Australia v British & Irish Lions
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane.
Kick-off: 8pm local time/11am Irish.
On TV: Live on Sky Sports.
All day long the atmosphere, colour and monumental sense of occasion had been building. Maybe you have to be here to fully appreciate it, but this really does feel huge, a once-every-dozen-years landmark collision, potentially series-defining. This is the day Lions fans have anticipated for four years. Australian rugby has been waiting for 12 years.
RM Block
The Wallabies appear depowered and at a low ebb, but this first Test is simply and commonly referred to as the biggest game of rugby in this country since the last Lions tour in 2013. In the last 24 hours, it has elbowed its way onto the back pages and been the lead item on TV sports news bulletins.
The advance battalion of Lions fans were landing on Brisbane. Not all of them wore red; one or two were in Irish green and Leinster blue. The captain’s runs were conducted to a Suncorp Stadium echo chamber, where there was an audience with Johnny Sexton, who made his Lions Test debut here in the corresponding match in 2013.
Then, as forecast, at teatime came the clap of thunder and soon the rain was bouncing off the ground, emptying the fan zone where three non-playing Lions players had visited. The storm before a different kind of storm perhaps, as the forecast for match day is sunny and mostly dry, albeit the Suncorp is shortly cropped and slick as it accommodates so many rugby teams of both codes.
Rugby Australia have sold their tickets and the country will benefit from the mass invasion in red, but the Wallabies need to make hay while the sun shines. They must, at the very least, ensure they are competitive and retain the spotlight on them into next week, not least as this series is two years out from a home World Cup. This next couple of years almost has a now-or-never feel to it if Australian rugby is to regain some of its past glory.
How can the depleted Wallabies survive a Lions onslaught?
Andy Farrell, Maro Itoje et al want to make history and establish themselves as one of the best Lions’ teams ever by winning a series 3-0 for the first time in Australia since 1904. The Wallabies want to revitalise the ailing Australian rugby animal, to be heroes in their own land like others before them, to inspire future generations as they once were by great teams of the past.
Admittedly, the Lions appear to have been building nicely and look to be in a stronger moment. Farrell can replace injured players with experienced Test starters. The Wallabies will be without their primary, go-to ball carrier Rob Valetini. They are even deprived of Will Skelton or Langi Gleeson as an alternative.
But they do have Joe Schmidt, the scalp-plotting master. Think Chicago 2016, or the All Blacks ending Ireland’s 17-match winning run in the World Cup quarter-finals when making 267 tackles and executing an ingenious strike play. He invariably has a plan for Finn Russell and who knows, maybe Tom Lynagh can bring some of his father’s game management and calm assurance, or even a sparkle akin to James O’Connor is his first outings as an international outhalf 12 years ago.
[ Gerry Thornley’s Lions Tour Diary: Take me to Churchie, then Death and TaxesOpens in new window ]
With youth comes fearlessness. Maybe fate has called him. Maybe Nick Champion de Crespigny can emulate Justin Harrison’s debut in the third Test 24 years ago. And maybe the young “saviour”, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, can repeat the feats of Israel Folau a dozen years ago which so inspired him to follow in his path.
The phoney war up until now was just that, and nothing illustrated it more than the Wallabies pointedly keeping Suaalii’s freakish aerial abilities under wraps in their sole warm-up game against Fiji. The Wallabies were keeping their powder dry and even without Valetini and Skelton, there were positive signs in that first period, when but for two marginal calls they’d have gone 28-0 ahead.
But without Valetini, the Wallabies look less equipped to take the fight to the Lions on the ground, and so will more likely do so in the air, fully utilising Suaalii. Even when Lynagh was breaking into the Reds set-up as an 18-year-old, his then-coach Brad Thorn thought he had the best kicking game in Australia.
This will be the real deal and will be more like cup rugby. The Lions have been playing some good running rugby, playing mostly off ‘10’ and using the full width of the pitch. But it would be no surprise if, initially anyway, the Lions play more narrowly off Jamison Gibson-Park and use their battery of carriers to pummel the Wallabies’ close in. With that possibility in mind, - Ellis Genge and Tom Curry look like telling selections more than ones based completely on form to back up Jack Conan.
They are also equipped with an array of kickers and after the difficult opening night against Los Pumas, have sharpened their aerial game. They’ll probably look to use their lineout maul, build scoreboard pressure and try to take the spirit out of the home team and crowd alike.
But so much of this is on the day and almost all of these players are stepping into the unknown. Only Itoje and Tadhg Furlong have played Lions Tests in front of crowds.
“It was amazing,” said Sexton of his Lions Test debut here 12 years ago. “At the start of the year, as a player, you go, ‘how do I get on the plane?’. That’s your whole focus. Then once you are on the plane, it’s, ‘how do I get in the Test team?’. And then, when you get in the Test team, you don’t want to shy away from it. That’s the whole thing you have worked for, in your whole career, since these guys were kids.
“So you want to make the most of it. You want to go out there and express yourself and if you get overwhelmed by the experience you are not going to do that. It’s about acknowledging it early in the week and coming up with a plan.
“We have got Gary Keegan here this week,” added Sexton in reference to the Irish team’s sports psychologist. “He has been busy in getting guys ready mentally, and getting them ready to come into what’s going to be a cauldron.”
Sexton’s eve-of-match media briefing was a reminder that never before has Irish rugby had such a vested interest in a Lions series. And woe betide the consequences if a series win isn’t delivered.
Yet this is mixed with a genuine hope, as well as suspicion, that the Wallabies will be suitably inspired to at least make it memorable. They might well do. Over 80 minutes, however, the Lions look to have the greater power and can roar louder. For this week anyway.
Australia: Tom Wright (Brumbies); Max Jorgensen (Force), Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii (Waratahs) Len Ikitau (Brumbies); Harry Potter (Waratahs); Tom Lynagh (Reds), Jake Gordon (Waratahs); James Slipper (Brumbies), Matt Faessler (Reds), Allan Alaalatoa (Brumbies), Nick Frost (Brumbies), Jeremy Williams (Force), Nick Champion de Crespigny* (Force), Fraser McReight (Reds), Harry Wilson (Reds, capt). Replacements: Billy Pollard (Brumbies), Angus Bell (Waratahs), Tom Robertson (Force), Tom Hooper (Brumbies), Carlo Tizzano (Force), Tate McDermott (Reds), Ben Donaldson (Force), Andrew Kellaway (Waratahs).
* denotes Test debut
British & Irish Lions: Hugo Keenan (Leinster/Ireland); Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints/England); Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors/Scotland), Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow Warriors/Scotland), James Lowe (Leinster/Ireland); Finn Russell (Bath/Scotland), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster/Ireland); Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears/England), Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Ireland), Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Ireland), Maro Itoje (Saracens/England, capt), Joe McCarthy (Leinster/Ireland), Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Ireland), Tom Curry (Sale Sharks/England), Jack Conan (Leinster/Ireland). Replacements: Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Ireland), Andrew Porter (Leinster/Ireland), Will Stuart (Bath/England), Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers/England), Ben Earl (Saracens/England), Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints/England), Marcus Smith (Harlequins/ England), Bundee Aki (Connacht/Ireland).
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (NZR)
Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli (GRU), Andrea Piardi (FIR)
TMO: Richard Kelly (NZR)
FPRO: Eric Gauzins (FFR)
Overall head-to-head: Played 23, Australia 6 wins, Lions 17 wins.
Last six meetings: 2001 Australia 13 Lions 29. Australia 35 Lions 14. Australia 29 Lions 23. 2013 Australia 21 Lions 23. Australia 16 Lions 15. Australia 16 Lions 41.
Forecast: Lions to win.
