Lions alarmed by wake-up call

Now comes the really intriguing part. How will the Lions react to the momentum of their tour suddenly coming to a halt? The response to this setback will be a test of the management's coaching skills and to the true spirit of this squad.

If there are to be cliques amongst the players they'll come to the surface now. Likewise if the management staff doesn't gel. But whatever their ability to maintain squad unity, there's still going to be 17 players not included in the 22 to face New South Wales on Saturday - a squad which Graham Henry admitted will contain the skeleton of his test team. For a good dozen players the thought of playing the less-than-mighty NSW Country Cockatoos next Tuesday - with only the subsequent midweek game against ACT between the first two Tests to come - is liable to have them thinking of their summer holidays already.

Certainly a sizeable chunk of them appear to have consigned themselves to the dirt-trackers, possibly for the rest of the tour but undoubtedly for the first Test. At its core this was a dishevelled, strikingly disorganised and even ill-disciplined performance. None of the coaching staff will be happy with the night's work, and Andy Robinson will feel as angered as any. The lineouts were a shambles, largely due to throwing of Robin McBryde, whose darts didn't so much miss the bullseye as clear the barn door. More surprisingly, Gordon Bulloch was also a bit awry.

Take one of many attacking lineouts which the Lions coughed up in the 67th minute as an example. After decoys to the front and back, Bulloch threw to Lawrence Dallaglio in the middle. Despite being lifted by Jeremy Davidson and Scott Murray, he hardly seemed to rise as Justin Harrison easily snaffled the ball. A frustrated Dallaglio almost pulled Harrison's head gear off as they landed and he was duly penalised. Six minutes later Dallaglio beefily brought a jinking run by Sam Payne to a halt, but in the ensuing ruck quite clearly handled the ball at least twice on the deck. Having warned both teams earlier in the half, referee Paul Honiss duly sin-binned him.

The Lions coughed up about nine of their throws, were whistled off the pitch to the tune of 24-10 by Honiss, and hardly contested a restart, which has been a recurring weakness of this tour. Yet they scored three tries to one and theoretically came within a missed 76th-minute Matt Dawson penalty of salvaging a draw.

That would have been the near ultimate in rugby escapology and was a tribute to their catch-up rugby and some improvements brought about from the bench. Matt Dawson definitely upped the tempo while Austin Healey was an improvement on Neil Jenkins when moving to outhalf, but how must Ronan O'Gara feel about not being used off the bench? It's hardly a ringing endorsement of the Lions' third outhalf. As is the Henry style, Jenkins takes the ball incredibly flat but as this was often off slow ball, he never seemed to have any option but to shovel it along hurriedly or put his head down from a standing start. Outside him, the runners lacked depth.

Darren Morris and Jeremy Davidson appeared to add a bit of muscle up front, while Mark Taylor had a big hand in two of the tries. Scott Quinnell was more penetrating than any of the backs he linked up with, though Martin Corry is arguably now the form number eight on tour.

Dallaglio and Mike Catt may have been hampered by injuries which have sidelined them lately, but what on earth was wrong with the likes of Jenkins and Malcolm O'Kelly? Too few chances and too much pressure?

Literally knocked out of his stride when receiving the opening kick-off, and then when spilling his second lineout take, O'Kelly has rarely looked so off the pace, knocking on, missing tackles and making scant impression on the restarts. Scott Murray, who was at least given a chance in his natural lineout position, wasn't a whole lot better.

It might have been fairer all round if Davidson had started in O'Kelly's place. That, coupled with first tour starts for Healey, Dallaglio, Jason Leonard and Catt, along with clear doubts about Catt's fitness to start, may have led to the dishevelled performance.

Outside of the Tests Australia had put most of their eggs in this basket, and it showed. Their restarts and lineouts were better organised and they clearly knocked the Lions off their stride by competing for their throw with two jumpers - a rejuvenated Tom Bowman and fired up man-of-the match Harrison.

Given Aussie concerns about their strength in depth, as expressed by Bob Dwyer, this was a significant endorsement of Australia's shadow selection against the Lions' shadow side, and a tactical coup for Jones. Whether or not television truly showed it, the Lions' narrowness in defence was particularly eye-catching from the upper tier. Outhalf Manuel Edmonds helped to repeatedly outflank the Lions' famed defence with a couple of skip passes for deeper backs to come onto the ball in space outside the Lions wingers.

The Australians rarely cut through cleanly as the Lions fanned across non-aggressively, sometimes forcing them back inside, but they usually made 10 yards or so over the gain line and often earned a penalty at the breakdown. Fittingly, the Australian's try came from moving the ball wide when Graeme Bond stepped inside Ben Cohen and drew Matt Perry to put Scott Staniforth over.

To respond with three tries was quite a feat, Taylor's strength enabling him to score the first off Dawson's quick tap. He then put Perry over for the second before the dangerous if under-served Jason Robinson finished off some good handling and support play by Dawson, Greenwood, Williams and Davidson.

Even so, as wake-up calls go, this one came with elephants stomping through the bedroom as the bugles played.

Australia A: R Graham (Queensland); M Bartholomeusz (ACT), G Bond (ACT), N Grey (NSW), S Staniforth (NSW); M Edmonds (NSW), C Whitaker (NSW); C Blades (NSW), B Cannon (NSW), R Moore (NSW), T Bowman (NSW), J Harrison (ACT), D Lyons (NSW), J Williams (ACT), P Waugh (NSW, capt). Replacements: J Holbeck (ACT) for Graham (23 mins), S Payne (NSW) for Whitaker (59 mins), P Noriega (NSW) for Blades (62 mins), J West (NSW) for Bowman (65 mins), P Ryan (ACT) for Williams (38 to halftime) and (70 mins).

Lions: M Perry (England); B Cohen (England), W Greenwood (England), M Catt (England), J Robinson (England); N Jenkins (Wales), A Healey (England); J Leonard (England), R McBryde (Wales), D Young (capt), S Murray (Scotland), M O'Kelly (Ireland), L Dallaglio (England), S Quinnell (Wales), M Williams (Wales). Replacements: M Taylor (Wales) for Catt (40 mins), C Charvis (Wales) for Quinnell (34-40 mins), G Bulloch (Scotland) for McBryde (54 mins), J Davidson (Ireland) for O'Kelly (54 mins), M Dawson (England) for Jenkins (59 mins), D Morris (Wales) for Young (69 mins). Sinbinned - Dallaglio (73-83 mins).

Referee: Paul Honiss (New Zealand).