4 Lions players who enhanced their Test chances in victory over the Reds

The 42

2 days ago

*Maro Itoje, Jamison Gibson-Park and Finn Russell have been omitted from this list as they are virtually guaranteed Test starters. Their excellent individual performances against the Reds reinforced the consensus expectation as opposed to moving the dial in their respective positions.
1. Jac Morgan (Ospreys/Wales)
Player of the Match Jac Morgan. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
IT'S BEEN 122 years since there were only two Welsh players in a touring Lions squad and, with Tomos Williams having been cruelly struck down by injury, national-team skipper Jac Morgan has been left to carry the flag alone for Cymru in 2025.
After a reasonably quiet outing against Argentina in Dublin, the highlight of which was a borderline illegal poach, Morgan's tour roared into life with a man-of-the-match performance against the Reds.
While Itoje would have been this writer's choice, Morgan was at worst a close second: the Ospreys talisman bookended a superb all-round performance with jackal penalties, winning a match-leading three turnover pens in all. He led the Lions with 21 tackles and led the forwards for metres gained, averaging almost five metres per his 10 carries.
Openside Morgan capped a fine outing with a well-taken try, with the only blot on his copybook being a joint missed tackle with Tom Curry as Hunter Paisama powered through the Lions for Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen to open the scoring.
The 25-year-old Morgan, who also excels at blindside, overshadowed his back-row partner Curry against the Queenslanders.
Jack Conan (Leinster/Ireland)
Jack Conan impressed on both sides of the ball for the tourists. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
Conan increasingly feels like the most likely Test starter at eight and he did those chances no harm with a dynamic display at Suncorp Stadium.
The Lions' top carrier overall with 13, the Leinster and Ireland back row beat four defenders and was a near-constant source of go-forward possession despite routinely being double-teamed by Les Kiss' Reds.
Conan also showed plenty of his all-round footballing ability, his neat tee-up for Duhan van der Merwe's first-half try (after an equally perfectly-timed pass to the Irish back row by Ollie Chessum) just one of several examples of his subtlety in the loose.
Having slipped off a couple early, Conan was also just shy of Morgan in tackles made by the endgame, putting dents in Reds attackers throughout.
Rather handily, too, his only real competitor for the Test eight jersey, Ben Earl, was forced to fill in at the centre when he came off the bench, with Elliot Daly's unfortunate injury forcing a reshuffle. As such, the Englishman didn't get the chance to steal ground on Conan, at least this time around.
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Bundee Aki (Connacht/Ireland)
The Reds try to get to grips with Bundee Aki. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
Early in the game, when it more closely resembled a basketball match, Aki was among the Lions guilty of forcing a pass where he didn't quite have the adequate chemistry with the teammate on his shoulder.
But after an inconsistent opening quarter, the Connacht and Ireland centre, 35, appeared to make a conscious decision to revert to his bread and butter: 'Bundee — smash.'
This had devastating consequences for the Reds, who were confronted by something resembling a vintage Aki performance.
His powerful second-half carry from the Reds' 22′ left the hosts' defence in shambles and led almost immediately to Maro Itoje's try, as Jamison Gibson-Park tiptoed through the wreckage left by Aki in his wake.
As his bread-and-butter ball-carrying became more effective, Aki added some nice flourishes of distribution to his game against a tiring defence. He capped an old-school Bundee Aki performance with a hard-earned jackal penalty just short of the hour mark.
With Sione Tuipulotu still getting up to speed after a lengthy injury absence — and demonstrably so based on his middling first two performances at 13 and 12 respectively — Aki may feel he stole a march on the sublime Scot in Brisbane.
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints/England)
Tommy Freeman celebrates his first try. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
The England right wing responded perfectly to Mack Hansen's exemplary second half against the Western Force with a polished, potent outing.
Freeman has had more exhilarating games for club and country but he took his two tries with aplomb. While the first was a short-range run-in, the second was the kind of powerful, close-range score which distinguishes him from Hansen as a finisher, albeit the Irish wing equally has strings to his bow that Freeman hasn't yet developed.
Ultimately, though, Freeman has produced a seven-out-of-10 and an eight-out-of-10 against Argentina and the Reds respectively to take pole position in the race for the 14 jersey.
Against Wednesday's opposition, he excelled too where Hansen stood out in the second half against Western Force. The Northampton back kept a tight leash on Reds left wing Tim Ryan, whose only real sniff came after an error by Gibson-Park and Conan on a restart.
An underrated defender, Freeman made all five of his tackles and was one of the few Lions listed as having missed none, which will have pleased Andy Farrell who clearly feels the Englishman can fit his mould as a roving but responsible wide option.