Lions Watch #1: NZ Provincial Barbarians 7 -13 British & Irish Lions

Lions Watch #1: NZ Provincial Barbarians 7 -13 British & Irish Lions

Match report:

The Lions had to make a good first impression, and in that sense, they fell at the first hurdle. Straight from kick-off, a mistake from Iain Henderson gifted the ball to the Barbarians, who then battered the Lions defence for almost ten minutes, but to no avail. The Lions gradually worked through the phases and eventually won a penalty, but Sexton missed what would usually be a guaranteed 3 points, inviting more Barbarians pressure. Sexton later got on the scoresheet with a penalty, but approaching the half hour mark the Lions were still holding on to a shaky 3-0 lead. The provincial Barbarians finally produced an end product to their fantastic first-half performance, a Bryn Gatland up-and-under resulting in Anderson-Heather driving over the line, with Gatland getting the conversion to give the Barbarians a 7-3 lead at half-time.

Greig Laidlaw steadied the ship with a penalty just after the break to make it 7-6. Sexton, who had been misfiring with his kicking all match, was substituted for Farrell, with the English centre making an instant impact on the game. An excellent kick into the corner from Farrell gave the Lions the field position they needed, and Anthony Watson capitalised to go over in the corner, assisted by some slick handling from Farrell. The Lions tried to keep the momentum going, but costly mistakes, including a missed Farrell penalty, meant the Barbarians did most of the attacking in the final quarter, but an excellent turnover by Mako Vunipola from a dangerous lineout meant the Lions survived. It will be hard for the visitors to muster a more underwhelming performance when they play the Blues on Wednesday.

Man Of The Match: Taulupe Faletau

Faletau was the exception in an otherwise poor performance, carrying and tackling like a Test starter. The standout moment was when centre Inga Finau was clear to score a try for the Barbarians, only for Faletau to make a last-minute lunge, not only dragging the centre down but managing to turn him on his back to stop a definite try.

In Or Out?(this will be a feature where I discuss who should be in or out the Test side)

In: Taulupe Faletau, Kyle Sinckler, Greig Laidlaw, Ben Te’o, Anthony Watson, Owen Farrell

Out: Iain Henderson, Ross Moriarty, Johnny Sexton, Stuart Hogg

Player Ratings

1. Joe Marler – 6/10 – Solid throughout, not an outstanding performance but he did his job

2. Rory Best – 6/10 – Similar to Marler, good scrummaging and rucking

3. Kyle Sinckler – 7/10 – Fantastic 50-minute performance, but lack of experience with tap-and-go penalty

4. Alun Wyn Jones – 6/10 – Good at lineout but second-best in tackles

5. Iain Henderson – 5/10 - Disappointing performance, mistakes throughout disrupted momentum

6. Ross Moriarty – 5/10 – Good carrying but was turned over multiple times, and some sloppy offloads

7. Sam Warburton – 6/10 – Strong showing from the captain, but will want more from his players

8. Taulupe Faletau – 9/10 – If it wasn’t for Faletau, Lions would have lost this game. Simple.

9. Greig Laidlaw – 7/10 – Confident kicking, will need to show more to get into Test side

10. Johnny Sexton – 5/10 – Kicked out on the full with cross-kick, missed a seemingly straightforward penalty and couldn’t get into the game

11. Tommy Seymour – 5/10 – Didn’t offer anything out on the wing, didn’t get anywhere near to scoring

12. Ben Te’o – 6/10 – Good intentions on the ball, and beat some defenders with ease

13. Jonathan Joseph – 6/10 – Good handling but was never given platform to impress

14. Anthony Watson – 7/10 - Beat 2 defenders superbly to finish, but otherwise quiet

15. Stuart Hogg – 5/10 – Never got a chance to run at the defence, and some unforced errors too

SUBS:

16. George – 6/10

17. Vunipola – 7/10

18. Furlong – 6/10

19. Kruis – 6/10

20. Tipuric 6/10

21. Webb – 6/10

22. Farrell – 7/10

23. Daly – N/A