Lions dominate where it counts

Queensland Reds 12 British & Irish Lions 22

Yet as he watched the Australian Super XV franchise try and run his squad-mates into the ground, at times successfully, with some riveting, free-flowing and instinctive running rugby, the Irish icon knew such a policy could only be a short-term strategy and sure enough, as the Reds wilted, the Lions came to the fore.

No matter what Cooper and the Queensland backs threw at them in terms of creativity, the Lions dominated where it really counts, at the set-piece, with territory and also with some breathtaking line breaks of their own.

So the Reds outscored them two tries to one but Warren Gatland’s latest XV emerged victorious by a 10-point margin, their structures impressively holding together and underpinned by Owen Farrell’s kicking, which produced five penalties and a conversion of Ben Youngs’ opportunistic 34th-minute try.

Do not be fooled into thinking this was the Lions playing rope-a-dope. Queensland only managed to land a couple of blows yet still managed to punch themselves off their feet while the tourists got the invaluable defensive workout they craved with the first Test against Australia just around the corner back here in Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on June 22.

Both Gatland and O’Driscoll, who will captain the Lions tomorrow as they take it down a notch against a Combined Country XV in Newcastle, New South Wales, believes Saturday’s breakneck pace in Brisbane can stand to the Lions with the head coach asked on Saturday if the Wallabies would adopt a similar gameplan.

“I hope so,” Gatland replied.

O’Driscoll yesterday said: “Talking to some of the Reds players afterwards, after 20 minutes they were thinking in their own heads ‘how does this pace go on?’ The answer is you don’t go on at that pace for 80 minutes. People just don’t have the energy.

“They obviously came out with the policy of playing, which was very exciting for the crowd, and we had to soak up an awful lot of pressure in that first 20 minutes, but we played a smart game and got ourselves into it.

“For sure, teams will try to come out of the blocks very quickly against us and try to get some points on the board. But we can’t be adapting the mentality of trying to soak up pressure. I think we’ve got to try to feel we can have a purple patch in that first 20 minutes as well, we can take our own game to the opposition.”

Gatland was a little more measured than previously, when he said: “I think Australia will be a little bit more structured.

“The pleasing thing was that the Reds went out last night with an intent to run us off our feet, which was effective for 20 minutes. They weren’t able to do that to us.”

Still, although Luke Morahan’s try, converted by Cooper in the 17th minute, was all the Reds had to show for their bravado, it was a wonderful solo score to delight supporters of any persuasion. Ultimately though the Lions could handle it, Farrell’s second penalty putting them one point behind at 7-6 before scrum-half Ben Youngs stole back the ball at the scrum and pounced for a try and a 16-7 interval lead.

The Reds had taken the game to the Lions and Gatland’s men had withstood the barrage.

‘We knew going into the game, with the amount of travel we’ve had and what we’ve been doing on the field, physically our players weren’t as fresh and were a bit flat. So for us to come under that pressure without being so fresh in the legs, I was pleased how we came out of that,” Gatland said. “We’ve been training very hard, longer than we should have, and between now and the first Test it will be a case of shortening up and shortening up, so that players are fresh.

“Maybe lesser players or a lesser team wouldn’t have been able to cope with that intensity and pressure, of that first 20 minutes. We were able to soak that up. I don’t think Australia will be quite so… carefree as that.”

QUEENSLAND REDS: B Lucas (N Frisby, 70); R Davies, B Tapuai, A Faingaa (M Harris, 53), L Morahan (D Shipperley, 43); Q Cooper – captain, N Frisby (J Lance, 68); B Daley (A Anae, 23), J Hanson (S Denny, 79), G Holmes (J Owen, 36-40; 69); E O’Donoghue (R Samo, 12-19), A Wallace-Harrison (R Samo, 55); E Quirk, B Robinson (J Butler, 55), J Schatz.

BRITISH & IRISH LIONS: S Hogg; A Cuthbert, M Tuilagi (G North, 20), J Davies, T Bowe (J Sexton, 45); O Farrell, B Youngs; M Vunipola (D Cole, 60), T Youngs (R Hibbard, 60), M Stevens (A Jones, 60); R Gray (P O’Connell, 60), G Parling; D Lydiate, S Warburton (J Tipuric, 74), T Faletau.

Referee: Jerome Garces (France).