AUNZ Invitational XV v British & Irish Lions Saturday, 12 July 2025, 8:00pm Adelaide Oval

[Shiggins]

Lions knocked it on, advantage was played, Thomas took it into contacted and was isolated with two Lions players over the ball, no advantage, end of game.

Yeh nah. He blew his whistle before they even got over it. And they both had hands on the ground. Didn't even give a chance for a clean out

 

[Strewthcobber]

Crowd was 43,124

 

[parkfootyenthusiast2]

Well… definitely expected more from that team on this stage. Full credit to the lions though; they are an impressive outfit across the whole squad. I think they get away with an awful lot from a line speed perspective but if that’s how they’re officiating it the Aussie teams need to adjust.

 

[Tomthumb]

If you did it properly it would be great. Everyone just wants to see bobby v and Savea going to town. It would never happen though. I could only really see it working at the end of a November tour.

I don’t want to see that. These invitational teams fail because they no gameplan and aren’t playing for anything, which leads to embarrassing defensive lapses as seen tonight

 

[LeCheese]

Disappoint result? Sure. Could more have been down to ensure competitiveness? Probably.
But some of the comments here are evoking the apocalypse.

It's almost as though one team was a near-full-strength side of players from four of the top rugby nations on earth, and have been training and playing together for weeks, while the other consisted of B-team throwaways that came together 5 days ago.

 

[Yoda]

Outcome of Lions tour so far. They have been offside ALL tour! How about having that policed? Just saying. They are basically being allowed to cheat and get away with it which will ruin the Test series.

 

[Equalizer]

I didn't realise the concept was to play progressively weaker teams as the Lions tour.progressed. if you bought a ticket to tonight's.game I'd.be seeking a refund.

 

[rugbyAU]

Someone remind me why the lions rejected a game against Australia A? I mean they were happy to play all the super B sides

only thing that was out there was them not wanting an 'unofficial 4th test'

 

[Derpus]

Disappoint result? Sure. Could more have been down to ensure competitiveness? Probably.
But some of the comments here are evoking the apocalypse.

It's almost as though one team was a near-full-strength side of players from four of the top rugby nations on earth, and have been training and playing together for weeks, while the other consisted of B-team throwaways that came together 5 days ago.

If they cant put out a team why have a fixture? I dunno - that was pretty grim.

 

[rugbyAU]

RA did a poor job with this fixture from the get go

 

[Major Tom]

I don’t want to see that. These invitational teams fail because they no gameplan and aren’t playing for anything, which leads to embarrassing defensive lapses as seen tonight

A team of current wallabies and all blacks would be UNREAL to watch. The back row would be made up of Fraser, bobby V and savea! LHP would be bell and Williams. It goes on and on and on. Give them a couple of weeks to prep and belt the piss out of England, Ireland or France.

 

[rugbyAU]

I fear the First Nations & Pacifica game will be an ugly watch

 

[Derpus]

A team of current wallabies and all blacks would be UNREAL to watch. The back row would be made up of Fraser, bobby V and savea! LHP would be bell and Williams. It goes on and on and on. Give them a couple of weeks to prep and belt the piss out of England, Ireland or France.

There’s simply no way it would ever happen.

 

[Major Tom]

There’s simply no way it would ever happen.

I know. I said it wouldn’t in an earlier post. Unless there was incentive money involved.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Disappointing in many ways tonight. I guess it shows that in the modern game familiarity with your systems is so important. The AUNZ didn't have any system to speak of in attack or defence and they didn't quite have the individual brilliance to overcome that against a team who have clearly built a method that works for them.

We really need to do something about how fucking offside the Lions are all the time. Either the refs deal with it or we're going to have to work out a way to combat it. If we don't an already difficult series is going to be 3-0 their way. The other thing I hope we do is take the bloody points more often than Aussie teams have over the last 12 months.

 

[Derpus]

I know. I said it wouldn’t in an earlier post. Unless there was incentive money involved.

Itd take Saudi typed money, really.

 

[Mr Pilfer]

I fear the First Nations & Pacifica game will be an ugly watch

Definitely, that one is going to be a bloodbath unless they release all the wallabies squad members who don’t play the first test. I was expecting this one to be a good contest but if Kurtley Beale is the star attraction for the First Nations team they are in trouble.

 

[rugbyAU]

Definitely, that one is going to be a bloodbath unless they release all the wallabies squad members who don’t play the first test. I was expecting this one to be a good contest but if Kurtley Beale is the star attraction for the First Nations team they are in trouble.

and nine days out we only have 5 players named

 

[molman]

Well… definitely expected more from that team on this stage. Full credit to the lions though; they are an impressive outfit across the whole squad. I think they get away with an awful lot from a line speed perspective but if that’s how they’re officiating it the Aussie teams need to adjust.

Agree on all that. Including the line speed. Be nice for it to be a little more legal sometimes, but you play the ref at the end of the day.

 

[Strewthcobber]

The really impressive thing about the Lions isn't just the line speed it's just how disciplined they are with it.

Ref looks up from the ruck as the ball emerges, and the entire Lion's line in in lockstep. It doesn't matter if they are back or not, the discipline makes it look like they are all onside. It feels like these NH teams are really ahead of us in this facet of play.

Inevitably when the pressure is on, one of our players goes a step early, or shoots up, or is back on their heals breaking the alignment.

The Lions just don't appear to do this