Review - New South Wales Waratahs 17 - 47 British & Irish Lions

Why are the Aussies so competitive with the British and Irish, and particularly the English?  Is it because of the colonial political and historical backdrop?  No.  Is it because of the harsh clash of lifestyles, with beaches, bikinis and barbeques on one hand, and drizzle, duffle coats and dodgy curry on the other?  Not even that.  It’s because actually, beneath all of the traded insults and jibes, we’re all really very similar.  We just hate to admit it.

The Aussies will hate that statement.  How could they be compared to the whinging Poms and co?  Well, the truth is, both nations are pretty competitive and both love a good moan, although the Aussies hate to admit it.  Take the last 7 days as an example – the Lions have sulked about the standard of opposition and alleged spying tactics, whilst the second most Australian-Australian ever (behind Steve Irwin) has declared that the Lions are only winning because they’re cheating.  I’m of course referring to Bob Dwyer, the ex-Wallaby coach, and his case was that the tourists are being coached to cheat and it’s basically a downright disgrace.  Remember in 1991, Bob, when Campo helped win you a final by deliberately knocking on a ball when England were certain to score?  Does that fall under your definition of cheating?

Anyway, after all that baloney, it was nice to finally get down to some rugby.  The Lions had fielded a strong side that looked like it might be ¾ of the Test line up, whilst the Tahs had done the best they could despite being shorn of 9 internationals thanks to the Wallaby training camp and injuries.  Despite that, they still had experienced internationals in the forms of Drew Mitchell, Rob Horne and Dave Dennis in their ranks, as well as quality club players such as Tom Carter, Bernard Foley and Paddy Ryan.  They were fired up as they marched out of the tunnel and there was little doubt for the sold out crowd at Sydney Football Stadium that this was going to be a real challenge for the tourists – a challenge that might have been daunting for the likes of Simon Zebo, who was making his first appearance in Lions colours.

Zebo was probably still tying his bootlaces when he got his hands on the ball after just 30 seconds.  Johnny Sexton pulled a beautiful pass back to Jonathan Davies, using Jamie Roberts as the decoy, and the Welshman drew his man to give Zebo a sprint for the line – only for the flamboyant Irishman to be tackled into touch by a sensational covering tackle by Wallaby Drew Mitchell.  It wasn’t the best of finishes – Zebo should arguably have dived earlier – but it was a phenomenal piece of defence from a player who has seen injury take him out of the international picture.

Luckily, for the Lions, they didn’t have to wait long to get the first points on the board, with Leigh Halfpenny spanking over a long range kick after 3 minutes, following a harsh penalty against tough centre Rob Horne for a dangerous tackle on Tom Youngs.  The current tackle laws really need looking at – sure, Youngs was taken beyond the ’90 degree threshold’, but Horne brought him down safely on his back in what was, in my view, a great hit.  A nonsense call from the referee was probably highlighted by the fact that you didn’t see any reaction from the Leicester hooker or any of his teammates.   Halfpenny then nearly grabbed a try of his own shortly after, charging down an almost slow-motion clearance from Peter Betham in the Waratahs’ 22, only for Mitchell to casually cover across and clear the immediate danger.

Unfortunately, Mitchell only succeeded in clearing the ball straight back to the Lions.  Zebo made amends for his poor finish 5 minutes earlier by putting Davies in space, and the Welshman got on the outside of the Paddy Ryan – with the tighthead prop covering the wing, for some reason – before passing back inside to Jonathan Sexton to give the fly half a clear run to the line.  Halfpenny converted, and the Lions had a perfect start at 10-0 after 7 minutes.

The Waratahs then began to try and get back into the game, with Bernard Foley dictating play nicely and Micthell making inroads, but they were constantly crunched by ferocious Lions defence – with Tom Croft and Alun Wyn Jones both smashing runners backwards and Paul O’Connell winning a smartly-taken turnover.  The hosts though, have shown in this Super Rugby season that they are capable of fighting back and striking from anywhere at any time.  Their comeback started when the giant figure of Will Skelton – 135kg of him to be precise – crashed into Johnny Sexton with a borderline late hit, to leave the fly half squashed like a bug on the Sydney turf.  When Zebo was tackled into touch, the Tahs took the lineout quickly and Foley, spotting space where Sexton was lying prone, sent a wobbly old kick over to the left hand touchline.  The bounce was kind for Betham, who skinned Sean Maitland before popping a delightful offload over the top to Tom Carter, allowing the experienced centre to shuffle his way over in the left hand corner.  Scrum half Brendan McKibbin added a sublime touchline conversion to leave the score 10-7.

Leigh Halfpenny nudged over a simple penalty for the tourists before Skelton went inches away from scoring off a lineout following a penalty for an early tackle against Adam Jones.  The giant lock came around the corner on the throw and thundered over the line, only to lose the ball under pressure from Mike Phillips and Croft.  It was a costly mistake as Halfpenny slammed over another long range penalty following a ruck infringement from the hosts, before the men in red went close to scoring a 5-pointer following a dominant scrum close to the Waratahs’ line, but they were let down by poor control at the base by Jamie Heaslip. 

The game was swinging to-and-fro and McKibbin slotted a penalty for the Tahs before Mitchell set up a promising attack with a hand off on Croft and a delightful offload to Crawford, but Croft made amends with a smart turnover on Dave Dennis and the Lions took their turn to take the game to the opposition.  And they did it with some style – Davies collecting a well-weighted Sexton chip, before Wyn Jones and O’Connell trucked the ball forward, sucking in the defence and allowing the ball to be spread wide to Halfpenny, with the full back touching down in acres of space.  One predictably perfect kick later, and the Lions had a 23-10 lead to take into half time.

The Lions started the second period like they finished the first – at pace.  Sexton created a hole for Jamie Roberts to rumble into, and the big centre offloaded to Davies who in turn fed the onrushing Halfpenny, allowing the man with grapefruit-sized biceps to scoot over on the left.  One monotonous kick later, and the Lions had a very healthy looking scoreline at 30-10.  Not for long – 2 minutes, to be precise.  Following a fumbled kick off, the hosts claimed a lineout close to the Lions’ line and Skelton wriggled out of the maul to shovel the ball onto Tom Carter, who crashed over the line for his second of the game.  McKibbin converted, and after 6 minutes of the half we had been treated to 14 points and 2 tries.  This was some game.

Halfpenny brought some calmness to proceedings with a simple penalty kick, before the Lions grabbed full control of the game with another try on 55 minutes.  Davies took advantage at a sluggish pass from McKibbin to claim an intercept and, when he was hauled down, the ball was hurled left into the hands of Croft, who palmed off substitute Tom Kingston before gassing his way over the line for a trademark score.  The try seemed to herald a mass-substitution, with the Lions emptying their bench and, although the rhythm of the game suffered slightly, it didn’t stop the tourists’ now relentless attack.  Firstly, Heaslip and Ben Youngs both made telling surges around the fringes, before Youngs found Davies free on the blindside, and the Welsh centre coasted his way over the line in the left hand corner.  Owen Farrell, sick of Halfpenny’s arrogance with the boot, slotted a conversion of his own to leave the score 17-47 for the Lions, which proved to be the final result – an overwhelmingly positive display that was only dampened by a hamstring injury to Jamie Roberts.

A 30 point winning margin didn’t do justice to a Waratahs side that was ambitious, physical and effective, with fine performances all over the park – but the Lions just had too much quality in their ranks.  And it was heartening to see, after the week we’ve had, not a single whinge after the game.  This was a match which all the participants could be proud of, and sets us up nicely for the Test match on Saturday – but don’t worry, I’m sure both sides will find something to moan about before then.  A week is a long time in rugby.

 

Waratahs Player Ratings

Drew Mitchell – 8 – A classy performance from the Wallaby.  Two try-saving tackles – one on Zebo and one on Roberts – were about experience as much as technique, and was threatening with the ball in hand all day.

Cam Crawford – 6 – Solid enough, but was quieter than he has been for a while – although a couple of good lines did catch the eye.
Rob Horne – 6 – Didn’t quite have the impact he would have liked, but was defensively sound – despite being harshly penalised for a great hit on Youngs.
Tom Carter – 8 – Two well taken tries for the New South Wales stalwart, and you could see what it meant to him.  A really gutsy display, and tackled well.
Peter Betham – 7 – A threat whenever he gets the ball, showing great pace and handling skills on the way to setting up his side’s first try.
Bernard Foley – 7 – The playmaker looked classy once again despite being behind a pack under pressure.  His distribution constantly threatened the Lions, especially in the wider channels.
Brendan McKibbin – 6 – A flawless kicking display, but also gave away a score with a lethargic pass in the second half.
Jeremy Tilse – 5 – Struggled in the scrum and couldn’t influence the game in the loose, despite some solid defending
John Ulugia – 4 – The lineout was a little wobbly and he gave away a couple of silly penalties to put his team under pressure.
Paddy Ryan – 4 – Under pressure in the scrum and ruined some good defensive work with several petulant displays that just served to make him look like a ginger-bearded berk.  
Will Skelton – 7 – What a giant talent (literally) this guy is.  Some powerful charges and deft offloads were a great indicator of his ability, although he may need to work on his conditioning – he was blowing and making mistakes towards the end.
Ollie Atkins – 6 – A quietly effective display which saw the lock slowing the ball down at many a breakdown.  Got stuck into the Lions’ halfbacks too.
Jed Holloway – 5 – Just a bit too quiet from the blindside.  Kept going to hit rucks but he didn’t hit hard enough at times which allowed the Lions to build momentum.
Pat McCutcheon – 7 – A really solid showing.  Made a real nuisance of himself in the loose and tackled anything at moved.
Dave Dennis – 6 – Not quite the barnstorming display he would have liked.  Got stuck in but struggled to leave any real mark on the game.

Subs

Luke Holmes – No time to make an impact.
Richard Aho – No time to make an impact.
Sam Talakai – No time to make an impact.
Lopeti Timani – 6 – A mobile and physical cameo display, although he didn’t quite get his hands on the ball enough.
AJ Gilbert – 5 – Relatively anonymous introduction and failed to influence the breakdown battle
Matt Lucas – No time to make an impact.  
Ben Volavola – No time to make an impact.  
Tom Kingston – 4 – No chance to show his pace off and missed a simple tackle for Croft’s try.

 

Lions Player Ratings

Leigh Halfpenny – 9 – A superb display of goalkicking, as usual, but this time he joined the line to great effect as well, which is what we’ve all been wanting to see this tour.

Sean Maitland – 5 – Disappointing.  This was a good opportunity for the kilted Kiwi but he struggled to contain Peter Betham and, despite some promising touches with the ball in hand, threw a couple of dodgy offloads.
Jonathan Davies – 9 – Another to really put his hand up.  The centre scored a deserved try and had a hand in each of the others as well.  The Waratahs struggled to contain the Llanelli man as he turned in a superb display.
Jamie Roberts – 6 – Another fairly quiet display until the big man left with a leg injury.  He ran some good decoy lines but once again he lost the ball in contact on a couple of occasions.
Simon Zebo – 7 – A poor finish early on but we can put that down to surprise.  Worked hard to get involved and caused problems on occasion.
Johnny Sexton – 7 – An early try and some sharp passes underlined the Irishman’s test match credentials.
Mike Phillips – 6 – Caught at the base a couple of times and still seems a bit lethargic, although his physical presence undoubtedly helped him deal with the extra ‘attention’ he was receiving.
Mako Vunipola – 7 – Carried well and scrimmaged pretty decently as well.  He’s probably just sealed his test spot.
Tom Youngs – 7 – Another who, in my book, sealed his test spot.  Hit all his lineouts, made plenty of tackles and carries...what more do you want from a hooker?
Adam Jones – 6 – Another quietly effective display.  Powerful scrummaging performance but still very quiet elsewhere.
Alun Wyn Jones – 10 – A magnificent showing.  Colossal in the lineout, in the tackle and on the carry, this was pretty much a perfect second row performance.  Under pressure for his place, the big aggressive Welshman duly delivered.  Man of the match.
Paul O’Connell – 9 – Was running Wyn Jones close before he was subbed.  Some lovely hands and key turnovers were highlights of yet another inspirational display.
Tom Croft – 8 – Questions answered in the back row.  In the first half he played more centrally (in the ‘traditional’ 6 role) and he carried effectively, smashed runners and made turnovers.  But it was in the second period, in the wider channels, when we really saw his ‘A’ game.  Will be gutted about one missed tackle on Mitchell though.
Sam Warburton – 7 – A damned good day in the office.  Some great work in the tackle and a couple of sharp turnovers underlined this guy’s class.
Jamie Heaslip – 6 – A great run in the second half and some  poor control at the base of a scrum made this a pretty hit and miss day for the number 8, but he was still dangerous with the ball in hand.

Subs

Richard Hibbard – 6 – Not quite as effective as Youngs around the park but a decent showing, despite one overthrow.

Alex Corbisiero – 7 – He had too little time to really push for Vunipola’s spot but he looked promising – stealing one ball and charging well, as well as remaining strong in the scrum.
Dan Cole – 6 – Got his hands on the ball a bit more and did well, especially in the set piece as usual.
Geoff Parling – 7 – The lineout guru reminded everyone that he shouldn’t be discounted from the test squad with a great lineout steal and some useful deck work as well.
Dan Lydiate – 6 – Made his tackles and a couple of decent charges, but lacked the X-Factor of Croft.
Ben Youngs – 6 – A missed tackle was made up for with a break and a sharp pass to set up Davies.  Looks in really promising form.
Owen Farrell – 7 – Once more, an encouraging display.  Decent passing and kicking should help the Lions selectors relax should he be forced to make an appearance in the Tests.
Rob Kearney – 6 – Quiet but solid.  Needs match time if he’s to be properly assessed.