Lions draw sting from Queensland punches

Has Rod Macqueen plotted the ultimate con job? If this was the second best sub-international side in Australia then the rest can't be up to much. On an almost unreal night at a subdued Ballymore either the Reds were too bad to be true, or the Lions were truly just too good.

Granted, the Reds were without main attacking lynchpin Chris Latham and winger Ben Tune, not to mention their spiritual leader John Eales. But then again, they were without the latter two for more than half of a Super 12 campaign which saw them reach the semi-finals. And however influential a full back Latham may be, he is still a full back.

Queensland were full of sleeves-rolled-up bluster at the outset. Their desire to soften up the tourists in time-honoured fashion as supporting cast to the Test team was no doubt heightened by repeated media reference to the Lions' bully-boy tactics on the 1989 tour, which started with the infamous Battle of Ballymore.

Queensland came out fighting all right, but threw more punches, literally, in the first 10 minutes than they managed with the ball throughout the match. "Maybe they thought we would react but we didn't and we won't on the rest of the tour either. They were always going to test you out there early on but I thought it was a bit stupid to be honest with you. There were one or two incidents off the ball but that was the end of it and we concentrated on rugby," said manager Donal Lenihan.

They'll also no doubt deny that they targetted Martin Johnson, but it sure as hell looked as though they did. One found oneself feeling sympathy for the England and Lions skipper. Hmm. Strange what Lions' tours do to one. "Given he has 62 or 63 caps I thought it was bit naive to expect that he would lose his head. I don't think he was ever going to react," said Lenihan.

Nor did it distract them. As much as anything the Lions' ferocious defending pummelled Queensland into submission. When even one of the game's ultimate battering rams, Toutai Kefu, resorted to chipping ahead it was akin to Queensland throwing their hands in the air.

They created nothing, and that includes Steve Cordingly being blatantly offside in charging down Matt Dawson's kick for their try.

Queensland did manage to negate the Lions' driving maul at source, usually illegally, and also set out to slow down the tourists' ruck ball by twice conceding penalties in the opening exchanges - though long before the end the Lions were back in their recycling groove.

It helps when you have a beast like Johnson. Touchline seats helped one appreciate this as Johnson set the tone from the first few minutes by hitting rucks a few inches off the ground and making them shudder on impact.

Keeping Johnson and Jonny Wilkinson primed and refreshed three games into the tour was a masterstroke. A bit of a Jonny come lately on the tour he may have been, but Wilkinson singlehandedly elevated the tour another notch. And this was his first 80-minute outing in couple of months!

Helping to douse the Reds' fervour pretty quickly, Wilkinson's feet and hands were the creative force behind three of the Lions' five tries. Henry was delighted with Wilkinson's performance, and especially the way he was a constant attacking threat by playing in Queensland's faces. Furthermore, having set his sights with his first miss, Wilkinson then kicked the next seven out of seven. By comparison Elton Flatley seemed to have a radar of no more than 30-40 metres. All the while Wilkinson ruthlessly and persistently extracted the hosts' sting with pin-point tactical kicking, thrice having an unexpected right-footed foil in Rob Henderson.

There was also an opportunist try for the centre when following up Martin Corry's chargedown and the cleanest incision of the night when clean breaks were hard to come by.

"I'm happy enough but I know I can play better than that," Henderson admitted afterwards, but developing the kicking string to his bow under the tutelage of Dave Alred (all the backs are kept behind every day) could eliminate the faltering Mike Catt option and help him edge out Will Greenwood for that Test spot.

O'Driscoll's Test spot at outside centre was probably never in doubt anyway but one sublime moment was enough to make sure. He used that uncanny and utterly instinctive capacity to read a team-mate's half-break and off-load before it is completed, then took a brilliant line before changing feet without breaking stride to elude full back Michael Tabrett. No one in the world could do it better.

A vintage moment in an otherwise non-vintage night admittedly. The real standard-bearers on the night were Wilkinson, Johnson, the magnificent, ubiquitous, all-purpose Richard Hill (making tackles, providing support at the breakdown, hitting rucks and deservedly giving Wilkinson an inside option for the fourth try), Danny Grewcock, who had a stormer, and Corry. English bulwarks one and all.

Others added to the mix all the same, and in a relatively unglamorous but effective performance Keith Wood got through a huge amount of work, his throwing was unerring and then there was an exquisite chip over a frozen Michael Foley (reacting to the dropping ball as if it was a meteor from outer space) for Daffyd James to score a first try by a right-winger after nine by left-wing counterparts. That little matter still nags.

As did the lack of a real Test series warm-up, like the Wallabies' Test-match standard encounter with the New Zealand Maoris a week ago. Johnson and the Lions management having played down a "satisfactory" win, Lenihan even admitted quietly. "It was a good thing for us, going away from a game knowing that our last half wasn't our best."

So far, this tour is in danger of almost going too well.

Scoring sequence: 11 mins: Flatley 3-0; 17: Luger try 3-5; 24: Wilkinson pen 3-8; 29: Henderson try, Wilkinson con 3-15; 34: Wilkinson pen 318; 39: James try, Wilkinson con 3-25; 40 (+7 mins): Hill try, Wilkinson con 3-32; 43: O'Driscoll try, Wilkinson con 3-39; 54: Wilkinson pen 3-42. 69: Cordingly try, 8-42.

QUEENSLAND REDS: M Tabrett; J Palesasa, D Herbert, S Kefu, D McCullum; E Flatley, S Cordingley; N Stiles, M Foley, G Panoho, N Sharpe, M Connors, M Cockbain, T Kefu, D Croft. Replacements - A Scotney for Flatley (halftime), J Ramsamy for S Kefu (53 mins), S Hardman for Foley (63 mins), S Kerr for Stiles (65 mins), M Mitchell for Sharpe (69 mins), J Roe for T Kefu (3638 mins) and for Cockbain (79 mins), B Wakeley for Cordingley (84 mins).

THE LIONS: I Balshaw (England); D James (Wales), B O'Driscoll (Ireland), R Henderson (Ireland), D Luger (England); J Wilkinson (England), R Howley (Wales); T Smith (Scotland), K Wood (Ireland), P Vickery (England), M Johnson (England, capt), D Grewcock (England), R Hill (England), M Corry (England), N Back (England). Replacements - M Dawson (England) for Howley (47 mins), J Robinson (England) for O'Driscoll (61 mins), C Charvis for Back (76 mins), S Murray for Johnson (83 mins).

Referee: S Dickinson (Australia).