions with renewed vigor and skill.
A David Campese-esque run by Genia was the skill that led to the first try; Folau’s incredible strength and speed single-handedly set-up the second.
However, it was an absence of skill on their part that led to North breaking through the defensive line with ease and rounding Barnes with the simplest of moves.
It was an absence of skill that saw Halfpenny afforded so many opportunities to kick the Lions clear and it was an absence of skill that saw the Wallabies kick away all their chances to clinch a thrilling victory at the death.
In game two, they must be better at those little things.
Folau was brilliant; Genia was inspiring and continued to fight. Beale had an excellent impact off the bench.
But as a team, they must be better in the second game if they’re going to bounce back in the series.
The Aussies were perhaps unlucky to lose game one in a way, and need to turn that frustration and disappointment into another strong performance next weekend.
And if they do that (as they showed tonight), they can more than match it with the British and Irish Lions at both ends of the field.
3. Injuries hurt more than they should have
It must be noted first of all here that this is, by no means, an excuse for the Wallabies’ defeat in game one. They were beaten by a stronger team who bettered them in nearly every aspect of the game, and the result showed that to be true.
However, injuries were huge here for the green and gold.
It started in the opening minute with a sickening injury to debutant Christian Lealiifano, who didn’t return for the rest of the match (and probably won’t remember much about his debut test).
It then continued when fullback Berrick Barnes ran into the Folau freight train and replacement Pat McCabe also went down injured – making it three trips to the stretcher for Australia.
Throw in niggling injuries to Adam Ashley-Cooper and Digby Ioane, and the Wallabies were certainly not blessed by the injury gods in this one.
And while those injuries won’t always be the biggest issue for a team, in this game, and to those players, the injury toll turned out to be incredibly important.
Michael Hooper was forced into the midfield to try and plug some of the gap for Australia, but those holes were quickly exposed.
A swift back-line move from the Lions saw Alex Cuthbert burst threw the Wallabies flimsy defense with relative ease and score the final try of the game – ultimately giving the Lions a commanding lead in the series ahead of the second game next weekend.
The injury gods simply weren’t smiling on the Wallabies on Saturday night.
And while the result was decided by many factors other than that (least of which being Beale’s untimely conversion slip-up), there weren’t too many incidents on Saturday night more decisive than the injury toll suffered by the Aussies.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.