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Hats off to the Lions, they lifted in the best possible fashion, through scrum and forward dominance, to beat the Wallabies handily on the weekend.
Lots has been said about what went wrong – I’ll add to it as well, no doubt – for the Wallabies but it’s worth considering fully the job the Lions did for themselves and their brilliant supporters as well.
Going into the third Test last weekend the Lions were still without a series victory since 1997, against South Africa.
Brian O’Driscoll, the only Lion representative durable enough to tour here in 2001 and be available for this series also, certainly wasn’t around for that victory in Africa.
That is a considerable weight of tradition to carry into a single match.
In the British press the lack of success was prompting calls for whether the series might be losing its lustre and even, perhaps, purpose.
I don’t believe a series loss would have been the end of this great tradition, but there is a certain expectation of success that would no doubt have weighed heavily upon the Lions team going into the match.
The brilliant addition to rugby that is the traditional Lions tour is enough to keep it on the calendar, and their loud, entertaining, supportive fans only add weight to that argument. But winning certainly helps.
Miss-communication between Will Genia and Kane Douglas right from the kick-off gave the Lions an early opening. They kicked the door in and destroyed the furniture before the Wallabies were able to regroup. They deserve credit for being ruthless.
The initiative was taken by Mike Phillips from the free kick at the first scrum, the Wallabies had to scramble to cover the blind side raid. A number of phases later the Lions were rewarded next to the posts.
This was the kind of positive rugby needed from the Lions to truly tear the game apart, which they certainly did.
When the Wallabies clawed back to only three points behind in the second half the Lions could have gone into their shells. They didn’t and barely flinched. Once the Wallabies got close their game suddenly found an extra gear, whenever they had the ball, especially on the counter attack, the middle exchanges drew in extra defenders and the men out wide duly ripped some poor tackling to shreds.
Playing a ‘straight and direct game’ as has been the description of their fare was crucially much more positive than their offering in Melbourne. They were brutal in contact around the ruck – probably sensing their physical superiority as a pack found during the scrum – and were not afraid to swing it wide when the defence was pulled inward.
‘Straight and direct” might not be considered flowing, champagne, running rugby that some Australian fans crave but the Wallabies would do well to heed the lessons dished out by that effective and combative style.
In fact, whatever style the Wallabies are playing at the moment, they would need to aspire to ‘straight and direct’ rather than lower themselves to it.
The Lions forwards were hitting the ball up at a better speed when they caught it than the Wallabies often do. That made a difference. And the sight of James O’Connor or Kurtley Beale trying to run around Jonny Sexton or James Phillips was in stark contrast to Sexton or Leight Halfpenny taking the ball on the quickest route to the opposition line and trusting supporting runners will get into the right position. That’s where ‘straight and direct’ wins you big Test matches.
Rugby’s simple objective is to score more points than your opposition. The best way to do that is to find the points where your strengths overlap with the opposition weakness and exploit those areas.
The Lions knew the Wallabies scrum would be shaky against their strongest pack and drove that point home – almost far enough home to place a Wallabies prop’s long Test career in jeopardy from here.
In the rucks they conceded the Wallabies might have a better fetcher in Smith, but knew their combined speed and bulk meant, through numbers, they could take away the Wallabies clean ball. This was especially true with referee Romain Poite, who is known to leave the rucks to be decided by the players. Another resounding success on the night for the Lions there.
The Wallabies backline was full of potent players, but weren’t used to playing with one another and were never going to be organised like a clinical Test side with those new combinations and a make-shift first five and flyhalf.
So the Lions ran at the outside shoulder and asked a second defender to commit over and over. The resulting draw-and-pass, or offload, saw the bigger Lions backs pour through the arm tackles of recovering Wallabies backs.
The final piece of the puzzle was the Lions’ possession of the best player in the series.
Yes, Leigh Halfpenny. Will Genia is the only Australian player who can claim to influence a match as much as Halfpenny was able to do in this series but even he was hot and cold, especially over the last two contests.
Halfpenny obviously brings a laser-guided kick for goal to the table. But his skills are far more than that.
He adds an uncanny ability to get to opposition kicks on the full almost every time. Only Jesse Mogg was able to beat him on a single occasion, and I’d respectfully rate that kick into the corner up there with the best Dan Carter might produce, it was perfection. His own kicking is very good too, especially the contestable length of his bombs.
Halfpenny is also deceptively quick, and has speedy footwork. He beat the first man on the counter often in this match and was instrumental linking with other runners in the tackle when the line beckoned.
Checkmate. That’s how you end up with a 41-16 score line in Test rugby.
Warren Gatland had a plan going into this series. He wasn’t able to fully put it on the pitch until the final Test because of injuries and some form issues.
By the time all the right men were available they needed to execute over 80 minutes to make all the planning worthwhile, to prevail under expectation.
So, you’ve got to give credit where it’s due.
The players knew their jobs and carried them out with the requisite level of intensity to perform under the pressure of 16 years without a series victory hanging over their heads. Well done Lions.
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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.