THE LIONS KICKED off their tour of New Zealand in… well, not in style, but with a win in Whangarei. You can find the full match report here, plus some player ratings here with a few post-match talking points below.
A most worrying ‘warm-up’
The New Zealand Provincial Barbarians were not the team the Lions were expecting to be hanging on against in the closing stages. Granted it’s only a few days on from their arrival in New Zealand, but their lack of clarity at the ruck and in attacking phaseplay can’t all be attributed to jet-lag.
‘A win is a win’ the spin will say. But it will take a hell of a Test series for this false start to be forgotten.
Sexton struggles
Even the most Irish-eyed, Owen Farrell-averse viewer could not have missed the disparity of form between the two out-half performances in Whangarei.
Sexton showed promising signs early on, running that pacy attacking line with venom and getting good angles on tackles. However, too often he looked like the same struggling 10 who was at the wheel for Leinster’s semi-final loss to 14-man Scarlets. The ponderous Greig Laidlaw didn’t help matters, but Sexton’s own game management was poor. In attack, passes hit the deck and kicks from hands sailed way over their target before Farrell came on and made an instant (if not sustained) impact.
Nobody can really play their way out of Test contention in game one, but for the rest of this week, few should argue that Farrell deserves the jersey.
Even Warrenball would have been nice
Very early on, perhaps somewhere between the eighth and 10th minute, there were mild hints that the tourists would be attempting to play something approaching expansive rugby. They have the off-loaders to play an exciting game, but the flashes of skill were never backed up.
Against the poorest opposition the Lions will face on this tour, Gatland’s side never looked like a cohesive unit in attack. With the game on the mixer, they would have been forgiven for crashing up and imposing their superior weight and conditioning on the NZ BaaBaas, but they didn’t have the confidence, momentum or direction to put any plan in to action.
A few good men
It wasn’t a complete wash-out. The Lions did have some players in harness who did their reputation some good.
Fittingly enough, Ben Te’o looked right at home busting tackles and unleashing offloads. It will be intriguing to see how Robbie Henshaw can respond to the marker laid down by the man he replaced at Leinster.
Kyle Sinckler was a joy to watch as the tighthead flung passes wide and accelerated through tackles. More experienced Lions, Alun Wyn Jones and Taulupe Faletau also delivered on the pre-tour calls for them to get a Test jersey – particularly the number eight who led the early defensive shift and prevented a try with a heroic diving tackle.
Blues on the horizon
The players who didn’t get a start this morning will be eager to take the performance levels up a large number of rungs on Wednesday morning, But Blues like Rene Ranger, Akira and Rieko Ioane must be licking their lips at the prospect of facing a stuttering Lions side that had to scrape past an invitational collection of NPC stars.
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