Lightning doesn't strike thrice for the Lions as Australia lay down a marker

British & Irish Lions captain Maro Itoje lifts the trophy. Pic: Steve Christo/Sportsfile

AUSTRALIA 22 BRITISH & IRISH LIONS 12

With a delay for lightning, an all-day deluge and an off-key performance from the British & Irish Lions, the third and final Test of the 2025 series with Australia felt ill-fitting as the conclusion of a winning tour Down Under.

Even more incongruous for the victorious Wallabies after producing their best performance of this three-game set was having to stand out on the Accor Stadium pitch at full-time as the Lions celebrated their 2-1 series win.

Yet perhaps that was the ideal scenario for a tour which began with predictions of a Lions whitewash of their sub-standard opponents and suggestions that Australia was no longer a viable destination for the tourists to visit every 12 years.

A competitive Test series won by the Lions, but only just, was the perfect riposte as Joe Schmidt’s young Wallabies rebounded from what was for them a heartbreaking second-Test last-minute loss in Melbourne and laid down a marker as 2027 World Cup hosts to become a force to be reckoned with.

Lions head coach Andy Farrell has no doubt this Australian side, which will be under the guidance of incoming head coach Les Kiss by the time the World Cup comes here in a little over two years, has good times in its future.

While his own side looked a shadow of itself from seven days previously at the MCG and failed to deal with the appalling weather conditions, a string of head knocks and the 37-minute delay as lightning struck twice within 10 kilometres of Sydney’s Olympic Park, Farrell saw the Wallabies rise to the occasion having gone 2-0 down and outsmart the visiting tourists in all facets on Saturday.

“Obviously I went on record last week during the week of saying that I thought it was insulting that people were asking the question about the Wallabies and the Lions touring here,” Farrell said.

“Everyone has their ups and downs. Have a look at the progress over the last 18 months, it’s been through the roof. You look at the side that’s been out there over the last three weeks and they are a hell of a team. I said to Joe before the game out on the pitch that I think special things are going to happen for this team over the next 18 months.

“By the time the World Cup comes around, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with. They’ve got some special athletes and some special players and that is no surprise to us how they’ve performed over the last couple of weeks.”

There was plenty for the Wallabies to regret from those opening two defeats, 27-19 in Brisbane and then 29-26 in Melbourne. They had been steamrollered in the opening 42 minutes of the first Test as the Lions built an unassailable 24-5 lead with some irresistible power rugby.

And they had blown a 23-5 advantage constructed in an impressive first 30 minutes of the second Test as their game management frailties were exposed by a more battle-hardened and astute opposition.

Yet Australia never trailed in Sydney as the Lions set-piece creaked, they lost Maro Itoje and Tommy Freeman to failed Head Injury Assessments, saw James Ryan leave the field on a stretcher following a nasty head injury after contact with Will Skelton’s knee, and those two days of celebrations that followed their series-clinching MCG win appeared to come back to bite them.

Tadhg Beirne of British & Irish Lions is tackled by Tom Wright, left, and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii of Australia. Pic: Steve Christo/Sportsfile

A Dylan Pietsch try on seven minutes and Tom Lynagh penalty six minutes before the break for an 8-0 half-time lead does not read as a daunting challenge for Farrell’s men but in the conditions it represented a mountain to climb and they only just about reached base camp.

When the Lions were guilty of overplaying on the halfway line and 20-year-old wing Max Jorgensen snaffled the loose ball, the conversion of his try made it 15-0 and there was no way back.

A Jac Morgan try on 62 minutes represented the Lions’ first points of the evening and Finn Russell’s conversion gave hope to sizeable contingent in the 80,312 crowd but a yellow card for repeated team offences to Ronan Kelleher killed any possibility of a fightback and the Wallabies killed it off in the hooker’s absence courtesy of Tate McDermott try. A late try from fellow replacement front rower Will Stuart was mere consolation.

The win was thoroughly deserved and Wallabies pride has been restored, the perceived lack of respect shown to them re-earned and an Australian sporting nation in danger of losing interest re-energised two years out from a home World Cup, at least as far as Schmidt was concerned.

“Yeah, the crowds have been absolutely awesome. Suncorp was full, tonight was full, 90-plus thousand in the MCG. That's the nature of the Lions, that wasn't all us, that's the sea of red and the nature of Lions tours.

“So we knew that wasn't all for us but we just started to see more and more yellow as the tour went on and even this morning a lot of the players, because you're not playing until eight o'clock at night, it's actually quite a long day, a lot of the players were meeting up with friends and family and you just saw a lot of gold, a lot of gold scarves, gold jerseys and people who were supporting us.

“I believe it does give the players a little bit of a lift and it makes them a little bit accountable as well, they feel like we're getting the support, we've got to make sure we keep earning it.

“I don't know what the stats are or the TV numbers are or anything else but what I do know is how hard these players work and if people want to come and support a team that are prepared to work hard then this is a good team, particularly as a national team, globally it's a big tournament coming up in two years' time and the more support we can earn, the better we can grow and progress as a team over the next year and beyond, I just think the more support we can probably attract to the game.”

Schmidt will hand over the Wallabies’ reins to Queensland boss and his former Ireland assistant Les Kiss before the World Cup in order to devote time to family back in New Zealand and his son Luke’s ongoing battle with severe epilepsy.

Yet asked if he believed his other former Ireland defence coach Farrell’s assertion of the potential for his side’s development, Schmidt replied: “I believe everything Faz tells me. Faz and I would be good friends, go back a long way, have worked together a lot and would also be quite like-minded around probably studying other teams and I'd like to think that he's right.”

Farrell, meanwhile, will ponder his side’s final Test no-show in Sydney on the long journey home to Dublin, where a night out at Croke Park watching Oasis is eagerly anticipated.

If he is to coach the tourists again on the 2029 tour to New Zealand he will welcome solving the conundrum he failed to crack here in Australia, how to repeat what no Lions side has managed since 1927 and win a series 3-0.

For so long out in the open as the Lions’ stated objective, the tourists desire for a clean sweep eluded them at Accor Stadium and prompted a pertinent question that the head coach struggled to answer on Saturday night, whether it was psychologically impossible for his players not to rest on their laurels having taken the series at 2-0 and give it one last push for greatness.

“I hope not. I hope not. Otherwise we are not being true to ourselves in everything we talked about this week. I certainly hope not,” Farrell said, before adding: “Subconsciously I guess I will never know the answer to that question.”