After the British and Irish Lions stumbled at their very first hurdle of 2025, David Campese brings us his thoughts, with only seven days before Andy Farrell’s men kick off their tour down under in Perth.
Confusion and Collapse
I realise that this is the first time that many of these Lions have played together, but put bluntly, if they perform like they did in Dublin during the Test series, they’ll be toast Down Under, and I’d go so far as to say they’ll lose 3-0 unless they can fix a few things and fix them quickly.
Australian Rugby hasn’t been too flush in recent years but there’s two things we do well and build our strategy around; our aerial game and our competition at the breakdown.
That aerial battle – Rodrigo Isgro and Ignacio Mendy absolutely cleaned the Lions out at the contestibles. I think the stats said that Isgro alone turned over four of the Lions’ kicks and completed every one of his own as he delivered a remarkable personal performance. He also was brilliant in defence, nailing 17 tackles and missing none, absolutely key duties of the modern wing. Further, the Lions failed to control the drop zone, where Juan Martin Gonzalez and Pablo Matera cleaned up all of the loose or dropped ball.
I simply can’t understand how Duhan van der Merwe, a man of 6’5”, fails under the high ball in the way he does. He’s bloody massive yet managed only one from five in the air in a dismal display under the ball. Tommy Freeman worked hard- 15 carries and the most line breaks, but he was turned over four times- twice in the air and twice on the floor.
Then you have Marcus Smith at full-back. Yes, in attack he was threatening and he played a part in two of the Lions’ tries, but, and it’s a big but, Australia is the land of the physical, athletic full-back and the spiral bomb. That’s what we do – we’re brought up on Aussie Rules and the skills transfer.
The Lions simply cannot afford the luxury of Smith’s defence at 15. He doesn’t understand the positional requirements and he’s simply too small and light to compete one to one. Yes, as an impact player or starting ten, he will do a great job, but as a starting full-back? Come on!
Breakdown
Andy Farrell’s Ireland are very judicious on when to compete and steal at the breakdown, but what they do well is bash and barge to disrupt, using power and big men to destabilise.
The Lions struggled to get that destabilising power into the rucks and that allowed the brilliant Argentinian half-backs an arm-chair ride.
I had to check to be sure Jac Morgan was even playing, such was his lack of impact. Yes, he grabbed one good turnover, but when your openside spends 55 minutes on the pitch, makes four carries for six metres, and manages six tackles (one every nine minutes!) you wonder why he’s failing to execute the basic roles of his position. He also failed to control anything around the drop zone, a key factor, and generally went missing in action in a woeful personal performance.
When Henry Pollock came on he did more in 25 minutes (6 carries for 37m) than Morgan did in twice the time and I feel Pollock’s enthusiasm and work-rate will see him climb the ranks of the Lions back-row stocks.
I’ve seen Ben Earl get criticism from the Lions fans; given he made 18 carries, the most in the match, that’s a little odd. What was lacking was the clearing effort from others to secure the best from that work-rate.
However, there was a lack of an enforcer in that back five. Whether it be in lock or loosies, you need poundage to destabilise. Both the Lions’ locks are ball-playing skills players. The back row was three sevens. You need big men there to match the likes of Harry Wilson and Bobby Valentini and the Lions didn’t have them.
As an aside – if anyone saw the Toulouse performance against Bayonne in the TOP14 on Friday, you got to ask how Jack Willis hasn’t been included? The Toulouse back-row nailed eleven turnovers between them, Willis grabbing six on his own. That’s the Test intensity needed at this level and I am flabbergasted that Farrell has not chosen him.
Set Piece
If you go into a test with two primary jumpers against four or five, as was the case in Dublin, you need a world-class set-piece hooker to deliver accuracy. That’s precisely why Jamie George still starts for England and his darts were sorely missed.
He might not be the force he once was around the park, but as a thrower, he’s the best I’ve ever seen in Test rugby. Luke Cowan-Dickie was woeful as he threw three over and one under his man out of nine. You can’t win tests like that although I would accept that this is a new lineout combination and takes time to synchronise.
Couple that with the poundage issue I mentioned and I suspect the Lions will need a rethink and it’s key they get the right man at six. That might be Tadhg Beirne, or it could be Ollie Chessum or Itoje, but as it stands they’re short of a Courtney Lawes-style operator to rebalance their loosies.
However, the Lions scrum went well. Ellis Genge went out and bled for the Lions and was their best player by a mile. He’s now, for me, the nailed-on Test starter, and Farrell has the luxury of another world-class loosehead, Andrew Porter, to unleash off the bench. Tight head looked strong too, with Finlay Bealham shining in an otherwise lacklustre pack.
Missing Intensity
When we played the Lions in 89 the intensity of their forward pack was overwhelming. Players like Mike Teague, Findlay Calder, Wade Dooley, Dean Richards – and even in the backline, Scott Gibbs and Jeremy Guscott (Jerry was hugely underrated physically- he was properly big) – these guys used you as a door mat one moment and a rag doll the other.
They made you feel unwelcome; they powered through you and out the other side or they went around you and gassed you. Sure, both the Wallabies and I had many successes against these players over the years, but you respected their sheer intensity and abrasion. They made you think, they challenged you to unlock them, and they challenged you to stop them.
Was that there last night? Was it hell!
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I thought Sione Tuipulotu had his moments, and in terms of footwork and distribution, Elliot Daly looked a cut miles above the rest of the Lions backs when he came on, as did Tomos Williams. But the intensity wasn’t there. It was one moment of individualism, a pause and a think and by that time Los Pumas had turned them over and were out of danger.
Going back to Sione – both he and Bundee Aki are great centres. They are wonderfully powerful and direct twelves, but they need a counterpoint of classy passing, a playmaker at 13 who can create continuity through vision, outside them.
The Lions will need to wrap Huw Jones, Elliot Daly and Garry Ringrose in cotton wool as they’re the men who can change that intensity dynamic in attack. But in short, the Lions cannot play Bundee and Sione again in the same combination.
Now, in conclusion, I have been pretty brutal on this Lions showing. Los Pumas are a world-class top-five side and whilst they blooded some newbies, they played with test intensity, especially at half-back. Gonzalo Garcia was absolutely electric, and as anyone who reads me regularly knows I’ve been championing Tomos Albornoz and Juan Martin Gonzalez as world-class ballers for the last two years.
But, wearing the Lions shirt carries with it a weight of expectation and a certain standard of performance. In simple terms, those challenges were not met on Friday night and I am quite serious when I say that unless the Lions sort the issues I’ve described out, they’ll be toast when they play down under.
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