Lions secure another win against gritty Brumbies

The British and Irish Lions have completed their expected Test dress rehearsal by defeating the Brumbies 36-24 in front of 23,116 in Canberra.

Bigger venues, crowds and expectations will await Lions in the Test series against the Wallabies, but they frequently stuttered against a weakened Brumbies.

Canberra has traditionally been a difficult stopover for the Lions, losing in 2013 and needing a late penalty to win in 2001. And so it proved again at GIO Stadium.

The Brumbies were without nine of their Wallabies and refused to be upstaged by the Lions for much of the evening, typified by their captain and halfback Ryan Lonergan, who must be considered for his first international cap sooner rather than later.

After the game Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham said that he was disappointed to lose against the Lions, but pleased that the performance would set a platform for Lonergan and others to go onto higher honours in the game.

“Coming out of the game without the win is disappointing, it’s not about playing against the Lions, it’s the opportunity to beat the Lions, and we didn’t do that,” Larkham said.

“But there were some really good performances out there, I think the guys stepped up exceptionally well.

“If you look back 12 years ago and even further back to 2001, guys come out of this game and this experience a better player and I’m hoping it leads to opportunities down the track for players such as Ryan (Lonergan).”

The Waratahs had provided the Brumbies with a blueprint for upsetting the Lions: make the breakdown a contest and maintain relentless physicality. For most of the night, the Brumbies applied their fierce local rivals’ best work against an even stronger Lions side.

There was patience and poise from the Brumbies in their mauling. Stephen Larkham had once tasked current Waratahs coach Dan McKellar with developing the best maul in the world for the Brumbies and his invention took apart some of world’s elite forwards.

Tuaina Taii Tualima acrobatically dived over Lions’ bodies to score his first try after just four minutes, but followed by a poor and uncharacteristic miss from Ryan Lonergan with a straightforward conversion.

Marcus Smith of the British & Irish Lions celebrates after scoring.Credit: Getty Images

After such a strong start, Brumbies inside centre David Feliuai running into contact deep in his own half threw a wild offload, the ball went forward and breakaway Ollie Chessum was able to score the Lions first try.

Brumbies fullback Andy Muirhead did brilliantly to stop a certain try from James Lowe somehow getting his left shin under the ball, denying the Irish winger a try. Ryan Lonergan also reminded the onlooking Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt he isn’t going away with an outstanding steal at the ruck.

Lowe redeemed himself after 28 minutes scoring in the same left-hand corner after Muirhead had denied him earlier, diving over after the Brumbies’ defence was opened by swift ball movement from the Lions.

The Brumbies had refused to be intimidated as previous Super Rugby opponents, typified by veteran second row Caderyn Neville making a vital steal at the ruck, deep in the Lions half, leading to the fastest man in Canberra Corey Toole racing over for his side’s second try.

Joe McCarthy of British & Irish Lions is tackled by Lachlan Shaw.Credit: Getty Images

With the siren gone, a quick offload from Tom Curry set up replacement Marcus Smith to set the score at 10-19.

Hooker Lachlan Lonergan had started the game brilliantly for the Brumbies, but two early attacking lineouts missed deep in the Lions proved costly. The Brumbies were starved of ball for much of the game, so when they had opportunities they needed to take them.

The impressive Irish centre Garry Ringrose threw a brilliant dummy to cut through the home defence, then took a perfectly threaded kick from Smith into his hands to score his first try.

The Brumbies refused to whither in the cold and after Toole dragged Gibson-Park down in his in-goal area, a stable five-metre scrum set up Hudson Creighton to charge over for try.

The Lions dominated possession, with replacement Josh van der Flier missing out on a try after a long deliberation from the TMO that ruled he had been held up. Russell’s decision to kick a penalty after so much possession on 61 minutes highlighted the Lions’ evident nerves.

The Brumbies’ bravery throughout the night didn’t falter, but it became impossible to match the fresh Lions bench, with van der Flier charging through for a try from a rolling maul to essentially kill off the game.

Replacement Brumbies hooker Liam Bowron burrowed over for a late Brumbies try that delighted their biggest crowd in 17 years.

With the clock in the red, Ollie Chessum was held up over the line thanks to frantic Brumbies defence. It summed up the night, the Brumbies refused to go away and make up the numbers for their vaunted opponents. The stage is nicely set for the Test series.

Lions coach Andy Farrell was relieved at the win, but will nervously wait for updates on Scotland fullback Blair Kinghorn, who hurt his knee in Canberra.

“He’s in good spirits, so you wouldn’t know with Blair, he’s always in good spirits anyway,” Farrell said.

“He got a bang on the knee, so he carried on for quite a bit, but there was no need to keep him going.”

That’s all from me, thanks for your company.

Looks like it was a good night to be distracted from the other game going on.

Keep an eye out for Dr Dre’s updated match report later on, and some follow-up news and analysis tomorrow morning.

Next up is the AUNZ game in Adelaide and I will be heading down there tomorrow.

Ian Foster (right) walks to training with AUNZ and Wallabies hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa and assistant coach Zane Hilton.Credit: Rugby Australia

Check out this story we published today, via an interview with Ian Foster. The former All Blacks coach reckons the trans-Tasman team could have a genuine future, and play many more games together. I wholeheartedly agree.

Have a great night.

Okay, it’s poll time. Too early? Maybe, but just go with it.

There are still two more tour games to come but that Lions-Brumbies clash was the last of the fixtures against the Super Rugby sides.

And with Andy Farrell having played what many view as his Test team tonight in Canberra, we are starting to get a proper picture of what the strongest possible Lions outfit will be on July 19.

There will be guys who can win themselves a Test jersey in the AUNZ clash, for sure, but many spots are starting to looked semi-locked in - with the exception of fullback given Blair Kinghorn’s injury tonight.

So we’ve have had a pretty good look at the Lions.

But we’ve also had a look at the Wallabies, who only just beat Fiji. To suggest that was a grievous sin though, is doing Fiji a huge disservice. They’re a proper Test team, with power and skill. So it may prove better and better as a preparation run as the weeks go by.

And then, of course, there’s Noah Lolesio’s absence due to his neck injury, and clouds over Rob Valetini and Will Skelton.

So the question is, are you more or less confident about your original pick for the series? Have at it.

And here is the post-match summation of Lions coach Andy Farrell: “Some great stuff at times, you know, if you look at the story of the game, it was probably field position and game understanding, some good dominance there and scoring some nice tries on the back of that.

“But, yeah, on the flip side, I thought we got a little bit loose at times and kept inviting the Brumbies back in the game and they were good enough to take a few scores themselves.

“I would say all areas we can tidy up on. But the Brumbies were well up for that and they were strong, obviously very aggressive at the breakdown, strong kicking game, etc. So, to get the score that we did or the points that we got, obviously, we wouldn’t be happy with the points that we conceded but at the same time, you know, we got held up three times over the line.”

Here’s the post-match verdict from Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham:

“Overall I thought the effort was outstanding. The guys that came off the bench did an amazing job. Everyone contributed.

“There were a couple of lapses .… where we were just a little bit inconsistent coming out of our end, but for the majority of the game we were under the pump. I don’t know what the stats are, but it felt like we were in our half of the whole game, pretty much. And we were pretty dogged defensively.

A couple of held up tries there and I think we were sort of still in it, you know, close enough at the end of the game there. If we score a try with five minutes to go, we give ourselves a chance of winning it. But yeah, I guess like every other Australian team, we’ve come up short this time around.

And they were pretty good. That’s probably their test team.”

That’s all she wrote.

The Brumbies denied the Lions a try on the hooter, via another Muirhead held-up, but the Lions still got the job done 36-24.

It’s no repeat of the Brumbies beating the Lions in 2013, but it’s still a heck of an effort when you look at the facts of the matter.

It was five tries to four, and the Lions - drawn from four nations - fielded their Test-strength team. The Brumbies, meanwhile, had eight Wallabies missing.

They let themselves down a bit with discipline and handling, and giving the Lions easy access to their redzone. But it was a strong effort nonetheless.

LIONS 36 BRUMBIES 24

The Brumbies refuse to die. They are the undead of rugby.

They’ve scored a fourth try via another pick-and-go, route one attack under the Lions posts.

This time it was reserve hooker Liam Bowron, who was the man able to see a gap amid all the Lions defenders and plant the ball down.

It might be too late for them, but what a gutsy effort.

LIONS 36 BRUMBIES 24

The difference between the Lions’ bench, and those of the state teams, has been stark in most of the tour games and so it has proved again tonight.

The Lions used their power in contact to get down into the Brumbies’ territory, and two penalties saw the visitors kick to the corner and roll in a try to reserve flanker Josh van der Flier.

The Brumbies have just found it hard all night to get in the Lions half and build pressure. The Lions have done it easy.

LIONS 35 BRUMBIES 17

“The Brumbies are living off scraps but they are frustrating the Lions here. Josh van der Flier thought that he had scored a try, and Finn Russell’s decision to kick a penalty was roundly booed by the crowd, it said something about the visitor’s nerves that this Brumbies time just will not die.

“The Waratahs provided some of the blueprint, create a fight at the breakdown and do not relent. It will be a Lions win here, but there is optimism for Australian rugby fans. This Lions team is excellent, but they have their flaws and can be rattled.

Yes, you read that right. The Lions won a penalty five metres out, straight in front of the sticks, and took the three.

It was the first penalty goal of the Lions’ tour, the Stan commentary team reckon.

A compliment? Are the Lions practising game scenarios? Who knows.

On comes Canberra boy Mack Hansen for the Lions.

Meanwhile, the Brumbies are not helping themselves, they’ve dropped the ball cold in two straight attacking moves.

LIONS 29 BRUMBIES 17