The Lions squad returned to the Dairy Farmers pitch and milked the applause, so to speak, of their supporters who ensured a festival atmosphere amongst the 18,653 attendance on a balmy night in northern Queensland. Cue some amber nectar and singing and dancing as the bands played behind the main stand. And with that the Lions management heaved a sigh of relief.
After a record second-half tally of 73 unanswered points in which Jason Robinson and Rob Henderson dipped their bread with five and three tries respectively, you still had to double check that the half-time score really had been 10-6. There are games of two halves and then there are games of two halves.
With these two halves it was hard to credit that they took place in the same part of the world or on the same day, never mind in the same match. Admittedly there were mitigating factors. The couple of weeks without a game had left the Lions rusty, and by the same token the couple of weeks of intensive training had also left them over-eager. You could almost sense they were thinking first and foremost about putting down a marker for their Test spots, thereby playing more for themselves than the team.
Matt Dawson's performance was virtually the team's in microcosm. Initially, he had a little look for himself every time before chucking the ball to a slightly out-of-touch Neil Jenkins. Apparently word came down quickly from the stand for Dawson to start playing for the team. He duly did and by the end the gaps appeared. Tactically the Lions weren't boxing clever. By opting to play too much of the game in their own territory, and (as one of their number put it) by looking for the million dollar pass, they allowed a game young Queensland side (effectively their A team with an average age of 23) easy encouragement with a couple of kickable penalties by outhalf Shane Drahm in response to tries by Dai Young and Colin Charvis.
The first was again testament to an impressive lineout maul and the good work on the training ground of the forwards. Yet despite competing on every Queensland throw, the home side's fine lineout held firm, as indeed did their scrum, though the Lions did make some impression here.
With Robin McBryde an early injury victim, it didn't help the Lions that they had the recently arrived Gordon Bulloch throwing to, yep you guessed it, the recently arrived Martin Corry at the tail of the line. The Lions back row and inside backs had little penetration; Jenkins compounding an undistinguished night with a couple of wayward passes and, most untypically, missing three of his eight kicks. Word has it that he doesn't like these Aussie Summit balls and though Ronan O'Gara doesn't either, the Irishman was striking them better.
The Will Greenwood-Henderson axis, helped by the intrusions of Matt Perry - what a good player he is - did penetrate but there was an inability to close out the deal.
A prime example was the well executed move which saw Dafydd James ghost across the pitch and straighten onto Henderson's short flat pass to pierce the defence. Alas, though he had space to veer toward the corner he was hauled down from behind before a delayed off-load to Henderson saw the move die. Maybe I'm biased, but Denis Hickie's omission looks an even bigger mistake now.
Robinson, in his first real test at this level, looked a little flaky from the start and was unceremoniously dumped by Scott Fava in a pedestrian counterattack with Matt Perry.
However, within 30 seconds of the interval Corry chased down Jenkins' restart and the ball was flashed along the line, Perry penetrating and Henderson holding the ball up in contact for Charvis to score off a close-in drive. With one bound, the Lions were uncaged and their youthful hosts' lack of experience shone through.
Whereas they soon looked to be dead on their feet, the tourists' conditioning and fitness looks absolutely first-rate. There is also a basic level of skill running through the squad which is strikingly high. Malcolm O'Kelly demonstrated this after replacing Jeremy Davidson, first stepping in at scrumhalf to launch the move which he himself finished on the left wing. Total rugby from a total lock.
The last try reaffirmed all of this handsomely. Corry, Charvis, O'Kelly and the skilful, impressive openside Martyn Williams combined in a narrow corridor off the base of a scrum and Scott Murray carried it on for Dawson to launch at the backs. Taylor off-loaded in the tackle for Henderson to score; a fair reward for his support play. Henderson's defence had also been good when the going was toughest. His first try had shown his ability to attack space before transfixing the defence with a feinted off-load, while the second was an alert chip and chase. Most of Robinson's tries were run-ins after the spadework had been done inside but whatever about his inexperience of the union code, one-on-one in a bit of space? Forget it. Virtually not a contest. Mind you, the dancing aborigine winger Andrew Walker, whose stunning try against the New Zealand Maoris last week assuredly cemented his Test spot, is a bit tasty too. For all the stifling defensive systems, there'll be some game-breakers around this summer. Thank the lord, as Robinson, one of his most pronounced disciples, might say.
Scoring Sequence: 11 mins: Young try 0-5; 19 mins: Charvis try 0-10; 22 mins: Drahm pen 3-10; 30 mins: Drahm pen 6-10; Half-time: 6-10; 41 mins: Charvis try, Jenkins con 6-17; 48 mins: Robinson try 6-22; 51 mins: penalty try, Jenkins con 6-29; 55 mins: Henderson try, Jenkins con 6-36; 61 mins: Robinson try, Jenkins con 6-43; 65 mins: Henderson try, Jenkins con 6-50; 66 mins: Robinson try 6-55; 74 mins: O'Kelly try, Perry con 6-62; Robinson try, Perry con 6-69; 80 mins: Robinson try, Perry con 676; 82 mins: Henderson try, Perry con 6-83.
Queensland President's XV: N Williams; D McCallum, J Pelesasa, J Ramsamy, S Barton; S Drahm, B Wakely; R Tyrell, S Hardman, F Dyson, M Mitchell, R Vedelago, S Fava, J Roe, T McVerry. Replacements - S Kerr for Dyson (10 mins), M Tabrett for Williams (39 mins), A Scotney for Drahm (57 mins), D Duley for McVerry (59 mins), A Farley for Hardman (65 mins), T Tavalea for Vedelago (65 mins), Williams for Barton (70 mins), S Barry for Wakely (75 mins).
Lions: M Perry (England); D James (Wales), W Greenwood (England), R Hender- son (Ireland), J Robinson (England); N Jen- kins (Wales), M Dawson (England); T Smith (Scotland), R McBryde (Wales), D Young (capt), J Davidson (Ireland), S Murray (Scotland), C Charvis (Wales), M Corry (England), M Williams (Wales). Replacements - G Bulloch (Scotland) for McBryde (10 mins), J Leonard (England) for Smith (59 mins), A Healey (England) for Jenkins (65 mins), M Taylor (Wales) for Greenwood (65 mins), M O'Kelly (Ireland) for Davidson (68 mins).
Referee: G Ayoub (Australia).
