Andy Farrell: 'We started to play the game a little bit like an exhibition match and it was never going to be like that'

INJURY WORRIES: Mack Hansen and Joe McCarthy are facing a race against the clock to be fit for Saturday's second Test.

Andy Farrell railed against the “exhibition match” rugby his British & Irish Lions played at times in a hard-fought 24-19 victory over the First Nations & Pasifika XV but acknowledged some individual performances had made selection for Saturday’s second Test against Australia more challenging.

The Lions were pushed hard by a team playing together for the first time to represent their cultural heritages as indigenous First Nations Australians and Pacific islanders. Farrell’s tourists had raced into a 14-0 lead after 11 minutes at Marvel Stadium thanks to converted tries from debutants Jamie Osborne and Darcy Graham before sloppy play allowed their opponents to level the scores by half-time at 14-14.

Second-half tries from Osborne once more and Duhan van der Merwe gave the Lions a 10-point cushion that proved to be required when replacement back-rower Rob Leota grabbed his side’s third try of the night with 10 minutes to go.

The First Nations & Pasifika XV performance earned Farrell’s praise at full-time and though the head coach was pleased to have extended the tourists’ winning run on this Australian tour to seven from seven since arriving in Perth a month ago, there still some issues with the collective performance he wished to address.

“I suppose first and foremost it is 100% congratulations for what was a great performance for First Nations & Pasifika side, it showed exactly what it meant to them,” Farrell said.

“They obviously talked a lot about how much they were enjoying their time together and they showed they were a really tough nut to crack especially when we went 14 points up. For them to stay in the fight like they did and put it to us for large parts of the game they deserve a huge pat on the back.

“As far as the game is concerned, I thought 14 points up and finding space everywhere, we started to play the game a little bit like an exhibition match and it was never going to be like that. So I was pretty pleased with how we addressed that at half time and started showing some proper intent in our game.

“Whether we got the rewards for it is a different story but we fought our way back into the game. I am delighted for a lot of lads who have just played their first game, some have just played their first game on tour, delighted to keep the Ws rolling.” 

The Lions boss expanded on his exhibition match comment by adding: “We weren't earning the right to play. There's an allure of space that we thought was there and it wasn't there because we found space nice and early.

“But we kept playing out the back and big wide passes and getting hit behind the gainline and making it tough for ourselves, especially when they were getting off the line and putting so many people through the rock. It's very hard to control the ruck when you're going backwards.

“We just needed to keep playing the game that's in front of us and at times the space wasn't there so we needed to do the right thing and play in the right parts of the field. We were our own worst enemy once or twice there but I thought we recovered pretty well.

“A 14-point start shouldn't put you in a position where you start thinking that the space is everywhere so we need to be better than that.” 

Of the positives, Farrell pointed to the performance of two-try debutant Jamie Osborne, the versatile Ireland back called in as cover when Blair Kinghorn, Garry Ringrose and Mack Hansen were all injured. He also praised Ringrose, whose comeback from a 12-day stand-down due to concussion had come off the bench, pressed into service ahead of schedule on 16 minutes when tryscorer Graham’s debut was cut short by injury.

“I thought he performed really well,” Farrell said of Ringrose, “so some real good positives as far as that is concerned. Jamie Osborne for his first time wearing the shirt, I thought he was very good, so were others, Ben White has not been around for too long, I thought he controlled the game really well (at scrum-half). There were some nice individual performances out there.” 

As to whether any of those involved in Tuesday’s game, the final midweek fixture of the tour, had muscled their way into consideration for Saturday’s second Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the head coach said: “It has always been about the squad and we will assess where everyone is at. It is a different week for us with this game in between Test matches. We get to have a day off tomorrow and roll into work Thursday, Friday and see where we are at.” 

Farrell has injury doubts over wing Mack Hansen, sidelined since the AUSNZ Invitational XV win 10 days ago with a foot injury, and lock Joe McCarthy, who was withdrawn early in the second half of the series opener with the Wallabies due to plantar fasciitis in his foot. Yet fly-half Marcus Smith, the covering fly-half in Brisbane at the weekend, on Tuesday passed his Head Injury Assessment in the last 10 minutes of the game having just come onto the field as a replacement.

Both players have just Thursday’s training session to prove their fitness for the MCG and a potential series decider for the Lions following their 27-19 win over Australia.

Of McCarthy, Farrell said: “He hasn’t trained so far but with the nature of the week, which is a bit different we will see how he is for Thursday,” adding that the lock was “hopefully,” in contention.

“Mack's progressing. Whether he's progressing quick enough we'll see towards the end of the week.”