Finn Russell and Henry Pollock won rave reviews for the thrashing of Western Force but there were some concerns for the media pack following the British and Irish Lions’ opening night rout in their nine-match Australian tour.
A hamstring injury to No.9 Tomos Williams, suffered in scoring one of the tourists’ eight tries, put a downer on the night and left coach Andy Farrell potentially needing to fly in reinforcements.
“And so the British and Irish Lions are up and running; eight tries scored, more than 50 points notched, some outstanding attacking rugby, and a satisfying, if imperfect, victory in Perth,” wrote Tom English on the BBC.
“Welsh scrum-half Tomos Williams was good off the bench in the defeat by Argentina a week ago and he was building wonderfully on that performance against the Force, scoring twice, before he came off with what is being called a “tight hamstring”.
“How tight? Head coach Andy Farrell tried to play a straight bat in the aftermath. “You don’t know until you know, and we’ll only know in the morning anyway,” said Farrell about the severity of the injury.
“Might he fly out Scotland’s Ben White, who is nearby in Auckland with Gregor Townsend’s team on their three-match tour of the South Pacific? Jack van Poortvliet is another contender but he’s a long way away with England in Argentina.
“Jamison Gibson-Park is fit and should start in Brisbane on Wednesday. Alex Mitchell makes it two fully fit scrum-halves. The question here is whether Williams is going to need some time to recover but can stay on tour or is completely out. Either scenario surely means a call to Auckland.”
Williams’ halves partner Russell, was roundly praised for his performance in Perth. He ran the game beautifully, was lively on the charge, and defended strongly, making 10 tackles as the Force targeted him.
“Finn Russell was in a league of his own in Perth, stamping his mark on the team from No. 10 and proving just how good he is with a fantastic display,” wrote former World Cup winning coach Clive Woodward in the Daily Mail.
“I’ve been a big fan of Russell for a long time. He’s had a reputation as a maverick player, one capable of moments of brilliance but also flakiness at times.
“I simply don’t think that’s the case these days. Russell guided the Lions expertly at fly-half in the win over Western Force, emphasising his place as the leading contender to be the Test playmaker. His creation of Elliot Daly’s first try was a good example of his fine work.
“Russell can pull a rabbit from a hat. He can create something from nothing. He’s always been able to do that. But what he now has in his game as he’s got older is a maturity.
“He takes the right options at the right times. He doesn’t overplay when he doesn’t need to, picking the correct passes. He will take some dislodging from the No 10 shirt.
“I think Russell will be the difference in the Test series. Simply put, the Lions have him in their team. Australia, meanwhile, do not have a player of his calibre.”
Calum Crowe, also in the Daily Mail, said Russell’s showing will have Joe Schmidt worried.
“This is now Finn 2.0 and he is the complete package. He has just come off a trophy-laden season with Bath, having won a Treble, and is playing some of the best rugby of his life,” Crowe crowed.
“If he can lead the Lions to a Test series victory in Australia, it would probably rank as the single greatest season by any Scottish player in history.
“On this form, there’s simply no way Farrell can’t pick him as the starting ten against Australia. With Russell in this kind of form, the Aussies will be quaking in their boots.”
Nik Simon, also in the Daily Mail, was impressed with Russell, too, but did find flaws in the win.
“Within 97 seconds, after few direct charges into the guts, Finn Russell guided a cross-field kick to set up Dan Sheehan’s try. It was the first of many silky touches from the Scotsman, who is going to be hard to displace when it comes to selection for the Test team,” Simon says.
“Cohesion in the Lions’ ranks will develop over the coming weeks. But here, their catching pods on the kick-offs were stressed to breaking point.
“Force winger Dylan Pietsch repeatedly got in behind the catching pod to cause chaos, looking every inch a Wallaby. You suspect Joe Schmidt will take note, given he has arch-poacher Joseph Suaalii in his ranks.
“Nic White found dog-legged holes in Andy Farrell’s aggressive defence and, 14 phases after Sheehan’s opening try, the moustachioed scrum-half levelled things on the scoreboard. In their desperation to pull away, the Lions discipline was poor. The penalty count ramped up and they would have been more heavily punished in the international arena.”
In the Guardian, Robert Kitson said the Lions needed to tighten up discipline.
“A convincing first tour win for the British & Irish Lions in Australia and plenty for the management to ponder. There was much to admire in the way the Lions unzipped a gallant but outgunned Western Force side, not least the playmaking vision of their fly-half Finn Russell and the youthful energy of Henry Pollock, but this eight-try triumph did come with one uncomfortable caveat,” Kitson wrote.
“The scrum-half Tomos Williams, one of only two Welshmen on the tour, contributed a pair of tries but was left clutching his left hamstring after completing a brilliant team score in the right corner. With the Lions facing a hectic series of fixtures in the coming fortnight, they may well have to whistle up some emergency cover.
“The first-half penalty count was also too high but, for the most part, this performance will have alerted the Wallabies to the Lions’ counterattacking potential and collective depth. Russell, in particular, looked in good touch, helping to create two of the Lions’ first three tries and kicking five conversions in a display which strongly suggested he will be a key figure in the looming Test series.
“There was also no ignoring the contribution of Pollock, who was never far from the centre of the action. In many ways the 20-year-old performed just as Andy Farrell would have wished, frequently making a nuisance off himself and bursting away to set up Williams’s first try. While the No. 8 was also shown a yellow card just before half-time, his work rate and energy were once again conspicuous.”
Gavin Mairs, in the UK Telegraph, also highlighted Pollock after his all action performance.
“Henry Pollock mania continues to spread. As much as Andy Farrell might try to keep a lid on the hype that surrounds the Northampton Saints back row forward, you can’t help thinking that privately the Lions head coach loves the way Pollock is seizing his moment,” wrote Mairs.
“Joe McCarthy, the heavyweight Ireland lock, may have been the stand-out performer as the Lions finally got their tour off to a flying start, running in eight tries against the Western Force in front of a record crowd of 46,656 for the Super Rugby franchise in Perth. But the 20-year-old Pollock was again irresistible on what was his first start for the Lions.
“Not all of the spotlight that shone on him was for the right reasons. He spilled a pass (a poor one from Tomos Williams) at first receiver in the first half, picked up a yellow card for a breakdown offence and found himself embroiled in a fracas with Nick Champion de Crespigny after the first of two tries by the impressive Elliot Daly.
“Yet there were enough X-factor moments in a greatly-improved Lions performance from their defeat by Argentina to keep alive his hopes of forcing his way into the Test squad.”
Many of the British writers were less than impressed with one facet of the Lions’ play.
“There will be plenty to review for Farrell. The Lions’ kick-off receptions were diabolical, with six losses gifting attacking opportunities and momentum to the Western Force, the scrum failed to replicate the dominance that we saw against Argentina, the discipline was poor, particularly in the first half and their defence has creaked at times,” Mairs added. “The tourists depart for Brisbane on Sunday with little time to address the issues.”
Stephen Jones, in The Times, was also muted in his praise for the tourists.
“The Lions will have to be happy to have joined in this occasion, nothing more than a warm-up for the trouble and strife ahead, but they will know that even a half-century of points against a brave side is no real warning to the rest of Australian rugby, but rather is a warning to themselves, and that they should kick themselves in the backside,” wrote the veteran columnist.
“In the first half they were poor — slow and ragged. It is quite permissible for them to use the excuse that they have had to train like mad to be ready for these games and to build up for the clashes ahead but it was only in the third quarter that they began to move like Lions, growl like Lions and score points like Lions.
“Some of their forward play and scrummaging in the first half was very poor and halting; fine players such as James Lowe and Sione Tuipulotu were off their games, although both improved later. Up front, they really should have made an almighty mess of the Western Force scrum, who usually play in an arena where scrummaging is treated as an afterthought and even a pain in the shoulders.”
Johnny Watterson, in the Irish Times, sounded a warning.
“So, what if the Lions turn up against Australia in three weeks’ time and put in a defensive display like the first half on Saturday? The short answer is they will be so far behind at half-time that the Wallabies will be out of sight. The breakdown area and the tackling were so far off that Western Force looked at one stage that they were going to force the Lions into a chasing game,” Watterson wrote.
“Some Lions players were stepping up, others were standing off, some high, some low, some drifting across the pitch and when they got there were making ineffective edge tackles. The breakdown area lacked focus, accuracy and but for a few players, a physical commitment and the hard edge required to set a tone and drain any of the confidence the opposition might have had. It was addressed at half-time by Andy Farrell. But against Joe Schmidt’s side anything similar will prove fatal.”
