Lions hold firm after scare from First Nations-Pasifika XV
Centre Jamie Osborne scored a try in each half, and Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe also crossed for the Lions who remain unbeaten on their Australian tour despite producing a largely ragged display at Melbourne's Docklands Stadium.
It was full credit to the FNP team, who gave Joe Schmidt's Wallabies a lesson in ferocity at the breakdown and scored tries from Tristan Reilly, Seru Uru and Rob Leota, the last allowing them to creep within five points with less than 10 minutes left.
Although the Lions notched their seventh win in succession in Australia, coach Andy Farrell may have more headaches than just selection for Saturday's second test against the Wallabies at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where they will bid to seal the series.
The claims of his son Owen Farrell for a test jersey were unharmed, though, the former England captain leading from the front as skipper on Tuesday.
"Probably wasn't our best performance, but massive, massive credit's got to go to the First Nations and Pasifika boys, thought they came after us tonight," said Owen Farrell.
"They got off the line really well, they caused us some trouble ... I'm thankful we got the job done in the end."
Farrell was right in the thick of it, charging in to shove Reilly after the hosts' winger hammered into Graham with a try-saving tackle that earned him a yellow card in the fifth minute.
Moments later, Farrell set up the Lions' first try with a neat chip over the First Nations' line that Osborne collected and planted down.
Farrell had a hand in the second for Scottish winger Graham who streamed through a paddock of space.
FNP were 14-0 down after 11 minutes but Reilly returned to the field to intercept a poor Fin Smith pass near the Lions' 22 and jog over for the easiest of tries.
Improbably, FNP wiped out the lead with a converted try to Uru, who burrowed over in the 23rd minute.
Lions lock James Ryan was yellow-carded in the same play for slowing the ball down at the ruck.
Undermanned, the tourists shut out FNPZ for the rest of the half but were lucky to avoid conceding a third try after another interception.
Home fans hoping for an upset were buoyant in the crowd of 30,420 but Osborne silenced them soon after the restart, with flyhalf Smith making up for errant passing with a long ball that set up the centre's second try.
Still the errors flowed, with forward passes and knock-ons denying the Lions two certain tries before Van der Merwe latched onto a Farrell pass to cross in the corner.
Still FNP responded, rumbling the ball to the tryline before Melbourne boy and former Wallaby Leota barged through a crack to trim the deficit to five points in the 71st minute.
The drums were beating among the Pacific Islanders in the terraces but the Lions did well to lock down and ensure they head into the second Wallabies test with winning form.
"Not many people gave us a chance," said FNP's man-of-the-match Charlie Gamble.
"We showed that we deserve to be out there, and we played very hard for each other."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Caroline Wozniacki announces major personal news one year on from ex Rory McIlroy's divorce drama
Caroline Wozniacki has welcomed her third child with retired NBA forward and husband David Lee, the tennis star has announced. Wozniacki, 35, shared the heartwarming news on Instagram three months after revealing that she and Lee, 42, were expecting another baby. The loved-up couple, who tied the knot back in June 2019 after getting engaged two years earlier, already have a three-year-old daughter, Olivia, and a two-year-old son, James. And the former Australian Open champion announced Saturday that they have expanded their family again following the birth of son Max. Alongside an adorable photo of her two other children holding the newborn baby in their arms, Wozniacki wrote on Instagram: 'Max Wozniacki Lee, born July 26, 2025! Mom and baby are healthy and our family couldnt be happier!' Wozniacki's latest child with Lee, a former NBA All-Star power forward who played for the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors amongst others, comes almost a year on from ex-fiance Rory McIlroy 's shocking divorce drama. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Caroline Wozniacki (@carowozniacki) McIlroy was in a relationship with the Grand Slam winner for three years before dramatically breaking off their engagement in 2014 after admitting he was not ready for marriage. Three years later he did tie the knot with current wife Erica Stoll. Last year, however, the five-time major champion filed to divorce Stoll after serving her with papers at their home in Florida, only to U-turn on that proposal less than a month later. Rumors suggested that McIlroy had been having some form of a relationship with CBS Sports' Amanda Balionis while they were both out on tour. None of these rumors have been proven and neither Balionis nor McIlroy have outright addressed them. By June, less than a full month after Stoll was served, the filing was withdrawn and the couple have remained together. A sporting super-couple, McIlroy and Wozniacki were together between 2011 and 2013 before he ended the relationship when he said he was not ready for marriage. The duo had sent out wedding invitations after a New Year's Eve proposal in Sydney and Wozniacki posted: 'Happy New Year everyone! Rory and I started 2014 with a bang! I said YES!!!!' But only months later, McIlroy changed his mind. At the time, he put out a statement, reading: 'There is no right way to end a relationship that has been so important to two people. 'The problem is mine. The wedding invitations issued at the weekend made me realise that I wasn't ready for all that marriage entails. 'I wish Caroline all the happiness she deserves and thank her for the great times we've had. I will not be saying anything more about our relationship in any setting.' Wozniacki has since admitted to being stunned at the way in which the break-up was handled. She previously told Graham Bensinger: 'I was shocked. I thought at least I would get a face-to-face or something, but there was nothing. It was a phone call, and I did not hear from him again. It kind of just ended.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Gold Coast standard: Suns finally look like they belong with the AFL's big boys
Temperamentally, it's hard to imagine two more different footballers than Jeremy Cameron and Matt Rowell. Cameron kicked 11 goals on the weekend, and slotted each one with the same laconic air as when he's whacking golf balls into the lake on his farm. Rowell had 37 possessions, most of which were earned in a footballing form of hand-to-hand-combat. Rowell met considerably stiffer opposition than Cameron, whose bag came against a lamentable North Melbourne, a team that is driving its fans to despair. Rowell's 37 came against a crack midfield, with one of the sport's best two-way runners in his back pocket all afternoon. Rowell's motor often takes half a quarter or so to properly turn over. And Josh Dunkley, who has blanketed him in recent meetings, seemed to have his measure in the early minutes of the Queensland derby. He was doing all the right things – bumping him off balance, blocking him at stoppages and involving himself in possession chains. But in horseracing parlances, this was run on a Heavy 9 and Rowell is built for those conditions. He's low slung, incredibly strong through the glutes and legs, and excellent at holding his centre of gravity. Scrimmaging on his hands and knees – one of the more exhausting things you can do on a football field – he'll shovel out the handball at the fourth or fifth effort. For such a brute of a footballer, he also has fast feet and a recurring sight all afternoon was of him giving Dunkley the slip at stoppages – sometimes with twinkle toes, sometimes just sledgehammering his way out. It's impossible to write about Rowell and not mention Noah Anderson. The best friends are polar opposites as footballers. One pursues the ball in an almost demented manner. The other glides and slaloms his way through congestion. Anderson took a while to adapt to Damien Hardwick's ways. But he has been exceptional this year, and would be a worthy Brownlow medallist and All Australian captain. In a recent profile on the AFL website, three people who coach and work with him compared him to Scott Pendlebury. Words like 'calm' and 'unfazed' were peppered throughout the article. It's a shame he and Rowell aren't playing in front of 80,000 people every other week. But they drew their marbles, went where they were told and have made Gold Coast a serious football team. There are several things that stand out about the Suns. The first is how much they resemble Hardwick's great Richmond side just as it was about to pop – the frantic, raus raus football, the determination to attack from half back in great sweeping waves. Like Richmond's Tigers, and unlike any Suns side in its first dozen years, they don't drop their bundle following a bad loss. And there's finally a bit of mongrel about them, an attitude that GWS had right from the beginning but which the Suns failed to cultivate. A lot of them, including Rowell and ruckman Jarrod Witts, are prepared to do the dirty work, allowing thoroughbreds like Anderson the full expression of his game. Like Melbourne, they wined and dined all the prominent media figures in February. All the big movers and shakers were there – the president, the CEO, the coach, Anderson, Rowell and a lot of the best players. They were selling their story. They were asking for a fair ride from the media. And underpinning everything was a steely resolve that they weren't going to roll over for anyone anymore. Sign up to From the Pocket: AFL Weekly Jonathan Horn brings expert analysis on the week's biggest AFL stories after newsletter promotion Yeah yeah, most probably thought, thanks for the dinner but we've heard it all before. After all, this is the time of year where the Suns traditionally fall in a heap. In the last seven games of a season, they've never won more than three of them. They had a poor recent record against Brisbane, they were towelled up by Adelaide last week and they were without Daniel Rioli and Touk Miller. But they took on a premiership midfield, a midfield with depth and variety and talent to burn, and they obliterated them. Their 12th win is the most they've registered in a season. At the final break, in teeming rain, coach and players were squeezed in tight and grinning broadly. I'll take a stab and suggest Hardwick was saying something along the lines of 'How good is this?' and 'we finally belong with the big boys'. A final word on Rowell and Anderson. There's a photograph of them with Nick Daicos in the same school team in 2019. Pity the poor VCE students, concerned mainly with their studies, their social lives and playing a bit of footy on a Saturday, who had to try and quell that trio. The poor buggers should get a spot in the motorcade on grand final day.
Metro
2 hours ago
- Metro
Lions can roar to clean sweep over Australia
What a match, what a victory, what a Saturday morning celebration after the British & Irish Lions stormed to a sensational series win over Australia by taking the second Test with a seismic late try. The Melbourne Cricket Ground has hosted many memorable Ashes moments throughout the ages with arguably the greatest being the 1982 fourth Test with just a single boundary required for the Baggy Green to regain the famous urn when Jeff Thomson edged an Ian Botham delivery to Chris Tavare at second slip. The hosts' hearts skipped several beats as he fumbled the ball only for Geoff Miller to snaffle it before it could hit the ground and England were triumphant. This time the last-gasp heroics were supplied by Lions full-back Hugo Keenan who bulldozed his way over the line to give the tourists a stunning 29-26 victory in front of record crowd of more than 92,000 fans. The drama didn't end there, however, as rugby's equivalent of VAR was called into action, although this didn't take six minutes or longer to be decided and the nail-biting fightback from 23-5 down was confirmed. The first Test in Brisbane wasn't quite so gut-churning with the tourists winning 27-19 but it wasn't really as comfortable as the final score suggests with the Lions dominating the first half and the hosts causing all manner of problems as they regrouped after trailing 17-5 at the interval. The series may be decided but the third Test in Sydney will be just as gripping, with no quarter given. Australia will be firing on all cylinders as they seek to a modicum of pride and redemption by winning the final Test while the Lions have stated from the start that they want to return to the northern hemisphere with a 3-0 whitewash tucked under their belts. It's safe to assume Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt will field the strongest possible line-up and it would be a surprise if his opposite number Andy Farrell didn't do the same with the Lions chasing a perfect 9-0 success rate on the tour and the first Test clean sweep in Australia since 1927. Can they do it? The character and physical and mental fortitude displayed as they registered the biggest comeback in Lions history more than suggests they can and bookmakers agree, with bet365 posting the best odds on another victory at just 1/3. The better wager to place before another early Saturday morning pint at your rugby club or in the pub is 4/6 with BoyleSports that the Lions win by more than six points. Mirra Andreeva played some delightful tennis as she reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon before losing in straight sets via two tie-breaks to Belinda Bencic and she also advanced to the last eight at the Bad Homburg Open after battling through to the last four on the clay at the French Open, Italian Open and in Madrid. The 18-year-old Russian won the women's title at Indian Wells in March and is terrific each-way material for this week's Canadian Open in Montreal at 9/1 with William Hill and bet365. More Trending Taylor Fritz is the second seed in the men's draw and has the benefit of being in the fourth quarter of the draw over in Toronto where he dodges most of the big guns in action such as Alexander Zverev, Holger Rune and the promising Joao Fonseca. The American will potentially have to face either Andrey Rublev or Miami Open champion Jakob Mensik in the last eight but should be going at full pelt by then and is 6/1 with bet365 to take the title. MORE: Prince Andrew among 100 people who could be dragged into Epstein scandal MORE: Parts of Athens evacuated over 'apocalyptic' wildfires and 44°C heatwave MORE: From beach to bar: Fat Face's new drop is your summer wardrobe, sorted
