The Lions defeated the Brumbies 36-24 this morning and will be pleased with the overall performance even if the score line suggests a close contest. The Brumbies will be happy to have stayed in the contest until late on and kept the Lions honest for the full 80. The Lions will be pleased that certain pairings got more game time with one eye on the first Test in 10 day’s time.
The scrum has certainly improved and Tadgh Furlong is defiantly making a late push for Test inclusion along with Dan Sheehan and Ellis Genge. Finn Russell and Jamison Gibson Park both had very solid games today and will almost certainly be the Test half backs in 10 days.
Handling in open play and the driving maul still need to be tightened up and with a big game coming on Saturday with the Australia & New Zealand Invitational side in Adelaide. The team selection for that game will give a very clear indication who will be in the 23 for Australia the following Saturday.
The Irish centre pair of Aki and Ringrose gave Andy Farrell a timely reminder that they are still in the shake up for Test selection. They worked well along with Finn Russell and Aki in particular gave them go forward ball and he straightened the line several times to allow others to get set in attack mode.
Joe Mc Carthy did his Test chances no harm with an all action display and he was strong in defence when called upon. Ollie Chessum worked hard and carried well along with Tom Curry and they continued to look for an offload when the chance appeared or was on.
The Lions certainly have shifted toward Test mode and took a few shots at goal where previously it would have been a kick to touch. You can still win a game by kicking your goals regularly and that is another aspect that the Lions will hope they can work on at the weekend.
The scrum was a real positive and will only get better over the next 3 weeks, the restart still caused issues at times and they will need to solidify it heading into the next few weeks.
Australia just about manged to get passed a fired up Fiji on Sunday and won’t play any more games before the first Test. For the Lions it is about combinations and fine tuning as we move closer to Test 1.
Players will still know that there are Test places up for grabs and that will keep minds focused for the weekend. It will be interesting to see will Owen Farrell be given game time at 10 with Fin Smith after both Finn Russell and Marcus Smith interchanged there this morning after Blair Kinghorn was withdrawn early in the 1st half. Smith came on at 15 but at times he swapped in with Russell and it allowed the Lions attack both sides of any particular ruck.
They will also need to spend time at the breakdown as there haven’t been many turn over penalties through the tour and the discipline will need to be far better as the Lions gave up several penalties for offside and that is down to pressure yes but also it can just be players being careless.
As I mention, the selection for Saturday will be a very big indicator of where Andy Farrell sees his team for the opening game vs Australia. I will now select my 23 for Saturday and also my team for the 1st Test the following Saturday 19th July.
Here is my team to play the Australia & New Zealand Invitational side at 11am
15 Mack Hansen
14 Duhan Van Der Merwe
13 Huw Jones
12 Owen Farrell
11 Blair Kinghorn
10 Fin Smith
9 Ben White
8 Ben Earl
7 Jac Morgan
6 Tadgh Beirne
5 Ollie Chessum
4 Scott Cummings
3 Finlay Bealham
2 Ronan Kelleher
1 Andrew Porter
–
16 Luke Cowan Dickie
17 Pierre Schoeman
18 Will Stuart
19 Henry Pollock
20 Josh Van Der Flier
21 Alex Mitchell
22 Marcus Smith
23 Hugo Keenan
I will now select the 23 I think will play in Test 1 :
15 Blair Kinghorn
14 Tommy Freeman
13 Huw Jones
12 Sione Tuipulotu
11 James Lowe
10 Finn Russell
9 Jamison Gibson Park
8 Ben Earl
7 Jac Morgan
6 Tom Curry
5 Joe Mc Carthy
4 Maro Itoje
3 Tadgh Furlong
2 Dan Sheehan
1 Ellis Genge
–
16 Ronan Kelleher
17 Pierre Shoeman
18 Will Stuart
19 Ollie Chessum
20 Josh Van Der Flier
21 Alex Mitchell
22 Finn Smith
23 Garry Ringrose
I know that injury could yet intervene and rule some of these selections out of contention for that opening Test but from what I have seen over the past few weeks this is my selection to take Australia on Saturday July 19th.