British and Irish Lions news: Lions prevail, but tested yet again

By Aidan Leo

The British and Irish Lions defeated the ACT Brumbies 36-24 on Wednesday, July 9.

The Lions’ relative dominance came with its share of adversity.

Like their match against the Waratahs, this game showed the Lions still have plenty to work on ahead of the Wallabies Test matches.

With only the Australia–New Zealand Invitational match left before the Tests, coach Andy Farrell and his staff will have taken plenty from this performance.

“We kept them in the game” says Farrell

“It was the same as the other games, there was some good stuff, especially in the first half. There was some nice, flowing attacking play that was played at a good tempo,” Farrell told Sky Sports.

“On the flip side, we kept them in the game. We dominated field position, but we kept them in with a sniff, especially when you get over the line three times and don’t convert them.

“Congratulations to the Brumbies, they came out of the blocks and stayed in the fight until the last minute.

Despite Blair Kinghorn’s unfortunate injury, Farrell appeared calm about its long-term implications.

“I was just speaking to him [Kinghorn]. He said somebody landed on his knee and he was just feeling something. He’s walking around, so hopefully it’s not too serious.”

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Captain’s take

“I think it’s a step forward. Obviously, we left a few tries out there. We probably wanted to be a bit more clinical.

“We invited a lot of pressure back on ourselves. We want to be a bit more ruthless in that regard,” captain Maro Itoje said, after the game.

“We are happy with the win. Rugby is a tough sport, so you take the wins when they come. We know there is loads more, we know we can be better. That is an exciting opportunity for us.

“We’ve got another tough game on Saturday then the real fun begins. We just need to get better, tighter, we’ll learn from our errors and move forward.”

Standouts 

The Irish contingent impressed yet again.

Scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park proved he is the best option to start in the Tests.

He was awarded Man of the Match for his efforts.

With Garry Ringrose impressing in this outing and Huw Jones equally as dynamic last week, the battle for the number 13 is a toss-up for Farrell.

Flanker Josh van der Flier picked up a try off the bench, illustrating his experience and consistency around the park.

Dan Sheehan put in another solid shift, and is one of the Lions’ most important players and leaders.

Additionally, James Lowe looks all set at left wing, his link-up play and urgency was a notable positive from his performance.

Although there has been plenty of rotation throughout the tour, the games against the franchises have given Farrell valuable answers — but also raised a few questions for him to solve before the Tests.

Ultimately, though the Lions suffered some injuries and withdrawals, the tour games were crucial for refining the squad’s selection and performance to meet the demands of international play.

The Lions play their final game before the Wallabies Tests against the Australia-New Zealand Invitational side on Saturday, July 12, in Adelaide.

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