The British & Irish Lions led Australia for only 50 seconds at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday night. Hugo Keenan’s last-gasp try, scored after a 13-phase assault on the line, completed the greatest Test match comeback in Lions history and secured for Andy Farrell’s team an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. It took the Lions 50 minutes to earn those 50 seconds and in that time, on the grandest stage of all, the true character of this team emerged.
The Lions had cruised around Australia racking up big wins without ever being placed under pressure, without ever having to joust with jeopardy. Until they reached Melbourne. The second string were made to work hard for a bruising victory over a First Nations & Pacific XV at Marvel Stadium on Tuesday. But that was a footnote fixture. This here at the MCG was the main event. And after 30 minutes, Australia led 23-5.
The Wallabies had turned up, as we all wanted them to. They had brought the percussive power of Will Skelton, the 6ft 8in lock, and Rob Valetini, the back-row dynamo, who combined in that first half hour to send the Lions on the retreat. Off the ball, Skelton was trying to rough up Maro Itoje and anyone else in his reach; which was most of the Lions team. His 24st frame was crushing rucks when on clean-out duty. He was leaning on Lions players like a heavyweight boxer does, trying to sap their energy.
The towering Skelton certainly lived up to the pre-match hype as he put himself about in the first half
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND
The Wallabies had the Lions on the ropes. James Slipper scored Australia’s first try and the Lions, having already been placed on a team warning for discipline, lost Tommy Freeman to the sin-bin. A Tom Wright 50:22, followed by some destructive carrying around the corner, set the platform for Jake Gordon to score a second.
The Wallabies struck again in devastating fashion, straight from the restart. Joseph Aukuso-Suaalii coaxed Bundee Aki into drifting across in defence and, critically, turning his shoulders towards the touchline. The Wallaby centre immediately straightened off his left foot, cut behind Aki and released Wright to score.
In 137 years, the Lions had never dug themselves out of a deeper hole in a Test match.
Had they fallen 18 points down against New Zealand or South Africa, it would have felt like game over. The Wallabies are more vulnerable. Skelton and Valetini were only ever going to last 50 minutes maximum and they were already tiring. Just before Slipper scored Australia’s first try, Skelton was at the bottom of a maul and a Wallaby voice could be heard shouting, “Get up, Willie, we need yer! Get up!”
Like Skelton, Valetini caused the Lions all manner of problems — but things changed once he was withdrawn at the interval
EPA
So, the Lions knew the nature of the game would change. They had confidence, instilled in them by Andy Farrell that they were the better team. And they had 50 minutes to come back. But pressure, expectation and self-confidence can do funny things to a favoured team. Look at Manchester City in the FA Cup final. They too were the better team. When City fell 1-0 down to Crystal Palace, they assumed victory would be theirs; that it would just happen because it always happened. It was arrogant and they lost.
Regrettably, the Lions as an organisation have been guilty of arrogance at times in Australia. Would that filter down to the team? In 2017, the Lions laid down a marker in New Zealand with a 12-3 win against a Crusaders side packed with All Blacks. This tour had not afforded that opportunity.
The Lions had formed new friendships and in-jokes. Fin Smith had written a team song, based on the tune of Status Quo’s Rockin’ All Over The World, with lyrics that evolved through the tour. Other unlikely anthems had been adopted, including You Raise Me Up, a song once covered by Westlife. They had drunk together, roomed together, played cards together. The bonds were there.
But for the first time in Australia, the players were being asked what they stood for as a rugby team. And beneath the clinical, corporate veneer, the soul of the Lions stirred. “When things were going against us, there were people standing all over the place and keeping us in the fight,” Farrell said.
The Lions set out to climb the mountain by nailing small moments with big consequences; an attitude personified by Finn Russell. The Lions fly half has now won his past 15 games, which include a European Challenge Cup final and a Premiership final with Bath and two Lions Tests. He is operating in a flow state, where missed conversions or shanked clearances to touch — both of which he experienced on Saturday — are forgotten immediately.
“I’m calm,” he said. “I’ve just learnt another style of rugby to play, being at Bath, It’s about getting control back. [At 18 points down] there was no stress. We knew what we had to get done.”
33min 16sec: Freeman returns from the sin-bin. His first contribution is to carry the Lions to within five metres of the line. Jamison Gibson-Park has Russell to his left and he holds Jake Gordon with his eyes before quickly playing to the right. Gordon tries desperately to get across as a cover defender but he arrives too late and Curry steps him to score. 23-10.
Lowe leaves Taylor for dead for his try
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND
36:07: Curry and Tadhg Beirne hold up Harry Wilson in the tackle. This tempts Suaalii to come from the side to clear them out. Penalty Lions. Small detail. Big outcome. From nine metres inside his own half, Russell arrows his kick to six metres from Australia’s line. Dan Sheehan eats up ground from the lineout. Jack Conan and Ollie Chessum pound the Wallabies before Russell loops around the back and creates a disconnect in the Australia defence. Tate McDermott, a scrum half sent on to play wing, is distracted by Russell. Keenan feeds Huw Jones, who bursts through to score. 23-17.
54:22: Max Jorgensen taps a high ball down to Langi Gleeson and the Wallabies are on the charge. Australia move the ball in-field to McReight and then to Suaalii, who has some of the quickest hands in world rugby. One more pass to McDermott and Australia score a try, having just extended their lead to 26-17 with a penalty. But Curry smashes Suaalii before he can get the ball away, forcing a knock-on and keeping the Lions in touch. A critical moment.
“There were a few of those fine margin moments right the way through the game. They all matter,” Farrell said.
57:30: The Lions are playing a high-pressure defence, trying to stop Australia on or behind the gainline. The Wallabies are doing the opposite. They are passive and it plays into the hands of the Lions, allowing them to generate momentum and quick ball. The Lions bench was picked to add impetus and it delivers. Ellis Genge is on and he eats up the ground, involved three times in the attack. James Ryan and Jac Morgan drive up the middle. Russell is knitting it all together and Beirne ploughs through three defenders to score. 26-24.
Beirne, man of the match in the first Test, took on three Wallabies in the corner for his score
AP
“I know what this team’s capable of,” Farrell said. “At the end of the game, I thought we were outstanding in how we went about our business, never wavered from what we were trying to do.”
The Lions worked four positions over the final quarter of the match and Itoje was central to this period, winning a turnover on the floor and then forcing a maul turnover that gave the Lions a scrum. “I thought he was outstanding in his captaincy,” Farrell said.
Blair Kinghorn, another bench man, was carving through the Wallabies, who were allowing the Lions to dictate terms. Still, the Lions could not nail it. Carlo Tizzano won a goalline turnover. Genge spilt the ball. Will Stuart was penalised for taking an extra roll. All the while, the clock was ticking down and tension was building. Well, it was in the stands.
“It was pretty chill,” Russell said. “We had a lot of momentum. We were on top of them at the end. Staying calm and making sure we got the job done at the end was the main thing. That’s what we ended up doing.”
Russell is joined by his family after another world-class display
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77:20: Itoje calls a lineout to himself on halfway. The Wallabies back off, conceding 20 metres down the right and quick ball. Morgan carries over the gainline. Then Stuart, wearing one of Tadhg Furlong’s boots after an emergency swap, bangs and rolls on a 30-metre carry. Massive. Kinghorn darts for the corner. Morgan is there to clear out as McDermott looks for a turnover. The Lions are in drop-goal range but Owen Farrell keeps being drawn in to clear rucks.
“Finn doesn’t do drop-goals,” Farrell said.
Russell shapes to go left but checks. Too risky. He refuses to die with the ball and Ryan straightens up. Morgan secures the ball again with that clear-out on Tizzano. Gibson-Park fizzes the pass to Keenan. It’s a two on two. As Keenan runs on an angle outside of Ken Ikitau, Andy Farrell is screaming for him to pass to Conan. But the Wallabies back off again, giving Keenan the impetus to dart for the line. Try. 26-29.
With 50 seconds left on the clock, the Lions led for the first time. And the only time that mattered. In the changing room afterwards, they sang: “You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains.” A fitting ode to the character of this team.