Farrell's Lions look to clinch the series against wounded Wallabies
The series is on the line for the Lions as they face the Wallabies at the MCG today in Melbourne [KO 11am Irish time, Sky Sports]. If Andy Farrell's men win this second Test, the series is theirs.
So Joe Schmidt's Wallabies are fighting for their lives with this chance to take it to a series decider in Sydney next weekend. You suspect that even some of the most hardcore Lions fans would be in favour of that happening.
Not that they wouldn't enjoy watching their team finishing the job here and now. Farrell's men have had a determined air about them this week.
The hosts, meanwhile, have more of a swagger, having welcomed back big hitters Will Skelton and Rob Valetini, as well as Langi Gleeson on the bench. With the solid Dave Porecki coming in at hooker, it looks like a much better Wallabies 23 than last weekend.
They have stars like the formidable 20-year-old wing Max Jorgensen and the athletic 21-year-old centre Joseph Suaalii, who they will hope to see more from this time around. The Wallabies have Schmidt's clever coaching in their corner as well.
So they have a sense that with their big men back, there's much better to come today. There has to be a big improvement from the Wallabies, who only got going when it was too late last weekend.
You sense that they need to start with a big bang against the Lions this time around.
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The Lions at the MCG yesterday. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo
'This game might be completely different, we might have a role reversal and we have to adapt and be honest with ourselves and stay on point if we are in front, if we are behind, things going your way, not going your way,' said Lions boss Andy Farrell.
'It is just staying honest as long as we possibly can.'
Of course, Farrell would love another excellent start from his team. He'd love to be 19 points clear early in the second half again, especially given that he has beefed up his bench by naming Ellis Genge as the replacement loosehead and bringing in Owen Farrell, Jac Morgan, James Ryan, and Blair Kinghorn.
But Farrell knows better than anyone that just when everyone expects one thing, a game can take its own course, especially when the opposition is a wounded beast.
'When you're in the opposite camp – and I've been in that type of situation many times, playing a three-game series – everyone thinks you've got everything to lose, but you get yourself to a stage where you've got nothing to lose, because everything has to be put out there,' said Farrell.
'And you ask more of yourself. Your all is given. And that's what these types of situations bring out in you.
'But from our point of view, we need to back what we believe is our potential within our side, and making sure that we're accurate with our game, and that's accuracy in all single areas, including physicality, etc.
'So we believe that we understand what type of team we're chasing, and we think if we're able to put that out on the field, that should be good enough to put us in with a good shout at winning the game.'
Lions boss Andy Farrell. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
While he points to the importance of rolling with the punches, Farrell also feels he knows what's coming from the Lions because he knows so many of these players well. As with last week, Irish players are at the core of the team.
Nine Irish starters would have been 11 and maybe even 12 but for injuries for Garry Ringrose, Joe McCarthy, and Mack Hansen. Farrell is backing his Ireland players to deliver under the weight of expectation.
If it goes badly for the Lions today, Farrell and his Ireland players will undoubtedly get it in the neck, but the opposite scenario would be a glorious one for Irish rugby. It is a rare thing to have such a green-tinged Lions team.
Not that they're thinking in Ireland-focused ways right now. All they've been concentrating on are the little moments that decide Test matches. The scraps on the ground, the right support line, and the best kick chase.
The Lions are favourites to get the job done at the massive MCG but they will have to put all those pieces together against a presumably rabid Wallabies side.
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 (captain).
Replacements: Billy Pollard, Angus Bell, Tom Robertson, Jeremy Williams, Langi Gleeson, Carlo Tizzano, Tate McDermott, Ben Donaldson.
LIONS: Hugo Keenan; Tommy Freeman, Huw Jones, Bundee Aki, James Lowe; Finn Russell, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Maro Itoje (captain), Ollie Chessum; Tadhg Beirne, Tom Curry, Jack Conan.
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Ellis Genge, Will Stuart, James Ryan, Jac Morgan, Alex Mitchell, Owen Farrell, Blair Kinghorn.
Referee: Andrea Piardi [Italy].
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Irish Daily Mirror
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The 42
an hour ago
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'This should have been Bernard Dunne 2.0... but life played out how it played out'
By Joe O'Neill IRISH BOXING JOURNALISTS are like broken records. Any and all discussions will, eventually, always and forever, return to The Bernard Dunne Days™. Four or so years usually cannot be labelled an 'era', but for a generation of boxing fans, especially those south of the border, 2006 to 2009 was the heyday. Terrestrial TV coverage, national attention, thrilling fights, and a posse of quality fighters forever imprinted on the general sports fan despite, objectively, greater success occurring in the years which followed. 'When will we – and how do we – get those days back?' is the frequent, admittedly naïve post-fight pints discussion. In truth, the Brian Peters-powered vehicle was a moment in time that will never be replicated in a time of increasingly fragmented sports media rights and growing Saudi influence. Indeed, the 3Arena, formerly the Point Depot via a spell as the O2, has played host to increasing amounts of boxing in recent years, with Katie Taylor duking it out with Chantelle Cameron twice in 2023 and Cork's Callum Walsh having his Irish homecoming at the venue in 2024. On Friday, 5 September, the boxer who many in the industry felt could have been the man to bring back the glory days will finally make his bow on the North Quays. While there has been plenty of water under the bridge over the last decade, Belfast featherweight Mick Conlan (19-3, 9 KOs) was perfectly placed to be the Capital King. Olympic bronze medallist in 2012, RTÉ Sports Personality of the Year in 2015, the biggest story in Irish sport in 2016, a television regular. The cheeky chappy, the world's best with warranted confidence, the wronged Irish sporting hero who stood up for himself. While Belfast born and bred, the Dublin-based Conlan was always bigger 'down south', but it has taken 22 professional contests and over eight years for him to step through the ropes in the Fair City. Speaking to The 42 today at a media launch event for his WBC rankings fight with England's Jack Bateson, Conlan recalled simpler times in the IABA High Performance Unit. 'I've had many a day, night in Dublin. I lived here basically from 2011 'til 2016. I was here Tuesday to Friday every week, away from family, away from everything. '…Many nights out here too, like. coming out of Coppers at around 6am, some mad ones,' Conlan laughs. 'But, you know, it's somewhere that I haven't been as a professional. I've been witnessing shows in the 3Arena and witnessing nights out in the 3Arena, but I never fought there. 'It's great, I'm really excited. It's somewhere that I think I probably should have fought a lot more as a professional – but that wasn't in my control at the time. So, y'know, now I'm self-managed, now I'm doing everything myself and I get to call my own shots, and I'm happy.' Following his Olympic heartbreak in 2016, Conlan was snapped up by American promotional behemoth Top Rank, netting one of the largest signing-on fees in boxing history. Managed initially by Matthew Macklin under the broader MGM (later MTK Global) banner, which Macklin co-founded with Daniel Kinahan, the Dublin dream unsurprisingly never got off the ground. Conlan, later managed by his older brother Jamie, disentangled himself from MTK in 2021 but had long since established himself in Belfast as he chased world titles. Does he look back with regret? 'Always. Not even looking back. Here is where I should have been based,' the 33-year-old admits. 'This should have been Bernard Dunne 2.0, you know what I mean? In terms of, like, the shows which should have happened here in The Point and stuff. That's sort of what I would have liked to happen but unfortunately it didn't and life played out how it played out, and my career has played out how it's played out.' Conlan inside the 3Arena. Wasserman Boxing Wasserman Boxing While Conlan's mainstream prominence in the south faded for many reasons – among them the removal of the Olympic microscope, his management by MTK, and the simple passing of time – he still feels the warmth in Dublin. 'I'd still say I am [more known in Dublin than in Belfast],' he says during the media day in Ballsbridge, a brief visit before he flies back to Sheffield to finish camp with coach Grant Smith. 'As I said to the boys, when I fight in Belfast, 50% of my tickets are from the south of Ireland. It's massive. Anytime I come down here, Little Gerard [Hughes, training partner] is my photographer, people want to get photos and it's brilliant. 'I always get recognised in Dublin. 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So the fact that I got in there and got that done, y'know, it was good, but this training camp has been much different. 'I'm firing on all cylinders again. The first one, I wasn't really firing at all. This one, I'm starting to come back into myself and I'm really excited because I'm expecting a spectacular performance. 'I haven't felt this good in the gym in a long time – and that's not a lie. Like, I know a lot of people say it, a lot of fighters say, like, 'best camp' and all this… nah, that has never really been my case. I've always been honest and open about that, y'know, but this one really has been the best I've felt, mentally and physically, in a long time. 'So I'm going into this fight and, listen, anything can happen, you've got to be prepared for anything. I can go in and look spectacular, or I can go, y'know, look shit, but how everything is going at the minute, I believe I'll go in and look unbelievable.' In truth, the former English super bantamweight champion is, at his absolute very best, 'European level'. Michael Conlan should be winning this fight comfortably if he wants to have any chance of contending for world titles. The problem is that similar was said in December 2023 ahead of Conlan's fight with Jordan Gill in Belfast. This was a comeback against 'domestic-level' opposition in which Conlan was a heavy favourite (even heavier, with the bookmakers, than he is for his upcoming bout). That night, Conlan, who was 'starting afresh' under storied Cuban coach Pedro Diaz, was sensationally stopped in seven rounds by his unfancied foe. Contextualising what many thought would be the final time he would be seen in a ring, Conlan says: Before that, there was an awful lot of family stuff going on which wasn't a good thing to be going on during a fight week and, y'know, a lot of personal issues which weren't resolved until probably the end of 2024. It was announced in December 2024 that Michael would be stepping away from the 'Conlan Sport' management company he had founded with brother Jamie. Michael subsequently launched his own 'Conlan Boxing Management' outfit. 'They're resolved, they've been banished now. It is what it is, and I'm happy with my decisions which I've made and happy to stand on my own feet and my own truth,' says the younger Conlan brother. 'I wasn't in a good place then. I probably shouldn't have been in the ring, especially when I only trained for six weeks for the fight and I actually was only with the coach eight weeks. 'I said before the fight that I should not fight, and then my ego was kind of questioned. 'Really?' And I was like 'no, all right, well, listen, all right, I'll do it'. 'I'd sparred him (Jordan Gill) and I'd done this and done that, but sparring is sparring – and I learned in that fight that sparring is sparring. It doesn't really equate, especially when you're not in the right headspace. 'That one, yeah, I don't pay too much attention to it because of the situation which was going on in the background. 'No fighter should have fought in that way, but it is what it is.' Conlan believes his third professional stoppage defeat, following prior world-title reversals to Leigh Wood and Luis Alberto Lopez, could prove to be a blessing in disguise. He remains a fighter with a large profile, a recognisable name, but the Gill loss, would suggest he is unable to compete at the upper levels of the sport. These are all attractive traits for a matchmaker. 'It's a fight anybody can look back on and go, 'Oh I could do that',' Conlan says. 'Great, great, come and do that. Let's see what happens because you didn't get an 80% me in that fight. 'So, the fact that I'm going into this fight and I feel like I'm getting back there, probably gonna be, I wanna say, 90 or 95 at the minute. I'm almost hitting 100 again and, once I hit 100, it's game over for anyone.' Michael Conlan receives a count against Jordan Gill. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO World titles seemed an impossibility in the wake of that Gill loss and talk of them may still sound fanciful to many in boxing, but Conlan is adamant he has the tools. 'I'm convinced. I know how I fight, I know how I've been performing in the gym, and I know what I can do and what I can't do,' he says, before offering further rationale. 'My body, I don't feel like I'm getting old. I don't drink. If I drink, I probably drink once a year, maybe twice. I don't take drugs, I don't smoke. So, it's not like I've abused my body. I've always lived like a professional, my whole career. 'I've no doubt in my engine still and how I can go. I've always been a fit person, you know? I was able to run a marathon in 2 hours 55 minutes last year – and that was my year off. I don't take my feet off the gas. I go 100 miles an hour, whatever I'm getting into, and give it 100%. 'There might be some things which are different, a lot of things which I've worked on, which I've wanted to work on. I think what Grant has done a great job doing is tightening up things and tightening up defensive movements, and defence while in close and stuff. 'It's something I'm very excited to show, something I'm very excited to do, and it'll give me more opportunities to do what I want to do when I'm in close or when I'm in long range.' While he is adding more strings to his boxing bow in camp, a rough few years have allowed Conlan to develop his intangible traits. 'It's just maturity isn't?' he says. 'It's all well and good saying when you haven't had the experience, but once you get that experience and you go in there and you know how to fight, and you know how to pace fights and you know how to do things differently instead of, y'know, look at the Wood fight where I probably overly worked. I did too much because I was winning rounds quite easy, but still trying to take a guy out who had enough grit to hold in. 'They're the things you look back on: 'If I would have done this, if I would have done that, things would end differently.' In that fight, it was more fatigue than anything that got me at the end, but that's experience and, y'know, it was my first world title fight and that's probably one that actually keeps me up at night at times. Well, I'll think about that one more than anything. 'But, yeah, listen, I've got the experience. You gotta go in there and use your experience to your advantage, and I think I'm at that stage now where I know what I have to do and know how to do it and if I can do this and that, this will work.' Conlan celebrates his 2022 victory over Miguel Marriaga. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO A self-confessed boxing anorak, Conlan has a route to a third title shot already plotted. Win his 10-rounder next month and he will pick up the WBC's 'International' trinket – a belt that is valuable only for the top-15 ranking it will likely provide. This would make Conlan eligible to be chosen as a voluntary defence by a world champion, while it is also a gateway to world-title eliminators from which he could position himself as a mandatory challenger. The current WBC champion in his weight class is former Carl Frampton sparring partner Stephen Fulton. The talented Philly fighter is a two-weight world champion but Conlan is confident and details why he has chosen the WBC route as his comeback trail. 'Stephen Fulton's the WBC champion and he's the one I like most out of all the featherweights. I think his style and my style would gel very well, and, y'know, he's the fighter I'd wanna fight out of all of them. 'And if I fight him, it will be in an away corner, but it could be in New York.' There is no margin for error anymore, though, and even if things go well, the route ahead is not guaranteed. But Conlan has already made his peace. 'I know that there's not a lot of years left on my clock – two, three max. Max. So whatever I want to do, I gotta do it fast, and I gotta do it soon – and if I don't do it, so be it. 'I've probably been unfortunate, with the fights that fell through and I've come up short in world title fights. Things out of my control have happened. 'For me, it would be a shame if I never won a world title in terms of my talent level, in terms of the effort I give. 'As I've said, the next time the opponent's hand gets put up, I'll say, 'That's me done'. No, that's it. 'Do I look back on my career and go, 'Well, you underachieved?' Yeah, I will, because I should have been a world champion. I was a minute and a half away from being a world champion. 'But, would I be able to sleep at night, knowing I've done it the correct way? I gave it all I could, didn't take no fucking steroids, didn't take any performance-enhancing drugs, like a lot of these people do. 'I'm happy, I've done well. I've earned out of boxing and, you know, I've been smart with money. I haven't been a silly person, spending money on silly things. 'I can look at myself and smile and say, 'You were smart with your money, you earned well, and you're out.''
Irish Independent
2 hours ago
- Irish Independent
The Left Wing: Rating the Irish Lions and Australia's regrets
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