The British and Ireland Lions took a step back with an error-prone performance in Game 3 of the Australian Tour with a 21-10 victory over New South Wales’ Waratersside on Saturday.
Center Foo Jones crossed twice in the first half, and Alex Mitchell added another attempt early in the second, but the Lions went scoreless in the final 26 minutes of contest coach Andy Farrell.
“It was a bit crude, but we finally got there. We’re still working on a lot,” Mitchell said.
“Some things were clicked, but some things were off.”
Roa was roaed by a large part of the crowd of 40,568, and scored the Derby Lancaster and Ethand Bins, and only trailed four points early in the second half.
The Super Rugby side showed the Wallabies the way for the 3 Test Series in late July and August.
“I’m extremely proud and very proud,” Watas skipper Hugh Sinclair said.
“We showed up, it was crude, but the Lions wouldn’t have been happy with it.”
The Lions were looking for another step up after opening their account with a 52-12 victory over the Queensland Reds on Wednesday and a 54-7 victory over the Western Army.
When they scored a penalty from the first scrum, it looked at the card and Jones carved out the defense for the first score under the 12th minute post.
However, Waratah was not in the mood to lie down, so they were surrounded by the Lions Line and approached the 30-minute mark, fighting in his way to get a touchdown to be called back for obstruction.
The Lions returned the other end to get Jones’ second attempt by stabbing the tackler from close range in the 33rd minute, but Waratha responded immediately.
Flanker Rob Leota charged the blindside and swapped the pass with Lancaster.
Finn Smith’s two successful conversions meant the Lions were 14-5 on a break, but Waratah further reduced the deficit within two minutes of the restart when Walker’s Ethan Dobbins scored his second homeside try from the Rolling Mall.
Farrell went to the bench ten minutes into the second half, and the Lions quickly got a third attempt at a decent dummy courtesy behind the mall from Mitchell.
Replacement prop Ellis Jenge got over the line five minutes after a rampage, but he bouncing the ball back onto the ground before bouncing back to the ground.
The error continued and killed the flow of the Lions’ offense, but Gamble and Leota were outstanding in leading the scrap waratapak with each possession.
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