Lions 29; Australia 26
They said Irish-led Lions teams don’t do the business - well they can certainly revise that outmoded way of thinking following the Irish and British Lions series win here in Australia with a game this Saturday where the chance of a whitewash emerges for Head Coach Andy Farrell and his Ireland-dominated Lions outfit.
In the first test in Brisbane, we had eight starters and two who were in the replacements and in the Melbourne Cricket Grounds in front of over 90,000 on Saturday, we had nine Irish starters and two who saw action in the second half, while this weekend in Sydney, there will probably be a sizeable greening of the team as well.
To follow up on Saturday’s outstanding comeback from 23-5 behind to win 29-26, we had three Ireland try scorers in Dan Sheehan, Tadgh Beirne and Hugo Keenan, who swooped dramatically in the last minute of the game to break Aussie hearts by getting the winning game and series touchdown.
Typically some of the British press could still not give the England born Ireland coach Andy Farrell or the Ireland numbers in his squad the praise they deserved - instead they marked down James Lowe and Bundee Aki to 3 ratings and suggested they would be replaced.
The old colonial poison pen still exists it seems, but that might make an impact in defeat - in victory, it reduces their miserly words to little more than begrudgery.
As Farrell himself said, it is the trust he has in all his players to overcome adversity and still not be afraid to do something brilliant which made the difference in the end. Lowe had a middling game but it was his ability to take on two Aussie defenders and pass to Beirne who faced another brace in gold jersey to get the fourth try early in the second half which made this game winnable.
They were also aiming arrows at Hugo Keenan with a campaign for him to be replaced by Blair Kinghorn. Farrell stuck to his guns and boy was he repaid as the Leinster last line of defense became the last line of attack to score that historic touchdown to win a series for the first time in 12 years.
Keenan took Jamison Gibson-Park's pass, and then in a two on two situation backed himself to beat his opponent and touchdown for the winning score. If he didn’t fancy it, he could have passed to Jack Conan outside of him who would have had the heft to bulldoze over in the corner.
Farrell admitted afterwards: “I was screaming, pass it, pass it, pass it! And knowing Hugo, he was never going to pass it! He was always going to back himself. I spoke to his dad after the game and he was never going to pass it. He backs himself in those types of situations.”|
And so he will go into Lions lore as a Test hero just like so many others in history, but nowhere has there been an 18-point comeback like the men in red achieved last Saturday.
Keenan was almost lost for words afterwards. “The Lions is the pinnacle for a Britain and Ireland rugby player, and to win a series is incredibly special. And being able to enjoy that success with friends and family among the 90,000 people at the MCG capped it off.
“I’m absolutely delighted and it is extra special to do it with such a good bunch and so many familiar faces in the crowd. It was unbelievable walking around the stadium. My parents were there, my brother, my uncle and aunt, and my girlfriend. I’ve about 10 friends over from Ireland who have spent a bomb to be here but they are all saying it is absolutely worth it. Really cool moments, which make it extra special."
There was an awful waiting period after the Leinster man scored as referee Andrea Piardi consulted with his TMO to see if the try didn’t come after an illegal Jack Morgan clearout on Carol Tizzano. The Aussie milked the situation by holding his head as if hit by a hammer but slow motion showed that the only Welsh member of the squad had gone about his work legally.
Explained Keenan: “To be honest, once I saw the clearout, I was pretty confident. I don’t think there was any foul play in it and I was confident that the refs would make the right call. It was just relief, delighted and ecstatic that we got over the line. A cool moment,” he emphasized.
So Keenan emerged as the hero after a tour when it looked like he might become a forgotten man after landing in the antipodes hampered by an injury which saw him miss Leinster’s URC title run.
To make matters worse, his Lions debut was further delayed due to a tummy bug which saw him lose 6kg in the space of 12 days. That gave Kinghorn the playing advantage to assume entry into the No. 15 jersey. Then the Scot suffered a knee injury which allowed Keenan to reemerge as the leading full-back to start the first Test.
“Yes, It’s been a mad whole trip. It’s not how I imagined it going, getting sick for two weeks and coming in to camp a bit injured. It’s been a rollercoaster, but I suppose these things happen for a reason, and thankfully I was in full health come the last two Tests.
“I’m delighted to be involved and delighted that we got the result today. It's a special moment having our family and friends out on the pitch with us at the end. It’s those moments you play rugby for and you dream of.”
You had to feel sorry for Joe Schmidt and his Wallaby outfit who threw down the gauntlet in no uncertain terms with three first-half tries which saw them lead by 23-5 at one stage - Dan Sheehan getting the Lions try by diving over the Aussie tackles from a close-in tap penalty.
So, 23-5 in front after half an hour of brilliant play and scoring tries after Tommy Freeman was yellow carded following James Slipper touchdown, with Jake Gordon and Tom Wright running in great scores. It looked for certain at that stage that Sydney this Saturday would host a decisive third Test.
This Lions side though don’t always play great rugby, but they are great at finding ways to stay in the fight. Before the interval they had got in for two tries of their own through Tom Curry and Huw Jones which cut the 18-point deficit back to six - 23-17.
A Tom Lynagh penalty early on the resumption gave the hosts a nine-point cushion but from there on the Lions began turning the screw.
Tadhg Beirne was not man of the match second time around but he was a match who never stopped showing for work and his score with 20 minutes left set up a grandstand finale in front of a massive 90,307 crowd.
Finn Russell, who had a bad day with his boot, landed the conversion to leave just two points between the sides. Ordinarily, as the clock ticked down, that would mean working the play for a drop goal or drawing a penalty, but Russell sensed there was a try on offer. They had to storm the Wallaby citadel several times with Beirne and the magnificent replacement James Ryan making incisive carries, before the magnificent Jamison Gibson-Park spun out the final pass for Hugo to become part of Lions folklore with his last-gasp try.
British and Irish Lions (Irish players in bold): Hugo Keenan; Tommy Freeman, Huw Jones, Bundee Aki, James Lowe; Finn Russell, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Maro Itoje, Ollie Chessum; Tadhg Beirne, Tom Curry, Jack Conan Replacements: Rónan Kelleher (for Sheehan, 60), Ellis Genge (for Porter, 54), Will Stuart (for Furlong, 60), James Ryan (for Chessum, 54), Jac Morgan (for Curry, 54), Alex Mitchell, Owen Farrell (for Jones, 60), Blair Kinghorn (for Lowe, 60).
Australia: Tom Wright; Max Jorgensen, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Len Ikitau, Harry Potter; Tom Lynagh, Jake Gordon; James Slipper, David Porecki, Allan Alaalatoa; Nick Frost, Will Skelton; Rob Valetini, Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson Replacements: Billy Pollard (for Porecki, 56), Angus Bell (for Slipper, 40), Tom Robertson (for Alaalatoa, 40), Jeremy Williams (for Skelton, 46), Langi Gleeson (for Valetini), Carlo Tizzano (for MPcReight, 61), Tate McDermott (for Potter, 19), Ben Donaldson.
Ref: A Piardi (FIR).
Scorers:
British and Irish Lions: Tries: Dan Sheehan, Tom Curry, Huw Jones, Tadhg Beirne, Hugo Keenan Cons: Finn Russell (2)
Australia: Tries: James Slipper, Jake Gordon, Tom Wright Cons: Tom Lynagh (1) Pens: Tom Lynagh (3)
