The Lions lose the battle against the Brumbies
The Lions end their 100% record with a 14-12 loss to the ACT Brumbies.
Gatland stated that this game could be one of the most important games of the tour, it could be the game that showed the Australians that no matter what is thrown at the Lions, be it injury or appearances from retired players such as Shane Williams, they could deal with it convincingly. Unfortunately for Gatland this is not the image the Lions portrayed today in a cold and damp Canberra.
The starting XV was not one of the strongest that Gatland and his coaching team has put out on to the field on this tour but with the first Lions test taking place on Saturday it made complete and utter sense to rest players, especially after the high injury rate of the tour. Gats shocked the rugby world over the weekend by announcing that retired Welsh Wizard Shane Williams would be joining the team and starting against the Brumbies. Not many, if any, saw that call being made. On the right wing another new arrival to the Lions camp, one time capped England player Christian Wade made up a team of less experienced 2013 Lions. Irish man Rob Kearney put on the full back shirt to make his first start of the tour after being ruled out of past games due to injury. Placing an inexperienced fly half, Stuart Hogg, in the middle of it all added another layer of uncertainty within the squad as they went out to face one of the hardest provincial sides they will face during this tour.
Today was announced by the official spiritual leader of Welsh rugby, the Dai Lama, as Shane Williams Day and in the first minute of the game it really did seem that today was going to be his day as, with his first touch, the winger nearly crossed the whitewash for his first Lions try of the 2013 tour. This, it could be argued, was the only time the Lions really looked like scoring throughout the whole 80 minutes. It quickly became apparent that the lack of time the new Lions had to train with the squad was going to affect the game.
Having lost one of their first line outs, which would be the first of many lost balls during the game, the Lions soon found themselves 5-0 down after powerful Brumbies centre, Tevita Kuridrani slipped through tackles by Kearney and Hogg and touched down for to underline a convincing first five minutes of play. A box kick by scrum half Youngs was the wrong decision and Hogg's defencive mistake of drifting in rather than trusting his player to make the tackle allowed Kuridrani to dance through the defencive hole that was created by the Lions' mistakes.
Hogg's game did not get any better after this incident. Immediately after the Brumbies' first try he kicked the restart out on the full and throughout the game the Scottish player missed numerous penalties including a rather straight forward one from 29 meters out in the 18th minute.
Newbie centre, Billy Twelvetrees was destroyed in midfield as the opposition's defence cut him to the floor every time he merely touched the ball. They did not allow him time to do anything other than hit the deck and present the ball back to his fellow team mates. The Brumbies defence was exceptional throughout the whole 80 minutes with them successfully keeping the Lions' strong runners, Tipuric, Williams, Zebo, from their try line. Rory Best was another player that seemed to be pushed backwards more meters than he was making going forwards.
The Irish hooker that was not originally named in the Lions 37 man squad had a performance to forget this evening in Australia. It has been stated by many in the rugby world as one of the worst set piece performance by the Irishman in his whole professional career. A continuously messy lineout was one of the most problematic areas of the Lions' game today and it has been an area of the game which has been looking considerably weak since their first game against the Barbarians in Hong Kong. Losing eight lineouts in a game would not be acceptable at any level of the game let a lone a team that is suppose to be made out of some of the best internationals in Northern Hemisphere rugby. Best has surely played himself out of a starting XV position and possibly a spot on the bench.
Lions were saved from complete demolition as the Brumbies full back and scrum half missed a few kicks at goal and at half time the B&I Lions were lucky to only be 8-3 down.
Energy and drive were the two things that the Lions needed more of in the second half but once more they were instantly penalised in the first 6 minutes of the half as a result of another terrible line out. The poor display by the Lions continued until the 56th minute when Gatland finally made some changes. The head coach decided to put on a totally new front row and this most definitely paid off with the Lions winning a penalty from their next scrum. A blow to the original front row? Possibly.
With the replacements on the field the Lions began to show some skill with Richie Gray going back to his impressive ways by stealing two balls in the lineout which resulted in a penalty for the visiting side and with Farrell now on for Hogg, the score quickly reached 14-12. With seven minutes left the Lions started piling on the pressure and with number 8 Falateu making 14 carries throughout the 80 minutes the men in red began to look as if they might take this game. However, the little mistakes that had plagued their performance throughout the game had not gone away and a penalty was given against the Lions for holding on and with only two minutes left on the clock the game was all but over.
The Brumbies managed to hold on to the ball to be a part of a famous rugby victory that will go down in ACT Brumbies folk-law as one of the most historic wins of the club history. The Australian side were robbed of a win against the Lions 12 years ago but not today. They performed with much more drive and focus than the Lions and were much more deserving of the win.
Luckily for the Lions, this was not a game that they had to win, yet they would have rather not to have lost a game at all during this tour. This loss will provide Gatland and the Lions with a lot more to work on from now until their first real test against Australia on Saturday. This loss will also fuel the fire of the squad as they now know that they will have to work even harder during this week's training and during the game on Saturday. Considering that today's starting XV might not even be Gatland's second choice XV the loss will not be too worrying for the Lions and the Australian national side will most definitely know that this was not a true representation of the skill and power that lurks within the British and Irish side.
Gatland stated that this game could be one of the most important games of the tour, it could be the game that showed the Australians that no matter what is thrown at the Lions, be it injury or appearances from retired players such as Shane Williams, they could deal with it convincingly. Unfortunately for Gatland this is not the image the Lions portrayed today in a cold and damp Canberra.
The starting XV was not one of the strongest that Gatland and his coaching team has put out on to the field on this tour but with the first Lions test taking place on Saturday it made complete and utter sense to rest players, especially after the high injury rate of the tour. Gats shocked the rugby world over the weekend by announcing that retired Welsh Wizard Shane Williams would be joining the team and starting against the Brumbies. Not many, if any, saw that call being made. On the right wing another new arrival to the Lions camp, one time capped England player Christian Wade made up a team of less experienced 2013 Lions. Irish man Rob Kearney put on the full back shirt to make his first start of the tour after being ruled out of past games due to injury. Placing an inexperienced fly half, Stuart Hogg, in the middle of it all added another layer of uncertainty within the squad as they went out to face one of the hardest provincial sides they will face during this tour.
Today was announced by the official spiritual leader of Welsh rugby, the Dai Lama, as Shane Williams Day and in the first minute of the game it really did seem that today was going to be his day as, with his first touch, the winger nearly crossed the whitewash for his first Lions try of the 2013 tour. This, it could be argued, was the only time the Lions really looked like scoring throughout the whole 80 minutes. It quickly became apparent that the lack of time the new Lions had to train with the squad was going to affect the game.
Having lost one of their first line outs, which would be the first of many lost balls during the game, the Lions soon found themselves 5-0 down after powerful Brumbies centre, Tevita Kuridrani slipped through tackles by Kearney and Hogg and touched down for to underline a convincing first five minutes of play. A box kick by scrum half Youngs was the wrong decision and Hogg's defencive mistake of drifting in rather than trusting his player to make the tackle allowed Kuridrani to dance through the defencive hole that was created by the Lions' mistakes.
Hogg's game did not get any better after this incident. Immediately after the Brumbies' first try he kicked the restart out on the full and throughout the game the Scottish player missed numerous penalties including a rather straight forward one from 29 meters out in the 18th minute. Newbie centre, Billy Twelvetrees was destroyed in midfield as the opposition's defence cut him to the floor every time he merely touched the ball. They did not allow him time to do anything other than hit the deck and present the ball back to his fellow team mates. The Brumbies defence was exceptional throughout the whole 80 minutes with them successfully keeping the Lions' strong runners, Tipuric, Williams, Zebo, from their try line. Rory Best was another player that seemed to be pushed backwards more meters than he was making going forwards.
The Irish hooker that was not originally named in the Lions 37 man squad had a performance to forget this evening in Australia. It has been stated by many in the rugby world as one of the worst set piece performance by the Irishman in his whole professional career. A continuously messy lineout was one of the most problematic areas of the Lions' game today and it has been an area of the game which has been looking considerably weak since their first game against the Barbarians in Hong Kong. Losing eight lineouts in a game would not be acceptable at any level of the game let a lone a team that is suppose to be made out of some of the best internationals in Northern Hemisphere rugby. Best has surely played himself out of a starting XV position and possibly a spot on the bench.
Lions were saved from complete demolition as the Brumbies full back and scrum half missed a few kicks at goal and at half time the B&I Lions were lucky to only be 8-3 down.
Energy and drive were the two things that the Lions needed more of in the second half but once more they were instantly penalised in the first 6 minutes of the half as a result of another terrible line out. The poor display by the Lions continued until the 56th minute when Gatland finally made some changes. The head coach decided to put on a totally new front row and this most definitely paid off with the Lions winning a penalty from their next scrum. A blow to the original front row? Possibly.
With the replacements on the field the Lions began to show some skill with Richie Gray going back to his impressive ways by stealing two balls in the lineout which resulted in a penalty for the visiting side and with Farrell now on for Hogg, the score quickly reached 14-12. With seven minutes left the Lions started piling on the pressure and with number 8 Falateu making 14 carries throughout the 80 minutes the men in red began to look as if they might take this game. However, the little mistakes that had plagued their performance throughout the game had not gone away and a penalty was given against the Lions for holding on and with only two minutes left on the clock the game was all but over.
The Brumbies managed to hold on to the ball to be a part of a famous rugby victory that will go down in ACT Brumbies folk-law as one of the most historic wins of the club history. The Australian side were robbed of a win against the Lions 12 years ago but not today. They performed with much more drive and focus than the Lions and were much more deserving of the win.
Luckily for the Lions, this was not a game that they had to win, yet they would have rather not to have lost a game at all during this tour. This loss will provide Gatland and the Lions with a lot more to work on from now until their first real test against Australia on Saturday. This loss will also fuel the fire of the squad as they now know that they will have to work even harder during this week's training and during the game on Saturday. Considering that today's starting XV might not even be Gatland's second choice XV the loss will not be too worrying for the Lions and the Australian national side will most definitely know that this was not a true representation of the skill and power that lurks within the British and Irish side.
Brumbies: Jesse Mogg, Henry Speight, Tevita Kuridrani, Andrew Smith, Clyde Rathbone, Matt Toomua, Ian Prior; Ruan Smith, Siliva Siliva, Scott Sio, Leon Power, Sam Carter, Scott Fardy, Colby Faingaa, Peter Kimlin (capt).
Replacements: Josh Mann-Rea, Jean-Pierre Smith, Chris Cocca, Etienne Oosthuizen, Jordan Smiler, Mark Swanepoel, Robbie Coleman, Zack Holmes
Lions: Rob Kearney; Christian Wade, Brad Barritt, Billy Twelvetrees, Shane Williams; Stuart Hogg, Ben Youngs; Ryan Grant, Rory Best (capt), Matt Stevens, Ian Evans, Richie Gray, Sean O'Brien, Justin Tipuric, Toby Faletau.
Replacements: Richard Hibbard (for Best, 57), Alex Corbisiero (for Grant, 57), Dan Cole (for Stevens, 57), Geoff Parling (for Evans, 60), Dan Lydiate (for O'Brien, 57), Conor Murray (for Youngs, 60), Owen Farrell (for Hogg, 60), Simon Zebo (for Williams, 69).
Referee: Jerome Garces (France)
Attendance: 21, 655
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