Fears the British and Irish Lions will be Test pushovers in New Zealand have been squashed with a muscular 12-3 win over the Crusaders in Christchurch.
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Final score
Crusaders 3
British and Irish Lions 12
The 2017 Lions tour continues this evening as they travel to Christchurch for their third match against the Crusaders with kickoff scheduled for 5:35pm AEST from AMI Stadium.
Plenty has been made of the Lions’ performances to date especially after their close loss to the Blues last Wednesday night and the pressure goes up another level for the squad as they look to get their tour back on track this evening.
Coach Warren Gatland has named potentially his strongest line-up to date and has included the remainder of his squad yet to start a match, notably Conor Murray and Owen Farrell in the halves and the dynamic Sean O’Brien at openside flanker today.
Damaging prop Tadhg Furlong will add plenty up front in his first start while George North also starts his first match on tour and Lions fans will be hoping he can provide some attacking potency to a misfiring Lions attack so far.
Of course the same challenge remains for this Lions side, strong on paper but with a third different line-up selected, finding rhythm and cohesion will be their challenge and to make it all more challenging, they face the Crusaders, unbeaten in Super Rugby so far in 2017.
Coach Scott Robertson has pulled no punches for this match, resisting calls to rest a few of his All Blacks by naming his strongest available side, Ryan Crotty, Scott Barrett and Kieran Read the only notable absentees through injury.
In what many are dubbing as an unofficial ‘Test’, the Lions will line up against an All Black tight five in what will be an intriguing matchup up front.
The battle between the two second rows will be a highlight while it is not difficult to imagine Matt Todd, the Crusaders openside flanker will have a point to prove, up against O’Brien after missing selection for the All Blacks.
I am particularly looking forward to the clash at centre today, the promising young Crusader Jack Goodhue up against the seasoned pro in Jonathan Davies will be one to keep an eye on while young George Bridge will have his hands full up against North out wide.
Tip
I am backing the Crusaders due to their understanding and familiarity as opposed to the Lions today, though I am expecting a more ferocious performance from the tourists as they build towards the Test series.
Crusaders by 6.
Join us here on The Roar as we cover all the action live from 5:35pm AEST and don’t be shy of leaving your comments on the match below!
Ash
Guest
Bad ref for scrums from a NZ point of view and how they expect referees to see it how they see it.
Derm
Roar Guru
And the actual side is J Payne J Nowell, J Joseph, R Henshaw T Seymour D Biggar, R Webb J Marler R Best K Sinckler, C Lawes, I Henderson J Haskell S Warburton CJ Stander Replacements: K Owens (Wales), J McGrath (Ireland), D Cole (England), A W Jones, J Tipuric (both Wales), G Laidlaw (Scotland), O Farrell, E Daly (both England).
Mark
Guest
Bloody Hell Theres a ref worse than Wayne Barnes
taylorman
Roar Guru
Well I'll tell you when it happens another 21 times. No one is saying the ref cost them the match. He didn't. He as just a bad ref in terms of the scrum rules. The 'home' ref definition alleges 'che.at.ng', hence the 'home'description. Wrong shoe pal, that one doesn't fit here.
Ash
Guest
The point is what happened when the shoe was on the other foot.......
Tony
Guest
Why do we constantly have to put up with referees from the Northern Hemisphere both down here and when we Tour up there ? Huge benefit for the BIL who are used to having them officiating all the time in Club and 6 nations. In anyone's terms that was a terrible refereeing display last night, thank goodness thats his one and only game. I do however think the Lions wld have won last night regardless as it was a very inept display by the Crusaders - esp their backline totally lacking in x factor ( unlike the other NZ SR Teams ). But the Lions have now played 240mins of rugby in NZ and scored 2 tries- thats 1 every 1 and a 1/2 half games - hardly the stuff to cause the AB's sleepless nights.You wont beat them kicking goals. BIL have shown no creativity from 9 thru 15 and that was prob their Test Backline last night.
rebel
Guest
I'm with Tman. We're talking 2017.
Pinetree
Guest
Jumbo - well the ABs have established combinations and the same coach. The BIL are a team of 4 nations and a coach that is only well known by Welsh players. Takes a while to create cohesion that regular international teams have already established. The BIL were no joke in defence last night, and if they can get some attack going they will push the ABs hard. I don't think their attack will mature enough to beat the ABs with the X-factor backs that the Crusaders lack (when missing Crotty as well), but my Crusaders are a good team, and we got nullified by some stoic defence. Far from being a laughing stock mate.
Jumbo
Guest
I know it's hilarious they couldn't break the defence of a club team..lol The best lions squad ever assembled, lost to the blues, just beat the cru and the babas.. true to form a lacklustre win and they're world beaters again. Laughable..
Ken Catchpole's Other. Leg
Guest
Accurate analysis, Mr Tree
Jumbo
Guest
Wow the lions beat a club team, and couldn't score a try.. can you imagine if the abs beat the stormers 12-3 . They'd be a laughing stock.
Goatee
Guest
12 - 3 - Bwhahhahahahahahhaa I'm sorry... for a moment, I forgot my manners. Commiserations to the Crusader's who played their part in a pulsating game. They remain a fantastic side and the Lions win (that I predicted before the game) has indeed, provided a reality check for the Blowhards in the NZ media (and beyond) who wrote off the Lions chances (after 2 games, LOL!) of being able to compete and live with their premier SR side. Being confident is one thing and is a natural facet of a successful or winning team. Over-confidence however, was the overriding theme seemingly, throughout NZ in the build up to yesterday's game. This was epitomised by Leon MacDonald's willingness to bracket Mo'unga (who has yet to start a test match) with the greatest 10 IMO, of all time, DC!! Furthermore, he made this announcement before a game against high-calibre and seasoned test players. Contrast this, with EJ handling of Itoje when he first began to make waves in the England set-up. At a press conference, EJ referred to Itoje as a Vauxhall Viva! He has since described him as a BMW... Post-match, there have been numerous comments suggesting that the Crusaders (inexplicably so) were 'off their game'. Their over-confidence may well have contributed to this, fuelled in large part, by the NZ media and their supporters (with some exceptions) that were eagert to promote the narrative that the 'best' of their franchises are better than anything that the BIL have to offer. As suggested, a reality check has been issued. Does the evidence from this evening's game suggest that the Lion's have the goods to prevail in the test series? I don't think so. They still need to find more cohesion and penetration behind the scrum. In spite of this evening's result, I believe they will need to score tries in order to win test matches against the AB's. It may be that they are fine tuning their attack behind closed doors in training. Hopefully Gatland has seen the enormous potential in playing Farrell outside of Sexton as 2nd receiver. The excitement is building... the next few weeks promises thrills and yeah, maybe one or two spills as well!
taylorman
Roar Guru
He's not back to his best ever test form but he's a lot better now both mentally and physically than when you last saw him in a test, and he'll start over Perenara, simply because he's the incumbent and because Perenara has more value at impact than a starter, where Smiths pass will now be seen as critical. Last year against Wales Smith passed across the face of five evenly spaced defenders to get the ball wide to a one man overlap. That would have been a match deciding weapon for the Crusaders today. Hansen is very loyal to his starters, evidenced by even picking players who won't start just to keep them in the mix, Coles for example, who's not likely to feature until at least the third test. If Hansen had ideas of starting Perenara before that match, he won't have now.
Derm
Roar Guru
If the Crusaders have their own rules for the scrum laws then that's definitely where they went down.
Derm
Roar Guru
Every game will have a Hakka. Apparently, the Lions requested one from each SR team.
Bakkies
Guest
You are talking nonsense Tman. Smith isn't playing as well as he should be. It will be very hard to leave Perenara on the bench given his performances.
taylorman
Roar Guru
Oh, you're talking about last year, when he had issues with the media and things. No that was so last year Bakkies. Both Perenara and Smith are in top form, you've obviously not been watching Super rugby, and TKB isn't far behind them. But after that match it's clear as day Smith needs to be on the field so his longer pass can clear what will obviously be a very tight midfield where the Lions will place huge emphasis on a close D. That much is obvious. Surprised you didn't think of that.
taylorman
Roar Guru
Yep, all 22 matches...the ref, sounds logical to me?
Bakkies
Guest
Depends on the selection for the ABs-Samoa match and injury cover.
Bakkies
Guest
'but rarely looked like scoring a try. They also had the rub of the green with the referee.' Eh what? The Lions butchered at least four try scoring opportunities through poor handling. The Crusaders were pinged off the park as they were constantly infringing