Lions struggle to victory in opening tour game
So the stage was set: after months and months of debate and speculation about the squad selection, the first tour game was finally upon us. For the next six weeks, lazy Saturday morning lie-ins will be replaced with the scent of early morning coffee and the sounds of sizzling bacon. Akin to the excitement of young children on Christmas morning, Lions fans across Britain and Ireland rose early in anticipation. The 2017 opening party was due to be a simple stroll in the park for the visitors against a bunch of fringe Super Rugby players; the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians had been thrown together just seven days before, it was forecast to be a gentle game to ease the Lions into the tour.
In contrast to our expectations, the tone was set right from the first whistle, as opposing fly-half Bryn Gatland chipped a short low kick towards Iain Henderson who miss-timed his jump, and the ball landed straight into winger Sevu Reece's hands. Fortunately for the Lions, no points were conceded during the many phases of play which followed; although this was a sure sign of things to come, as the Barbarians dominated both possession and territory in the first quarter.
Despite an early Johnny Sexton penalty, the 3-0 lead didn't reflect the flow of the game. It came as no surprise when the Lions were almost undone by a breakaway try from Inga Finau, save for a quite superb covering tackle from Talupe Faletau, who was one of the Lions stand out performers on the night.
The Barbarians continued to 'knock on the door', and the Lions defence eventually broke as hooker Sam Anderson-Heather picked off Greig Laidlaw in the defensive line. It exposed a clear lack of defensive scanning; the Lions were heavily stacked with numbers on the left hand side of the ruck, while the lack of big defenders on the right was quickly identified by the home side, and they quite rightly ran straight at the Scottish captain.
As the first half progressed, the Lions started to find their groove and created chances throughout - Ben Te'o was particularly impressive, combining hard ball carrying with deft off loads. Yet the collective clinical edge was missing, as often the good work was undone by a poor pass or a turnover. One glaring example was Stuart Hogg failing to execute a simple 'two on one' to put Anthony Watson away for an easy score. There were just far too many mistakes, for players of international calibre.
If the Lions were just able to get over the try line on the stroke of half time and take a lead into the changing rooms, the game could have changed. Instead, Jonathan Joseph was held up and it was the home team who led at the interval and claimed the momentum.
Changes clearly needed to be made to turn this around, as Gatland looked to the strength and depth on his bench. Sexton in particular carried on in the form he showed for Leinster against the Scarlets in the Pro 12 semi final, putting in a poor display. The Irish fly half didn't control the game, he kicked loosely out of hand and his passing was abysmal, often a couple of yards behind, resulting in the back line stalling and not being able to move onto the ball at pace.
It was no surprise that Sexton was replaced by Owen Farrell who immediately began to control proceedings, his first contribution was a perfectly weighted kick into the Barbarians 22, which relieved pressure and gained good field position. As the Saracens 10 dictated play, he sent a scoring pass out to Watson who touched down in the corner, after quick his footwork beat the remaining defenders.
With the Lions now in front for the first time, we hoped they would settle, kick on and stretch away from their inferior opponents. However the final 20 minutes reminded us how strong New Zealand rugby is, as they showed no fear in exerting pressure on their star studded opponents - as if the Lions needed a reminder! Indeed they were close to stealing a shock win, but Mako Vunipola pinched the ball at a crucial lineout in the closing stages to save the Lions blushes.
The positives
Yes it wasn't pretty, but was it ever going to be? New Zealand is the hardest place in the world to tour, and was evidenced by the tough test that this make-shift Barbarians side provided. Yes we would have liked to have seen the Lions trounce a bunch of 'nobodies' by 50-60 points, but what would they gain from that? Perhaps a false sense of confidence for the tests that lie ahead. I think, if given the choice, Gatland would have preferred this kind of game to really test his men early and get them battle hardened.
There was no shortage of chances being created, it was just the clinical edge that was missing. The scrum and lineout were solid, which would have pleased Steve Borthwick and Graham Rowntree.
Ross Moriarty put in an impressive performance with some big hits and strong ball carrying. Kyle Sinckler looked at home in a Lions shirt, showing not only aggressive running but great handling - this tour could be the making of the young Harlequin.
The Negatives
I've mentioned the missing clinical edge already, but it's worth touching upon it again, because the Lions left tries out there. Unfortunately Hogg was at fault for two of them, the Watson chance I've already mentioned. The second came after picking a great line off Te'o, but white line fever engulfed the Glasgow full back. If he had taken a look to his left he would have seen his fellow Scot Tommy Seymour completely unmarked, with an easy run in to the try line. As it turned out Hogg was held up over the line.
Greig Laidlaw; yes he's an accomplished goal kicker, and is great when you want to play a structured and organised game. Is that going to be enough to beat the All Blacks and even the New Zealand Super Rugby sides in light of the form they're in at present? The issue I have with him is that he offers absolutely no attacking threat around the fringes. At one stage I found myself shouting at the screen in disbelief that he hadn't seen the lack of a defensive guard at the edge of a ruck, and a simple show and go would have sent him galloping into the 22 untouched. Instead he seemed more concerned with playing a set system and passing to his supporting forwards. I have no doubt that the likes of Ben Youngs (of course, not touring due to unfortunate circumstances), Gareth Davies, Danny Care and Dan Robson would have spotted the hole and capitalised.
The penalty count was also poor, but before I start writing off the Lions chances when the tour has barely started, let's put this into context. They only touched down in New Zealand on the Wednesday after travelling 12,000 miles, and were still shaking off jet lag on Saturday. It's great that, whilst in the country, the players carry out community work - but did they really need to travel 5 hours in a car to visits schools the day before the first game?
The squad are still getting to grips with the game plan, calls and systems, but they will need to adapt very quickly if they are to hit the kind of form required to start winning the tougher matches that are ahead of them. Expect a sharper and more clinical performance from the Lions this Wednesday morning against the Blues in Auckland, let's hope they've caught up on their sleep by then!
In contrast to our expectations, the tone was set right from the first whistle, as opposing fly-half Bryn Gatland chipped a short low kick towards Iain Henderson who miss-timed his jump, and the ball landed straight into winger Sevu Reece's hands. Fortunately for the Lions, no points were conceded during the many phases of play which followed; although this was a sure sign of things to come, as the Barbarians dominated both possession and territory in the first quarter.
Despite an early Johnny Sexton penalty, the 3-0 lead didn't reflect the flow of the game. It came as no surprise when the Lions were almost undone by a breakaway try from Inga Finau, save for a quite superb covering tackle from Talupe Faletau, who was one of the Lions stand out performers on the night.
The Barbarians continued to 'knock on the door', and the Lions defence eventually broke as hooker Sam Anderson-Heather picked off Greig Laidlaw in the defensive line. It exposed a clear lack of defensive scanning; the Lions were heavily stacked with numbers on the left hand side of the ruck, while the lack of big defenders on the right was quickly identified by the home side, and they quite rightly ran straight at the Scottish captain.
As the first half progressed, the Lions started to find their groove and created chances throughout - Ben Te'o was particularly impressive, combining hard ball carrying with deft off loads. Yet the collective clinical edge was missing, as often the good work was undone by a poor pass or a turnover. One glaring example was Stuart Hogg failing to execute a simple 'two on one' to put Anthony Watson away for an easy score. There were just far too many mistakes, for players of international calibre.
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| Worcester centre Ben Te'o put in a strong performance on Lions debut |
If the Lions were just able to get over the try line on the stroke of half time and take a lead into the changing rooms, the game could have changed. Instead, Jonathan Joseph was held up and it was the home team who led at the interval and claimed the momentum.
Changes clearly needed to be made to turn this around, as Gatland looked to the strength and depth on his bench. Sexton in particular carried on in the form he showed for Leinster against the Scarlets in the Pro 12 semi final, putting in a poor display. The Irish fly half didn't control the game, he kicked loosely out of hand and his passing was abysmal, often a couple of yards behind, resulting in the back line stalling and not being able to move onto the ball at pace.
It was no surprise that Sexton was replaced by Owen Farrell who immediately began to control proceedings, his first contribution was a perfectly weighted kick into the Barbarians 22, which relieved pressure and gained good field position. As the Saracens 10 dictated play, he sent a scoring pass out to Watson who touched down in the corner, after quick his footwork beat the remaining defenders.
With the Lions now in front for the first time, we hoped they would settle, kick on and stretch away from their inferior opponents. However the final 20 minutes reminded us how strong New Zealand rugby is, as they showed no fear in exerting pressure on their star studded opponents - as if the Lions needed a reminder! Indeed they were close to stealing a shock win, but Mako Vunipola pinched the ball at a crucial lineout in the closing stages to save the Lions blushes.
The positives
Yes it wasn't pretty, but was it ever going to be? New Zealand is the hardest place in the world to tour, and was evidenced by the tough test that this make-shift Barbarians side provided. Yes we would have liked to have seen the Lions trounce a bunch of 'nobodies' by 50-60 points, but what would they gain from that? Perhaps a false sense of confidence for the tests that lie ahead. I think, if given the choice, Gatland would have preferred this kind of game to really test his men early and get them battle hardened.
There was no shortage of chances being created, it was just the clinical edge that was missing. The scrum and lineout were solid, which would have pleased Steve Borthwick and Graham Rowntree.
Ross Moriarty put in an impressive performance with some big hits and strong ball carrying. Kyle Sinckler looked at home in a Lions shirt, showing not only aggressive running but great handling - this tour could be the making of the young Harlequin.
 |
| Kyle Sinckler showed great handling throughout |
I've mentioned the missing clinical edge already, but it's worth touching upon it again, because the Lions left tries out there. Unfortunately Hogg was at fault for two of them, the Watson chance I've already mentioned. The second came after picking a great line off Te'o, but white line fever engulfed the Glasgow full back. If he had taken a look to his left he would have seen his fellow Scot Tommy Seymour completely unmarked, with an easy run in to the try line. As it turned out Hogg was held up over the line.
Greig Laidlaw; yes he's an accomplished goal kicker, and is great when you want to play a structured and organised game. Is that going to be enough to beat the All Blacks and even the New Zealand Super Rugby sides in light of the form they're in at present? The issue I have with him is that he offers absolutely no attacking threat around the fringes. At one stage I found myself shouting at the screen in disbelief that he hadn't seen the lack of a defensive guard at the edge of a ruck, and a simple show and go would have sent him galloping into the 22 untouched. Instead he seemed more concerned with playing a set system and passing to his supporting forwards. I have no doubt that the likes of Ben Youngs (of course, not touring due to unfortunate circumstances), Gareth Davies, Danny Care and Dan Robson would have spotted the hole and capitalised.
The penalty count was also poor, but before I start writing off the Lions chances when the tour has barely started, let's put this into context. They only touched down in New Zealand on the Wednesday after travelling 12,000 miles, and were still shaking off jet lag on Saturday. It's great that, whilst in the country, the players carry out community work - but did they really need to travel 5 hours in a car to visits schools the day before the first game?
The squad are still getting to grips with the game plan, calls and systems, but they will need to adapt very quickly if they are to hit the kind of form required to start winning the tougher matches that are ahead of them. Expect a sharper and more clinical performance from the Lions this Wednesday morning against the Blues in Auckland, let's hope they've caught up on their sleep by then!
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