The British and Ireland Lions took their first steps to deliver their favorite tags and achieve a potential whitewash in a one-sided 27-19 victory over Australia in their highly anticipated first Test on Saturday.
The Lions connected from the opening few minutes after Finn Russell’s boots were placed on the scoreboard, and despite Australia’s late counterattack, the rest of the Contrest remained in the pole position.
It was an incomplete performance, but Andy Farrell’s side was undoubtedly superior in all aspects of the game in the first hour. Scoring was done with Sione Twiplots, Tom Curry and Dan Sheehan, while Finn Russell added nine points from the kicking tee.
Max Jorgensen went through the first half for the Wallabies and improved when he cleared the bench in the second half, but the replacements Carlo Tizzano and Tate McDermott were too few and too late. “I thought we started off well in the first half, and we did a lot of good things.
“Then the second half was a bit back and forth from both sides. I think that’s a good position for us.”
The Wallabies ranked the underdogs and got off to a tense start amid a cacophony of noise from a crowd of 52,229, with Russell giving tourists an early lead with a penalty within the first few minutes.
Russell was thickened again when the Lions next entered Australia 22 in the ninth minute, and the Scottish fly half considered a cross kick before swinging a wide pass to run by the Melbourne-born Twiplots.
Lions Center Foo Jones tried it out for a double move 10 minutes later, but the Wallabies were kicking inadequately and didn’t threaten to get out of their half, let alone score.
Jorgensen did nothing 30 minutes ago and then tried it, but tore a tall ball out of Lions fullback Hugo Keenan’s hand and ran around the corner and ran off.
Fly Half Tom Lina rocked the start of the first Test and missed a conversion, and the Lions quickly went 17-5, 17-5 after Flanker Curry.
Curry’s impressive physicality may have caused him to get him into trouble just before the break as he worked on Lina in the air, but judge Ben O’Keefe had his card in his pocket.
Australia’s lineout was malfunctioning all the games, paying the price right after the break when Lions Midfield ramped with sales balls and sent a corner in one hand from Curry.
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Russell maintained his perfect night from the kick-kick tee, extending the lead to 24-5 as the coach began to begin substitutions.
Australia eventually put some sustained pressure on the time zone, with centre Joseph Suaaree going over the line with a crash ball and punishing him for not releasing O’Keefe because he was dragged forward by the Lions Pack.
Replacement Franca Tizano made the line a muscle in a converted attempt to reduce the deficit after 24-12 8 minutes, but replacement Marcus Smith gave the Lions a little more cushion with a 73rd minute penalty.
The Wallabies were now attacking with more flowing ency and more, but the impressive Lions defense had been obsessed with them since McDermott skipped the line for another attempt at comfort.
“It’s obviously a shame,” Wallabies captain Harry Wilson said.
“We’ve been wanting to win, but it feels like we probably didn’t let the game go like we wanted.
“They won some big moments. That’s what we want to do and what we want to do next week.”
The second Test will take place next weekend at Melbourne Cricket Grounds, with the series coming to an end on August 2nd at Stadium Australia in Sydney.
Information from Reuters contributed to this report.