The Lions won their final mid-week game on the 2025 tour beating the First Nations / Pasifika side 24-19. The invitational side had star quality in the coaches box as well as internationally capped players in the 23.
They stuck in the fight from the first minute although they did lose a player to the sin bin early on in the first half they battled hard with men like Taniela Tupou, Rob Leota showing Joe Schmidt that those outside the Test 23 as of this moment still have plenty to offer for game 2 and 3 as well as the Rugby Championship starting in August.
From a Lions perspective, depending on injuries players like Scott Cummings, Owen Farrell, Jamie Osbourne and Garry Ringrose did there Test chances no harm for involvement in either game 2 or 3. The result was very close on the score board and will keep minds focused.
Great for the mid-week side to finish unbeaten even though it was tight towards the end of the game. You can tell the coaching of Tana Umagna , Totei Kefu, Sekope Kepu and Dave Rawlui had an impact on the squad they had at their disposal.
They stuck in the contest and worked for each other and had a solid set piece which allowed them to stay in the contest and won a few key penalties to assert pressure on the Lions pack that didn’t seem to be overly affected by all the inclusions of the players brought in to help out with this particular fixture.
It was a tight game but that will do the squad no harm in preparation for the final two games vs Australia. While some of the players involved this morning may not see any game time over the final fortnight, others did enough to put the hand up for least a bench role if called upon.
Andy Farrell will be happy that the mid-week part of this tour has seen them stay unbeaten. The only plot on the copy book so far came in Dublin against Argentina.
Australia will know they will need to far more physical on Saturday in the MCG to stand any hope of making the series 1-1 and going to a decider in Test 3. It will take a huge effort from Australia to pick up the win but as they showed last November against England if they still in the game late on they can find a way to win.
The evidence of the first game might suggest that the Lions will make it 2-0 but knowing Joe Schmidt he will still hold out hope that his charges can muster up the type of performance that was the hall mark of his 6 years in charge of Ireland, only time will tell of course.
For the Lions, it is time to go for the throat in the 2nd Test and try and finish the series off on Saturday. That ruthless edge we hear so often of needs to be seen and put this Australian side to bed in terms of a series win.
The last time the Lions put a series to bed in the second test was 1997 in South Africa, time for Melbourne July 26th 2025 to be added to that particular list…..