Lions attack does not quite click in unconvincing victory over Waratahs

Irish Times

2 days ago

Waratahs 10 Lions 21
The bar having been set in the last two outings, perhaps partly as a consequence this Lions' remodelled concoction did not ultimately subdue and put away a Waratahs side that, admittedly, played much better than had been anticipated.
Even so, this was some way short of past meetings with New South Wales' finest and the Lions. The match will still have served a useful purpose, in both negative and positive ways.
The set-piece was strong, especially the scrum, which was a bountiful supply of penalties to the corner which led to the Lions' three tries, but this comes with the rider that this Waratahs pack, with an inexperienced 21-year-old loosehead off the bench for the last 10 minutes, was some way off what the Wallabies will provide a fortnight hence in the First Test in Brisbane.
There was also much to admire in the line speed and tackling execution of the Lions in defence but although there was again a pleasing shape and plenty of ambition to the Lions' attack, despite a strong showing from the Sione Tuipulotu-Huw Jones partnership, with the latter's first-half brace a product of his X-factor.
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Alex Mitchell's running threat, along with one 50-22, also became more pronounced as the match wore on. His club and Test halfback partner Fin Smith also had some nice touches but was perhaps culpable of pulling the trigger too quickly.
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The attack came close to clicking without quite doing so, and needed more go-forward before looking to hit the edges, and three tries from 16 visits to the opposition 22 was an anticlimactic return. The Waratahs defended spiritedly and openside Charlie Gamble typified their repeated threat at the breakdown, which was another issue for the tourists.
Josh van der Flier had another productive outing but it was a more frustrating night for Tadhg Beirne and Hugo Keenan, while in the pack Scott Cummings redeemed himself with his workrate and Ben Earl had a good all-round outing.
In a familiar refrain from these opening jousts, despite clever manipulation of the home defence and nice attacking shape, the timing was slightly off among relatively new or untried combinations, thus leading to dropped passes instead of clean breaks.
The tone was set by Hugo Keenan slightly overrunning and dropping a pass from Sone Tuipulotu when the fullback was in line to break clear. Soon after, Mack Hansen picked a good line and offloaded for Ben Earl, but the number eight was slightly off balance and fell in attempting to gather.
The ensuing break in play offered the opportunity for the big screen to pan on to the newly arrived Owen Farrell, promoting boos from the home crowd. Farrell laughed them off, all the more so when squad mates good-naturedly joined in the booing.
Hansen did locate Earl on the edge with a long looped pass, but the Waratahs brought huge speed and energy to their defending, as epitomised by Miles Amatosero's monster hit on Pierre Schoeman which drew an approving 'oooh' from the 'Tahs supporters.
Hugo Keenan of the British and Irish Lions is tackled during the tour match. Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty
One area of significant strength was the scrum, and although the catch-and-drive from a penalty to the corner was held up, Sione Tuipulotu took the ball to the gain line and shaped to pull the ball back for Blair Kinghorn only for Huw Jones to time his in-and-out run on to the no-look flat pass from his Glasgow and Scotland midfield team-mate perfectly to scamper clear and score.
Still though, a Tuipulotu offload did not find Fin Smith on the wrap, and when Earl played the 'Tahs scrumhalf Teddy Wilson it led to three close-range penalties and an apparent finish by impressive openside Charlie Gamble was ruled out on review for obstruction by Fergus Lee-Warner at the outset of the catch-and-drive.
Instead, another Lions scrum penalty led to another catch-and-drive, and although the maul was held up, Jones first took a very good line on to Tuipulotu's pass in the launch play and then two phases later he did Rob Leota with his footwork before taking a double hit to score, Fin Smith's conversion making it 14-0.
Whereupon the Lions rather lost their way a tad. There appeared to be no real danger after Jack Bowen ran back a Mitchell clearance inside the Lions half when the home side went blind a couple of rucks later. But a two-on-two was beaten on the edge when Fin Smith was drawn in for Leota's pass to send Darby Lancaster clear and he bounced up from Hugo Keenan's strong hit but incomplete tackle to finish well.
All that said and done, on video review somehow referee Paul Williams deemed that Fergus Lee-Warner made a legitimate attempt at a clean-out on Hansen and thus not guilty of foul play when it looked a dangerous hit to the head with a tucked arm, and from the side at that.
In any event, on the resumption Tadhg Beirne was pinged for pursuing a Mitchell box kick from an offside position and from the ensuing penalty to the corner and catch-and-drive, Ethan Dobbins plunged over. Only two conversions now separated the sides on the scoreline.
The Lions turned to their bench, with five replacements up front and Duhan van der Merwe, a late call-up after Scott Cummings had replaced the withdrawn Henry Pollock, and this had a swift if short-lived impact.
After a good break by Mitchell, van der Flier worked hard to work around Blair Kinghorn but was denied a try by the fine corner flagging tackle of loosehead Tom Lambert.
Despite the PA announcer doing his best to encourage the home crowd among the 40,568 crowd – 'Okay Tahs fans, this defence has been resolute ... on your feet' – yet another scrum penalty was also the source of their Lions' tours.
Working off the ensuing maul, Mitchell first dummied to the openside, then swivelled to the blindside and with his Northampton and England halfback partner Fin Smith working around outside him, the scrumhalf dummied again to score untouched.
But that was as good as it got, the Lions' breakdown issues continuing as Gamble won another turnover penalty from a Beirne carry as Luke Cowan-Dickie and Tadhg Furlong failed to effect the clearout.
Whereas Farrell jnr could afford to smile at the cameras early into the evening, not so his father and Lions head coach, who had a face like thunder five minutes from the end before Ellis Genge's finish following a close-range lineout drive was overruled initially for obstruction by Earl. That hardly improved his mood, and nor did Marcus Smith kicking a penalty to touched over the end-goal line.
Scoring sequence:
12 mins Jones try, F Smith con 0-7; 33 mins Jones try, F Smith con 0-14; 35 mins Lancaster try 5-14; (half-time 5-14); 42 mins Dobbins try 10-14; 55 mins Mitchell try, F Smith con 10-21.
Waratahs:
Lawson Creighton; Andrew Kellaway, Lalakai Foketi, Joey Walton, Darby Lancaster; Jack Bowen, Teddy Wilson; Tom Lambert, Ethan Dobbins, Taniela Tupou, Fergus Lee-Warner, Miles Amatosero, Rob Leota, Charlie Gamble, Hugh Sinclair (capt).
Replacements:
Mahe Vailanu for Dobbins (50 mins), Henry O'Donnell for Foketi (51 mins), Matt Philip for Amatosero (52-63 mins), Daniel Botha for Tupou, Tane Edmed for Bowen (both 56 mins), Jamie Adamson for Sinclair (61 mins), Amatosero for Lee-Warner (63 mins), Jack Grant for Wilson, Jack Barrett for Lambert (both 71 mins).
British & Irish Lions:
Hugo Keenan (Ireland); Mack Hansen (Ireland), Huw Jones (Scotland), Sione Tuipulotu (Scotland), Blair Kinghorn (Scotland); Fin Smith (England), Alex Mitchell (England); Pierre Schoeman (Scotland), Luke Cowan-Dickie (England), Finlay Bealham (Ireland); Scott Cummings (Scotland), James Ryan (Ireland); Tadhg Beirne (Ireland, capt), Josh van der Flier (Ireland), Ben Earl (England).
Replacements:
Dan Sheehan (Ireland) for Cowan-Dickie, Ellis Genge (England) for Schoeman, Tadhg Furlong (Ireland) for Bealham, Joe McCarthy (Ireland) for Ryan, Duhan van der Merwe (Scotland) for Keenan (all 51 mins), Marcus Smith (England) for F Smith (60), Jac Morgan (Wales) for van der Flier (61 mins), Ben White (Scotland) for Mitchell (71 mins).
Referee:
Paul Williams (New Zealand).