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It wasn’t exactly a dominant performance from the British and Irish Lions, but they did enough to take the early advantage in the three-Test series against Australia, winning the first Test in Brisbane last Saturday 23-21.
For the Wallabies it will remembered as the one that got away, with James O’Connor and Kurtley Beale missing four penalty goals and one conversion out on the field between them.
Beale had two attempts in the last five minutes to recreate his Bloemfontein heroics from a few years ago, but will be remembered only for his slip attempting the last kick of the match.
In reply, Robbie Deans has predictably named a largely unchanged side, save for some forced by injury.
Berrick Barnes and Pat McCabe both finished the first Test on stretchers, and Barnes will miss this Test, while McCabe has been ruled out for the season with a recurrence of his neck injury sufferd in the 2012 Spring Tour.
Digby Ioane has also been ruled out for the rest of the Lions series.
The Lions have made five changes themselves, with flanker Sean O’Brien winning a berth on the bench, countryman Tommy Bowe replacing Alex Cuthbert on the wing and, rather surprisingly, scrumhalf Mike Phillips being dropped from the 23 completely.
Geoff Parling comes into lock for the injured Paul O’Connell, and Mako Vunipola will start at loosehead for the injured Alex Corbisiero.
The teams line-up this way for Melbourne:
Australia: Kurtley Beale; Israel Folau, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Christian Lealiifano, Joe Tomane; James O’Connor, Will Genia; Wycliff Palu, Michael Hooper, Ben Mowen; James Horwill (captain), Kane Douglas; Ben Alexander, Stephen Moore, Benn Robinson. Replacements: Saia Fainga’a, James Slipper, Sekope Kepu, Rob Simmons, Liam Gill, Nick Phipps, Rob Horne, Jesse Mogg.
British and Irish Lions: Leigh Halfpenny; Tommy Bowe, Brian O’Driscoll, Jonathan Davies, George North; Jonathan Sexton, Ben Youngs; Jamie Heaslip, Sam Warburton (captain) , Dan Lydiate; Geoff Parling, Alun-Wyn Jones; Adam Jones, Tom Youngs, Mako Vunipola. Replacements: Richard Hibbard, Ryan Grant, Dan Cole, Tom Croft, Sean O’Brien, Conor Murray, Owen Farrell, Alex Cuthbert.
Last week’s Q and A went really well, so we’ll do it again today over lunch for 90 minutes, from 12:30pm. Start shooting your questions through now though, and I’ll start working my way through them and my sandwich at the same time.
Here are some starting points for you:
• What lessons has Robbie Deans taken from the first Test?
• How big a distraction might the IRB’s decision to appeal James Horwill’s ‘not guilty’ finding, for the alleged stomp on Alun-Wyn Jones in Brisbane?
• Have the Lions panicked with some of their unforced changes?
• How big a loss is Paul O’Connell?
Looking forward to the discussion from 12:30pm AEST.