Brisbane, Australia – Try it in the 45th minute and it was cake icing, which is close to the perfect game of British and Irish Lions captain Maroyje, who performed a monster in his first match in Australia.
It was clear that Ito had set fire to his belly after he witnessed the massacre of western troops from the Western Army sidelines in Perth.
– As it happened: British and Ireland Lions vs Queensland Reds
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Itoje’s fingerprints were throughout the game, and he saw him sitting with his teammate Jac Morgan on an 18 tackle count, leaving some Reds lineouts, getting two turnovers and going to work with injury.
Early in the first half, the steal finally settled the Lions’ first attempt, and certainly calmed the nerves after realising that tourists were late after 10 minutes. The second intercept helped his team clear his own 22, eventually leading to Huw Jones’ incredible attempt in the 65th minute.
But his working rate with the ball in hand saw the gigantic lock stand out indeed. On 10 carry he earned 31 meters on two line breaks, leading the lead from the front and taking on the Reds’ defense, unleashing a massive backline of tourists.
“To be honest, that’s a bit of a thing,” Ito told a post-game press conference when asked if he was motivated by his teammates. “I think the overall point of these tours is that you are with great players and seeing great players work well and giving them a special motivation for performance.
“In spite of my role as captain, if I’m not playing well, I know it doesn’t matter whether the captain and I are not on the team or not, so I need to make sure my performance is where I need to be and I want everyone to play well.
“All my teammates, I want them to play well. I think our job as players is really important to work together, and when it comes to choosing a team, there are two things to make every coach’s job as hard as possible.
“I enjoy being part of the team. I enjoy getting to know all these people we’ve been fighting for so long. I think the friendships of the group are great. Anyone with real support played on a team that had no real support at all.
Morgan is another outstanding performer, adding his name to the mix for the opening test two weeks after the highly impressive Man of the Man performance. He created a massive 18 tackles, earning three turnovers and nine carrys in the 49 metres, and a 56-minute try at the age of 25 rounded out a near-perfect game.
Lions coach Andy Farrell called to praise after being asked about Morgan’s performance.
“I thought Jack Morgan was everywhere,” Farrell said.
“Well, the way he plays tonight, he can play anywhere he likes. His off-road game, and the point of his difference is clearly how fast he is on the floor. He was offensive in his blows, and his carry was just as aggressive as well.
Meanwhile, the Reds simply had no answers about what the Lions were producing after they continued to compete through the match until the first half before the wheels began to fall just before the break.
The pairing of Kalani Thomas and Harry McLaughlin Phillips’ young half seemed often lost when taking on the defense of the Lions’ monsters, but some of Thomas’ decisions to run the ball were questionable.
Josh Canyum and Joe Briel were the standouts of the forward pack where Briel controls almost every conflict before setting up the opening try for Jeffrey Tomaga Allen. His defense was just as impressive with 12 tackles and sales.
But it was Wallaby’s hopeful Hunter Paisami who ensured he had a hold on Joe Schmidt’s attention ahead of his first Test in Brisbane two weeks later.
In the goodwill behind Joseph Auguso Suaari and Len Ikitau, Paisami took Schmidt to shave the line several times with two line breaks after shaking off five defenders, but didn’t miss the defense with the perfect 10 tackles they spent the night.
“We didn’t expect much from Hunter,” Reds coach Les Kiss said of Paisami’s performance. “I was talking to Hunter and he was standing there with Bundy (aki) and both of them enjoyed the contest they had. I was a very good contest and I thought Hunter was really of high quality.
“He took us to our front paws many times, and if you were going to make those decisions, you had to be ready to take them, and that was when we created that momentum and got the score we needed.
“He was important to us, and I thought he kept it together and even in the kick game he had, there was one kick that the kick he put there found money for us. He was pretty good tonight.”
The Lions, who scored a cumulative 106 points in two matches, including Wednesday night’s 52, began to leave to the left to reflect on how his wallabies could rob such a huge beast.