Sheevas Dayal
The Provincial Barbarians will surely be happy with what they achieved on the rainy night on Saturday, June 3 that eased just hours before the game.
The Lions got their heavily predicted opening game victory but were disappointed with their first match, as they should be.
It was one that saw them embarrassed by a side made up of players who will clock back at work on Monday; the team which was put together just two weeks ago that had no business placing the Lions under so much pressure as they did and getting so close to a shock victory.
Less than impressive game
It was a stunning night for them; with the exception of Toby Faletau and Ben Teo’o, they failed to impress and given what lies ahead for the Lions, they’d have to improve.
The big game the crowd was hoping did not happen, as they failed in most aspects of the game. They did not find the space and they could not control the breakdown or determine the tempo.
The marvellously-named Mako Vunipola destroyed a Barbarians’ maul.
But let us not forget how necessary was that intervention of Mako: time was almost up and the Barbarians were trying to rolling-maul their way towards an unlikely victory. No, the condition that afflicted the starting 15 worked its way no less through numbers 16 to 23.
Poor interaction
The poor interaction among the Lions’ players has been defended on the grounds that they are only just getting to know each other, so this is to be expected. But they know each other better than the Barbarians did, who nevertheless seemed able to find each other on the field easily.
At least one Gatland was pleased at how the game turned out.
The Barbarians number 10, Bryn was adroit and his kicking game was good and the Lions tucked into their half. He looked like a proper fly-half. It was his areal bomb that created the 23rd minute try to Sam Heather. He controlled the game and Josh Goodhue and the rest of the pack gave everything to deliver the most compelling performance.
The Lions were well off the mark. They were so slow to react and they took an age to transition from defence to attack.
They were so slow to see where the threats lay and more worryingly, they could not think quickly to take advantage of the opportunities that came their way.
When they eventually realised where to run, they butchered a raft of opportunities simply by not being masters of the not-so-complex process of pass and catch.
Clunky and weak
For the entire first half, they were clunky beyond all expectation. They were beaten across the park, left to chase the game and wonder how on earth they were going to get into it given the magnitude of their problems.
It also looked as if a few of their players were a bit shell-shocked, trying to make sense of why they were failing to live up to expectation.
The biggest surprise of the night, however, was the lack of dominance of the Lions in the set piece and the maul.
I had anticipated the Lions destroying the Barbarians’ scrum on a regular basis, kicking the subsequent penalties to the corner, or as close as they could get, and then using rolling-mauls to confirm their dominance and exhaust the opposing forwards. Not to the point of doing nothing else but enough to establish a clear platform.
However, the Barbarians’ scrum almost held its own, while the Lions’ lineout was just adequate and their rolling maul never really got going.
It could be jet-lag/fatigue as we absolutely know that the set piece and maul are and will on this tour be among the Lion’s strengths
This was not Lion-like at all. They had come to Whangarei with the best squad possible and were predicted to have a gentle hit-out.
In fact, they were beaten up at the breakdown, smashed around in the contact areas and ripped apart on the wider fringes, there was an element of panic coming from them.
NZ Provincial Barbarians 7(S. Anderson-Heather tries; B. Gatland cons)
British & Irish Lions 13(A. Watson tries; J. Sexton, G. Laidlaw pens; O. Farrell cons)
Crowd: 19921
Provincial Barbarians:
Luteru Laulala (Counties Manukau), Sam Vaka (Counties Manukau), Inga Finau (Canterbury), Dwayne Sweeney (Waikato), Sevu Reece (Waikato), Bryn Gatland (NorthHarbour), Jack Stratton (Canterbury), Mitchell Dunshea (Canterbury), Lachlan Boshier (Taranaki), James Tucker (Waikato), Keepa Mewett (Bay of Plenty), Josh Goodhue
(Northland), Oliver Jager (Canterbury), Sam Anderson-Heather (Otago), Aidan Ross (Bay of Plenty).
Reserves: Andrew Makalio (Tasman), Tolu Fahamokioa (Wellington), Marcel Renata (Auckland), Matt Matich (Northland), Peter Rowe vc (Wanganui), Richard Judd (Bay of Plenty), Jonah Lowe (Hawke’s Bay), Junior Ngaluafe (Southland).
British & Irish Lions:
Sam Warburtones, Rory Best, Greig Laidlaw, Taulupe Faletau, Ross Moriarty, Marler, Best and Kyle Sinckler, Alan Wyn Jones, Ian Henderson, Jonny Sexton, Ben Te’o, Jonathan Joseph, Tommy Seymour, Anthony Watson, Ian Hogg, Jamie George, Mako Vunipola, Tadhg Furlong, George Kruis, Justin Tipuric, Rhys Webb, Owen Farrell, Stuart Hogg, Joe Marler, Ross Moriarty, Tangald Faletau, Elliot Daly.
Sheevas Dayal is our Rugby Correspondent.
