First Nations Pasifika goes within a whisker of all-time Lions boilover
The Lions remain undefeated on their tour of Australia but only just after they scraped through against a First Nations Pasifika side that gave them a brutal physical test.
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For a team that trades off nostalgia, the British & Irish Lions sure have done a lousy job trying to safeguard one of their proudest traditions as they survived a huge scare to beat the First Nations Pasifika 24-19 in a thriller at Marvel Stadium on Tuesday.
The Lions remain undefeated on their tour of Australia but only just after they scraped through their closest match so far against a committed opposition that gave them a brutal physical test.
FNP flanker Charlie Gamble was named man of the match despite being on the losing side.
“It’s been a pretty special week for our group and you saw it out there we were fighting hard for each other,” he told Stan Sport.
“The first 10 minutes of the second half let us down but we didn’t give up until the end.
“We really connected this week and you could see that in the way we were fighting for each other.
“It’s pretty tough when you see people saying you are going to get smashed by 50 points or 100 points but we showed we deserved to be out there.”
While most international rugby teams have long abandoned full length tours in favour of playing only Test matches, the Lions, to their eternal credit, still play warm-up and midweek games whenever they visit Australia or the other southern hemisphere giants.
In a world where sport is being swamped by crass commercialisation and instant gratification, the inclusion of games against state and invitational teams on their itinerary seems like a welcome throwback to the code’s amateur roots.
Or at least that’s how it looked before the current Lions arrived in Australia for their latest tour and started trashing the history and culture of some of their opponents.
Instead of embracing the Barbarian nature of the games, the Lions have been constantly bleating about the substandard opposition they have encountered, moaning to the press and lodging complaints with Rugby Australia, prompting suggestions they may abandon tour games in the future.
That approach has done little to endear them to critics who think their egos are so out of control that they are more worried about beating their own chest as beating the opposition.
Kudos then to the FNP who were brought together at short notice, and stripped of one of their best players after the Lions invoked a petty rule to prevent Pete Samu from taking the field.
With everything in their favour, the Lions should have devoured the hastily cobbled FNP side but instead they were made to look like playful kittens instead of the kings of the jungle.
FNP captain Kurtley Beale said the FNP team, playing together for the first time, should be a regular feature in future tours.
“I think so. When you see how much heart the boys played with tonight,” he said.
“There is so much talent here and it’s a great platform, hopefully the young First Nations and Pacifika kids out there can look at this and aspire to be in this jersey in the future.”
The early signs suggested the Lions would eat them alive when they raced to a 14-0 lead inside the first 10 minutes with tries from outside centre Jamie Osborn and wing Darcy Graham before the FNP struck back by employing oldest’s tactics.
Lions captain Owen Farrell was full of praise for the FNP.
“Probably too tight for us, massive credit to the Pasifika,” he said.
“They came out and gave it to us. We couldn’t get a foothold in the game for 60 mins but massive credit to them but I am thankful we got the job done in the end.
“There’s always a number of things to improve on, not just one thing. It felt frantic at times, we could have been a bit calmer.
“We spoke at half-time and regrouped, managed to be a bit more direct at the start of the second half and get more territory but they found their way back into the game.
“Some of the chases from the first half compared to the second half were miles better.
“I enjoyed being out there, it’s a great tour and there is more to come with all eyes on Saturday.
“We’ll enjoy this, recover and we’ll see what happens.”
In a free lesson to what the Wallabies need to do to win Saturday’s second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the FNP began hitting them hard and hitting them often.
The Lions didn’t like the ferocious hits they copped or the physical intensity the FNP brought to the breakdown. They struggled to hold their scrum together and began committing basic handling errors. That’s what pressure does.
Triston Reilly scored for the FNP off an intercept. Then five minutes later Seru Uru plunged over from the back of a ruck as the teams went to the break locked at 14-14.
The Lions again looked to have seized control of the result when Osborne scored his second try shortly after the restart then Duhan van der Merwe crossed to give the tourists a 10-point lead.
But the FNP cut the margin to five points when Rob Leota crashed over 10 minutes from the end to send up a grandstand finish before the Lions held on.
SAMU SNUB FUEL TO THE FIRE
Already denied the use of one of their best players then presented with a weakened opponent missing its stars, the First Nations Pasifika rugby team has all the motivation it needs to stick it to the British & Irish Lions when they lock horns in Melbourne on Tuesday.
With the match scheduled between the first and second Tests against the Wallabies, the Lions’ best players will watch the game from the stands, giving their second-stringers a hit out.
That has come as no surprise to the First Nations Pasifika players, who are used to being treated as easybeats by the Home Nations, but it has given them some extra incentive.
“We know that. We know they’re not really focused on us, and that’s okay,” First Nations Pasifika hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa said.
“I don’t really want to talk about it too much. We just want to show them that we’ve made all we can do and all we’ve got, essentially.”
The Lions had already infuriated the First Nations Pasifika players by blocking the selection of newly signed Waratahs recruit Pete Samu because he hadn’t played in Super Rugby this season.
Samu had played against the Lions with the AUNZ Invitational team in Adelaide but the petty decision to exclude him from Tuesday’s game has not been well received.
In a show of solidarity, Samu has remained with the team to help them train, which Paenga-Amosa said showed how seriously the locals were treating the fixture.
“It just shows the connection in this team,” he said.
“And also how good the food is and how good the kava tastes.
“We are quite close, this group, on field and off field, so we’ve been having a lot of fun this week so I bet that’s why Peter hung around.”
Paenga-Amosa also knows how big a challenge his makeshift side faces against the Lions but said his players were ready to give it everything to represent their cultures, but without resorting to reckless rugby.
“For us it’s a special occasion. We get to show who we are,” he said.
“There’s quite a bit of emotion that’s going into it. Obviously we don’t want to buy into too much of it but I think emotion can be a good thing.
“It’s tough, it’s not easy, but it is special, and there’s going to be high emotions, but what I’ve learned is just to have a crack.
“We know that the Lions are a very good team, well-drilled squads so I think it’s going to take a bit more than Barbarian’s mindset or Barbarians style footy to beat these guys.”
The First Nations Pasifika side will be captained by Kurtley Beale, who played for the Wallabies against the Lions in 2013, while prop Taniela Tupou was a late addition after missing selection for last weekend’s first Test.
Tupou has signed to play club rugby in France next year so is unsure whether this will be last professional match in Australia.
“I haven’t really thought about it,” he said.
“I might have, might have not played my last game.
“Hopefully I will play again, if not, then I’ll appreciate it.”
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Originally published as First Nations Pasifika goes within a whisker of all-time Lions boilover