The Lions scored five tries, all of them converted, against a kick-obsessed Rebels side in a 35 – 0 romp that ends the friendly matches of the 2013 tour of Australia.
This was a poor return for the Lions against a side that was courageous but without ideas.
Despite the wealth of ball won by their forwards and kicked to them by the Rebels, the Lions were only able to score one ensemble try, although it was a thing of beauty, perhaps the best try on the tour so far.
There is a big gap between the Lions Test side, in terms of intensity and skill level, from its weekday side. Against the Rebels, for instance, as they did against the Brumbies, the Lions had lineout and occasional scrum problems. But against the Wallabies on Saturday night, the Lions won all their lineouts and a crucial scrum early on, which influenced several scrum calls until the end of the Test from referee Chris Pollock.
Unlike the Brumbies match, though, the Lions were able to get through their match with the Rebels by playing mainly in the low gears. The Rebels made few demands on their defence and, for reasons I can’t work out, kicked the ball away to the Lions most of the time they had possession.
Towards the end of the match, for instance, the Rebels had a penalty inside the Lions’ 22. They formed a wall and moved the ball to a runner, who kicked a bomb! The bomb was defused and the Rebels attack fizzled out.
Why was the ball kicked away? Was this based on instructions from the coach? Were the players just out of their depth and – like Berrick Barnes in the Test with his incredibly inept and stupid bomb to George North (which was returned for a memorable try) – couldn’t think of anything else to do but to kick the ball away?
The other disappointing aspect of the match was the remarkably poor play of Luke Burgess. Burgess was slow to the rucks and mauls to clear the ball. He stood over the ball for an eternity before clearing it. His passing was poor. He knocked on.
Why oh why was he brought back to Australia by the Rebels? And surely he can’t be a candidate for selection in the Wallaby squad for the third Test?
The best aspect of the game was the passion showed by the Lions supporters. They supported their team with their Li-ONS! Li-ONS! Li-ONS! chants, even though their side didn’t actually need this support.
Before the match, too, they wandered around wonderful Melbourne in genial, red-shirted (men and women) groups, through the galleries showing a marvellous Monet exhibition and the equally marvellous pubs and eating places.
I chatted to several groups. They were relieved (as they should have been) that Kurtley Beale missed his last two shots at goal to give the Lions the first Test. And they were adamant the Lions would win the second Test quite comfortably.
What this was based on I wouldn’t know. What we will find out is whether the Lions were somehow slightly over-awed by the occasion of the first Test. And with the confidence of being one-up they could, one supposes, come back very strongly on Saturday night.
Or are the Lions finding the grind of constant moving and coming to the end of a long season a couple matches too much?
The point that really struck me about the first Test is that despite the fact virtually everything that could go wrong went wrong for the Wallabies, they were within two missed penalties at the end of the Test from snatching a victory.
There were moments in the Test when I thought the Lions would release an avalanche of points. But the avalanche never came.
It was the Wallabies who came back, despite the fact that at times they had players carrying injuries (Adam Ashley-Cooper and Digby Ioane) still on the field.
And as Rod Macqueen said on Monday, the Wallabies actually played better and came closer to winning than they did 12 years ago in the first Test against the Lions. Macqueen, of course, knows a thing or two about winning a Test series against the Lions after losing the first Test.
I’ve been struck by the media commentary, which has been generally supportive of the Wallabies, even those journalists who have campaigned against Robbie Deans.
What does this all mean? The suspicion is, and the match against the Rebels did nothing to disprove this, the Lions are running out of gas. The point here is that it was the under-done Wallabies who stormed back at the end of the Test.
The big issue for Deans is whether he plays some of the players, especially Christian Lealiifano, on Saturday night. All the talk is that this will happen.
Given what happened in the first minutes of play last Saturday, it’ll be a huge call if it is made. But against this is the fact that Lealiifano’s play at inside centre has been a crucial part of the Wallabies’ game plan to stretch the Lions defensive patterns.
There is one further consideration, too, for Deans. He is in the position where there is no margin for selection errors. Beale’s missed goals have had the effect of giving the Lions the luxury of losing and still staying in the series.
mania
Guest
its ok richard. only hurts a little now
Gavin Melville
Roar Pro
Yeah, I suppose you're right. Fair nuff. They were a bit over-powered to make a go of it.
Bakkies
Guest
He put Hegarty under awful pressure by throwing a half volley in the in goal. Not as bad as the pie he threw Giteau in Paris though.
Bakkies
Guest
Gavin, you can't have a running game so far behind the gain line in the modern game. The Rebels were going metres back to try and go forwards. By the time they got there the Lions swallowed them up.
Gavin Melville
Roar Pro
Nah, I reckon Michell has slipped the Judicial Officer a tenner for that. Mitchell will miss the Rebels' next Super Rugby fixture. So no hanging about during the break for that meaningless last fixture. He's off on his holidays now and will be topping his tan up asap. Result.
Billy Bob
Guest
Bozo, you just gave me an idea. When the army revs up their L -I-O-N-S chant, the locals could chime in with OFF -SIDE between each Lions beat. The officials might the get the idea.
bozo
Guest
As well as the referee turning a blind eye to the Lions backline continually playing off-side, now Mitchell has been suspended for a week because Zebo jumped in the air when being tackled. If they want the tour to continue into the future, they can't have referees and citing officials who stand in awe.
Jerry
Guest
Plus of course the current coach played against the Lions for Waikato in 93, scoring a try.
atlas
Guest
not the same, but NZer Riki Flutey played for the Wellington Lions v the B&I Lions in 2005, and later played for the Lions on their 2009 SA tour. Wiki says: On 30 May 2009 he became the first player to play for and against the British and Irish Lions in a tour match. Thomas Waldrom was also in the Wellington Lions team that day, and went on to play for England in 2012 but missed selection for this tour.
James P
Guest
The Rebels were clearly outplayed but it was pretty obvious from where I was sitting that the Ref was letting the Lions get away with murder with regards to the offside law. There were repeated instances where players were a couple of metres offside for the Lions. What was really frustrating (for a Rebels supporter) was that the Ref was extremely keen on giving the Rebel's strong encouragement to stay onside. Would have been nice to see him do that once or twice for the Lions. The Rebel's recruitment for next year seems pretty good, filling in the gaps on the props side. Burgess is a bit of a weird choice particularly with Stirzaker there. I'd have saved the money on Burgess and filled one of the other positions with someone stronger (say hooker or another winger)
Gavin Melville
Roar Pro
Yeah - thought I'd seen it someplace: www.theroar.com.au/2013/06/25/rebels-to-play-running-rugby-against-lions/ "The Melbourne Rebels won’t follow the Brumbies blueprint and will play to their own strengths by backing their expansive attacking game in Tuesday night’s clash with the British and Irish Lions." What an opportunity missed. And this bloke seems to think it's his right to do what he wants: http://www.theroar.com.au/2013/06/25/oconnor-desperate-to-stay-at-no-10/ "Under-fire playmaker James O’Connor has stressed he wants another crack at the Wallabies number 10 jersey" Well get some practice in, son. Play there for Melbourne v the Lions with Farrell at the helm. Learn.
Gavin Melville
Roar Pro
The Lions looked like they couldn't be @rsed most of the time, as from early on it was obvious what the result would be. They flipped the ball about nicely at times, but dropped it occasionally. At least they had a go. The Lions pack had a nice day out, too, strolling through the game, dominant. Even got a penalty try. But the big disappointment in this was that the Rebels failed to take the opportunity to have a run. Everything got kicked. I was led to believe they had a running game. I can't see how that's going to encourage the locals along to watch their club. Aren't they the new franchise? Don't they want to build up a rapport with the city? Establish a reputation as entertainers. And someone made a very good point about O'Conner being released to play. Why couldn't that happen? He needs the practice at #10, gets to play against Farrell, enhances his rep with the Melbourne crowd, chance to practice his kicking maybe, new entry on his website .... 55 mins and off. Round of applause. Minimal chance of injury.
Mart
Guest
HCP - I was at the game last night and thought about 75% of the crowd were Lions followers. I was in the upper tier so had a reasonably panoramic view. Worryingly we got talking to a tour group of Lions fans at the game who said that many of the tour parties were off doing stuff like Yarra Valley, Great Ocean Road etc, and so numbers would be swelled by Saturday. Yikes !
jeznez
Roar Guru
worked for Nick Farr-Jones
HardcorePrawn
Roar Guru
Just a thought: Gareth Delve must be one of only a few players, eligible for the Lions, to have played against them representing a SH team. Apart from players called up for Barbarians duties, have there been many others in recent Lions tours?
richard
Guest
Fair enough,but one player infringing doesn't quite compare to an entire team doing it i.e the entire French team on defence in the Cardiff match (sorry,mania).
HardcorePrawn
Roar Guru
I think the Rebels knew they were on a hiding to nothing in this match, but they would have taken a lot of heart from the attendance: nearly 30,000, a sell-out at the stadium my kids call the 'Bubble Dome', and many there to support the local team rather than all being expats and tourists from the UK & Ireland. Not bad for Melbourne, where the local media would rather report on a Collingwood player's chipped fingernail than cover this tour. From where I sat I did notice a few empty seats amongst the pricier areas of Aami Park (I was in the cheap seats). This was a pity as there would have been many who would have wanted, but couldn't get a ticket for this event. You can understand one or two empty seats here and there, but when you see a vacant block of 10 or 12 it does make you wonder what happened to those tickets.
Markus
Guest
I noticed he can still only pass to one side though, often turning his back to the play so that he could pass off his preferred (only) side.
Markus
Guest
That is only a comment on Phipps as opposed to Burgess. While Stirzaker being a regular part of the squad all season would have played its part, his play after coming on was far superior to Burgess', especially the speed of play. I'd be willing to give Burgess benefit of the doubt for an off day, but his speed getting to and clearing the ball from the breakdown has always been an issue in his game.
Bruce
Guest
rabbitfan, I couldn't agree more, and all of my mates and I don't understand why knowledgeable scribes like Spiro don't point this out more often, and why selectors pick him. Barnes is a liability. He can be an astute player when he runs the ball, but time and time again he loses games with his moronic kicking -- often chip kicks when he's in his opponents' 22. He cost the Wallabies last week's test.