Congratulations Lions, you did it. The series is over, Deans is gone and Link is in. We may be on the cusp of a new age for the Wallabies but before we get ahead of ourselves let’s take a look at a test match that was far closer than the final score would have you believe.
Attack
Surprisingly enough the Wallabies actually made 20% more meters with the ball in hand than the Lions did. The Wallabies ran for 423 meters on 108 carries while the Lions managed 339 meters on 110 carries. There was also little difference in defenders beaten, the Lions pipping the Wallabies at 19 to 18. The Wallabies also seemed a little more keen to move the ball through the hands as well, notching 126 passes to the Lions’ 94.
So how did we end up with such a severely lopsided score at the whistle with these stats? Well, while both teams played similar amounts of rugby they played them in very different areas of the field and with very different levels of success. Jonathan Sexton and Jonathan Davies both kicked very well and the Wallabies, thanks to some very poor kicking of their own, were regularly forced to attack from very deep. The Lions on the other hand enjoyed playing inside of the Wallaby half on both attack and defence. The Lions also executed much better, making the most of their 3 minutes and 21 seconds inside of the Wallaby 22. The Wallabies spent 8 minutes in the Lions’ 22 but could not convert this pressure into points in part due to a massive defensive effort by the Lions pack.
Leigh Halfpenny had an absolute blinder of a match. The little Hercules from Gorseinon made 88 meters on 10 carries, had 2 clean breaks, beat 3 defenders, put 2 try assists through as well as scoring 1 try of his own while conceding 0 turnovers and bringing in a total haul of 21 points. Excellence embodied.
