Andy Farrell urges Lions to raise standards ahead of second Test against Australia
ROUND 2: Head Coach Andy Farrell watches training. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan.
There is not much in rugby that Andy Farrell has not seen before and he has been on both sides of the ledger at the midway point in a three-Test series.
The British & Irish Lions take a 1-0 lead into Saturday’s second Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It is an iconic stadium which will be packed with an estimated 95,000 supporters, a huge number of whom will be hoping the side they have travelled to watch from the other end of the world can secure a first series victory in a dozen years without the need for a deciding leg.
The home side’s beleaguered supporters clearly have a different objective for their Wallabies and Farrell understands the situation they are in.
It was as Ireland’s defence coach here in Melbourne, not too far down the road from the MCG, that he and Joe Schmidt plotted a comeback from an 18-9 series-opening defeat to Australia up in Brisbane seven days earlier.
Ireland won at the AAMI Stadium that night and went on to seal the series in Sydney a week later and it was four years later in New Zealand that Farrell the Ireland head coach summoned another reversal of fortune against the All Blacks having been beaten soundly at Eden Park in the first Test.
His experience in those situations should serve the Lions well as they go up against an Australian team now coached by Schmidt and boosted by the return from injury of powerhouse forwards Will Skelton and Rob Valetini.
Now Farrell is the one seeking to protect a 1-0 lead following last Saturday’s 27-19 win at Suncorp Stadium and on Thursday, having named a side showing three changes from the Brisbane Test, he assessed the current balance of pressure in the series, between a team looking to get the job done and another fighting to stay alive.
“I suppose, when you're in the opposite camp - and I've been in that type of situation many times, playing a three-game series - everyone thinks you've got everything to lose,” the Lions head coach said, “but you get yourself to a stage where you've got nothing to lose, because everything has to be put out there.
“You ask more of yourself. Your all is given. And that's what these type of situations bring out in you.
“But from our point of view, we need to back what we believe is our potential within our side, and making sure that we're accurate with our game, and that's accuracy in all single areas, including physicality, etc.
“So we believe that we understand what type of team we're chasing, and we think if we're able to put that out on the field, that should be good enough to put us in with a good shout at winning the game.”
Wallabies hopes going into this pivotal game lie in their strong finish to the first Test, when a strong collective bench performance outgunned the Lions’ replacements to rally from 24-5 down after 42 minutes to leave the tourists needing a late penalty from Marcus Smith to provide some insurance in an eight-point victory.
With extra physicality from Valetini and Skelton, it points to a stronger Wallabies performance and the Lions have been aware of that since they came off the pitch in Brisbane a week ago. Farrell doubled down on that as he replaced Sione Tuipulotu with Bundee Aki at inside centre and swapped in last week’s back-up loosehead Andrew Porter to start with possibly the stronger finishing Ellis Genge moving to the bench.
With Ollie Chessum replacing an injured Joe McCarthy in the second row, the bench also sees a first Lions Test opportunity for lock James Ryan, while flanker Jac Morgan is named as back-row replacement at the expense of Ben Earl.
The wise, older head of Owen Farrell has also been drafted onto the bench for Test action in his fourth Lions tour and will also be leaned on to see the Lions through any sticky patches.
“During victory you get an opportunity to be unbelievably honest and show each other just how much you can improve and there has been nothing but that this week as far as honesty is concerned, about where we can get to,” Farrell said.
“We certainly feel we left a few things out there, most aspects of our game will need to better but it is proving to ourselves it can be better as well.”
Last week’s second-half woes, when the Lions allowed the Wallabies back into the game after Dan Sheehan had finished an excellent attacking move on 42 minutes to give them a commanding 19-point lead, were attributed to a dip in focus, and a dropping off in intent.
“Not intensity, doing things properly,” Farrell clarified, “that is what we have talked about all week, what it looks like for us and the expectation that has to happen the majority of the time.
“We are realists, we are all human and we realise it is not going to be perfect all of the time. It is not going to be a perfect 85-minute performance but staying on it as much as we can will give us a better chance of getting what we want.
“But this game might be completely different, we might have a role reversal and we have to adapt and be honest with ourselves and stay on point if we are in front, if we are behind, things going your way, not going your way. It is just staying honest as long as we possibly can.”
This is a Lions team on a mission and first series win since 2013 beckons, sooner rather than later.
T Wright; M Jorgensen, J Suaalii, L Ikitau, H Potter; T Lynagh, J Gordon; J Slipper, D Porecki, A Alaalatoa; N Frost, W Skelton; R Valetini, F McReight, H Wilson – captain.
B Pollard, A Bell, T Robertson, J Williams, L Gleeson, C Tizzano, T McDermott, B Donaldson.
H Keenan (Ireland); T Freeman (England), H Jones (Scotland), B Aki (Ireland), J Lowe (Ireland); F Russell (Scotland), J Gibson-Park (Ireland); A Porter (Ireland), D Sheehan (Ireland), T Furlong (Ireland); M Itoje (England) – captain, O Chessum (England); T Beirne (Ireland), T Curry (England), J Conan (Ireland).
R Kelleher (Ireland), E Genge (England), W Stuart (England), J Ryan (Ireland), J Morgan (Wales), A Mitchell (England), O Farrell (England), B Kinghorn (Scotland).
Andrea Piardi (Italy).
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