Match
Report
Australia vs British Lions
29:23
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1.
|
 |
Tom Smith
|
9.
|
 |
Matt Dawson |
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2.
|
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Keith Wood |
10.
|
 |
Johnny Wilkinson |
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3.
|
 |
Phil Vickery |
11.
|
 |
Jason Robinson |
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4.
|
 |
Martin Johnson |
12.
|
 |
Rob Henderson |
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5.
|
 |
Danny Grewcock |
13.
|
 |
Brian O'Driscoll |
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6.
|
 |
Martin Corry |
14.
|
 |
Dafydd James |
|
7.
|
 |
Neil Back |
15.
|
 |
Matt Perry |
|
8.
|
 |
Scott Quinnell | |||
| So, in the end, it was all too much for the 2001 Lions. Australia crept away with a 6 point win, thanks to the boot of full back Matt Burke, playing his 50th game today. Heroic and passionate as they were, the Lions could not match the Australians for clinical finishing and decision making.
Post match commentary focused on the last pass of the game not going to hand, but there were too many occasions where passes weren't flat to players coming at pace. Too many times players in red shirts took the ball standing still, then tracked across the pitch looking for space. Brian O'Driscoll, in a very muted game, seemed to cover more yards across the pitch then up it.
The backs never seemed to click as a unit, with players becoming isolated after hesitant half breaks. This contributed to the massive number of turnovers which took the pressure off of the Australians at key moments.
The scoring started with a Matt Burke penalty, which Jonny Wilkinson duly matched. Two more penalties from Burke put the Wallabies 6 points ahead after 17 minutes. Then, after some strong scrummaging from the Lions, Rob Henderson took up a crash ball, the ball was spun from right to left through the hands of Keith Wood and Tom Smith, with the Scottish prop giving Jason Robinson an easy pass for a fantastic score in the corner. It all seemed rather easy. As easy as Jonny Wilkinson made the conversion look, anyway.
Both kickers missed a penalty apiece, before slick handling and sharp running saw centre Daniel Herbert cross the Lions tryline. A conversion from Burke brought the scores to 16-10 with only minutes of injury time left in the half. The Lions made the most of this time with some strong attacking, driving play. The Australians were repeatedly forced offside, but were happy to only concede the three points.
Half-time scores stood at 16-13, with everything to play for.
In the previous two tests, the score line has been radically altered by a try after half-time. In the first, it was Brian O'Driscoll's scintillating score, in the second it was Joe Roff capitalising on a speculative pass from Jonny Wilkinson. Would the last half of the series start with a try? We weren't to be disappointed, with a fine drive up the pitch by the forwards, and quick recycling putting the Wallabies under such pressure that Jonny Wilkinson was able to atone for last week's error by waltzing through to score.
However, this was as good as it got for the Lions. Gregan again start putting his back row through holes round the fringes. While much has been made of the impact of George Smith, it was his back row colleagues Toutai Kefu and Owen Finnegan who made inroads into the Lions and kept them on the back foot. Daniel Herbert's second try came from just this sort of attack. Wilkinson plugged the widening gap with a penalty minutes later, to bring the scoreline to 23-23, with half an hour to go.
The Lion's most potent weapon seemed to be the rolling maul. However, they were unable to gain any more points from this, with Wilkinson missing a penalty. In the last half hour, the Lions failed to score any points, while Matt Burke coolly slotted over two kicks for daft offences by the Lions back row players.
An exciting attack came to nothing at the final whistle, and the grim and anticlimactic realisation set in that two kicks of a ball had deprived Martin Johnson and his men of a place in history.
Wayward kicking, too many turnovers, lack of synchronisation in the backs and the superlative performance of hitherto badboy Justin Harrison were enough to hand this awesome set of matches into the arms of the Wallabies.
Well, as the man said, it's been emotional. This game was always going to be won by either a touch of genius or a mistake. In my oppinion the turning point in the game was when Charvis poorly attempted to do a solitary lineout. From this mistake the wallabies gained possession in a key area with the result being an eventual try when the Lions had looked to have gained control of the game. I'm sorry it had to be a Welsh player.
Man of the Match: George Smith Dick of the Day: Austin Healey
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