After a tough tussle against the Reds the British and Irish Lions came to Newcastle looking for an opposed training run against Combined Country. Would these Aussie amateurs land a punch?
Photos by Andrew Mosey
The Match
Within two minutes the Lions had dominated the Country scrum which appeared to be on wheels. Referee Steve Walsh ignored the penalty advantage – a let-off for the home team?
Any relief was short lived though as a poorly thrown ensuing lineout from Country dropped the ball into Tipuric’s hands who rumbled deep before recycling wide to Cuthbert to dot down in the corner. 0-7 after 5 minutes.
From the resulting kickoff, Connor Murray finished a full length and one side of field to the other try, with the ball shifting clinically between Lions hands. 0-14 after 10 minutes.
It was quick fire and savage early on from the Lions as they returned to Country’s half. Hogg, the third-string five-eighth, looped to pick up a second touch from ball off the top of a lineout, and went through unmarked. 0-19 after 12 minutes.
Three rare errors from the Lions – an over-thrown lineout compounded with a charge down on Maitland and another spoilt lineout gave Country a penalty and lineout five from the Lions line. It was kicked to touch and Country generated another penalty lineout. But this time when they went wide, the ball was stripped in the centres by Tipuric and within a few passes it was speeding giants against dwarves to the other end of the field. North scored and it was 0-26 after 20 minutes
Country put on a small rally to the centre of the field, but having been turned over and marched back to their 5 metre line, they then gave a penalty and from the ensuing lineout Hibbard got an armchair ride over the line. 0-33 after 27 minutes.
For the third time in the first 30, Jamie Roberts coughed up the ball and there was palpable relief from the crowd when Country managed to defend one of its own scrums, only to knock-on a pass, surrendering possession in the same play. A few minutes later and the Lions ran a well drilled first phase play to put North in untouched. 0-38 after 33 minutes.
For the last 7 minutes Country defended admirably to keep the score to 0-38 at oranges.
Second Half
Country came out a smarter team managing to defend and spoil manfully for the first 10 minutes of the second stanza. The Lions shifted down a gear, ground their way toward the line and then spread it wide for a three man overlap and O’Driscoll to dot down. Halfpenny missed, yes missed, the conversion and its 0-43.
While the Country hooker dropped a fly in the ointment with a penalty turnover at the ruck, you felt the dam could be about to break when some quick phase play and a short pass from Hogg put Halfpenny through for a one-on-one to the line. You know the rest. He converted and it was 50 nil after 55 minutes.
But the boys from the bush weren’t about to give up yet. In a match where their success was to be measured in slowing the rate of Lions points rather than scoring themselves, they ground away and even managed to shore up their scrum. They held the Lions out until the 66th minute, but a simple midfield charge from Sean O’Brien ran over the defence and under the posts. 0-57.
A few minutes of excitement ensued when Country replacement Wang scored a spectators try following an attempted intercept. The TMO found the obvious knock on.
Next though, the Lions overshot another lineout and Halfpenny falconed a clearing kick. The Bushy fullback Evans toed it through and Maitland was forced to take it back for a country scrum. Despite a solid platform, the ball was spilt and back down the other end in seconds.
Over the next 15 minutes the boys from the bush continued to work hard and push O’Driscoll out at the corner twice, denying tries. It wasn’t until after the donger that the Prince of Centres managed to thread through a perfect grubber into the breadbasket of Davies for the final score. 0-64 to the Lions.
Summary
The movement and realignment of this Lions team is impressive, switching effortlessly from defence to attack. There is a strong work ethic and even against a largely amateur opposition they kept their discipline – shifting the point of attack and creating space with iron straight running lines.
Surprisingly though, the Lions’ set piece deteriorated as the match progressed. There were at least three lineouts spoiled and once the Country back-row learned to stay down, the scrum started to shore up (relatively speaking).
While the nil scoreline is the first one for the Lions since the blotted out Western Australia in 2001, the Lions only put 26 points past against this sub-provincial team in the second half, and the intensity of effort was marked in the way it fell. On top of this they yielded 26 turnovers in an opposed training run, which Gatland admitted concerned him in the post match press conference.
They were impressive, not imperious.
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The Game Changer
Half time. Whatever Cam Blades said to the Combined Country boys, Dingo needs to get down. It lead to a noticeable slowing in Lions momentum.
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The G&GR MotM
The prince of centres was outstanding tonight. His skills were dazzling and you wouldn’t know he was any older than the rest of the squad.
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Wallaby watch
Clearly a long stretch tonight, but the Country pack can hold its head up tonight. Davidson showed his class but the young lock Blake Enever put his hand up with strong work in the tight-loose.
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The Details
Combined Country: 0 defeated by British and Irish Lions: 68 Cuthbert (8min), Murray (10min), Hogg (12min), North (20min, 33min), Hibbard (27min), O’Driscoll (50min), Halfpenny (55min), O’Brien (66min), Davies (82min) Conv: Hogg 4/6 (66%), Halfpenny 3/4 (75%)
Yellow cards: None
Refereee: Steve Walsh
Teams
NSW-Qld Combined Country: Nathan Trist (Sydney Uni), Alex Gibbon (Southern Districts, Sydney), Lewie Catt (NSW Country), Tareta-Junior Siakisini (Qld Country), Tom Cox (Brumbies), Angus Roberts (Rebels), Michael Snowden (Force), Tim Davidson (capt, Rebels), Jarrad Butler (Reds), Richard Stanford (Eastern Suburbs, Sydney), Blake Enever (Reds), Phoenix Battye (Force), Tim Metcher (Southern Districts, Sydney), Josh Mann-Rae (Brumbies), Haydn Hirsimaki (Qld Country). Res: Dylan Evans (NSW Country), Rikki Abraham (Qld Country), Rory Arnold (Qld Country), Trent Dyer (Rebels), Adam McCormack (NSW Country), Shaun McCarthy (Qld Country), Dale Ahwang (Qld Country).
Lions: Sean Maitland, Alex Cuthbert, Brian O’Driscoll (capt), Jamie Roberts, George North, Stuart Hogg, Conor Murray, Jamie Heaslip, Justin Tipuric, Sean O’Brien, Ian Evans, Richie Gray, Dan Cole, Richard Hibbard, Alex Corbisiero. Res: Rory Best, Ryan Grant, Matt Stevens, Alun Wyn Jones, Toby Faletau, Mike Phillips, Jonathan Davies, Leigh Halfpenny.
