The Lions second game on Australian soil has ended in the Lions winning 52-12 and while a number of aspects of the performance will concern Andy Farrell namely the set piece, restart and line out. John Fogarty, Simon Easterby and Farrell will have to work on things on the training pitch to try an iron out the issues that have caused the Lions problems in the first couple of games in Australia.
From a game perspective, the likes of Aki, Jac Morgan, Gibson Park and Finn Russell can be pleased with their efforts on tour so far. Other aspects of the game plan are coming together for the Lions and that will please the coaches.
The final pass didn’t stick in the opening half but as the second “40” moved along those missed opportunities in the opening half started to stick and that will please all involved that what is being worked on is coming together and partnerships are also being formed and worked on for down the road.
The Lions led 21-12 at half time after tries from Tommy Freeman, Andrew Porter and Duhan Van Der Merwe. Van Der Merwe will know he will need to sharpen up in defence as he was caught cold twice, once he manged to rescue the situation but the second time saw centre Josh Flook get in for one of the two tries the Reds scored.
While the score line like last Saturday suggests a comfortable shift, the opening half was filled with small moments like issues in particular at the line out and restart that will really need to be worked on when they play the NSW Waratahs.
In terms of combinations, the likes of Gibson Park, Russell are building nicely and before he exited injured Elliott Daly put in another strong showing at 15 coming in for Hugo Keenan who was ruled out through illness.
Blair Kinghorn will see game time on Saturday either at 15 or on the wing which will give the Lions more scope in terms of combinations through selection.
Marcus Smith and Fin Smith will share the 10 jersey over the next few games and that will hopefully show more options available to Farrell as 10 as an alternative to Russell should anything happen to him.
Jac Morgan showed his quality on both sides of the ball today as did Conan and Tom Curry all three really standing out when required at key points. James Ryan can be pleased with his 30 minutes on debut.
The Reds certainly caused the Lions defence trouble with Hunter Paisami showing Joe Schmidt that he is a live option come test time in the gold jersey. Les Kiss will be happy with the effort from his charges as he leaves the Reds to take the Australia job when Joe Schmidt steps down.
As with the Lions, Australia will face Fiji on Sunday in the only game in the build up to the 3 game series. Training and in house games will be crucial as well as the release of certain players to the provincial sides for the games in the lead up to the series.
It is 2 from 2 on Aussie soil but Andy Farrell will know his men will need to step it up again on Saturday, the games will begin to now come thick and fast and as important as results it will be interesting to see how certain combinations continue to develop….