The Wallabies were comprehensively beaten in all facets. There are so many points that come out of this match but briefly for me a number of points are immediately apparent.
1. JOC (James O'Connor) is not a 10 and hasn't played well there in recent times and his sole good game was a couple of years ago against a very mediocre Welsh side. How did this qualify him for the position against the form 10s in Australian Rugby. Also of note was that it took two or three passes for the ball to reach the 13. The ball was only passed to the wingers once from phase play that I can recall. Basically the Wallaby backs create nothing in this configuration.
2. Beale - he made one individual break and in most other plays managed to crab across field so that he crowded out any outside attacking threats. His kicking from hand as I posted in the blog piece weeks ago is average to poor, and tonight we got the poor side. Again why was he selected over the form 15s in Australia.
3. Alexander at THP. Tonight was a great example of the problems in the Australian scrum with the angles of the second row. The whole set up just wasn't there tonight (and while much will be thrown at Alexander for his performance, which was as he usually does - he just got beat by a good scrummager which is what will happen to him IMO at TH more often than not) as much should be said to the second row who set up with hips high and the angle of their backs down, as Scott Allen's brilliant scrum series showed this just cannot transmit any usable power through.
4. Kicking from hand. For years now, preceding Deans tenure, this has been a woefully executed skill in Australian Rugby. How many kicks have the Wallabies kicked straight to their opponents in this series? Tonight the Wallabies kicked and a Lions player or two were always in position to take it on the full. At no time were they under any pressure. And here is a massive difference in this Wallabies game plan from a conservative plan. Only Mogg kicked for touch. The other kicks were for the 5 metre line or even down the centre of the field from Beale and JOC (James O'Connor).
4. Finally, I have posted for years about the Tahs and more recently about the Wallabies, this risk averse (not conservative) game plan will contain the opposition, even good opposition in many games but when the defence has an off night or the intensity drops a fraction in can become humiliating. The Wallabies weren't humiliated tonight but they were comprehensively beaten, and had nothing to offer except the individual brilliance of the X players and therein is the answer to the questions of points 1 and 2.
I must say that the Lions played some very good Rugby tonight. A strong set piece and effective kicking. Well executed a basic plan with some good skill execution.