Farrell shows class in Lions’ victory over Crusaders
Australia open new season with dominating win
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, June 10, (Agencies): England flyhalf Owen Farrell has provided a selection conundrum for British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland with his versatile display on Saturday in the tourists’ 12-3 win over the Christchurch-based Crusaders.
Farrell scored all of the Lions’ points from penalties, landing three goals in the first half and one for the only points of the second. His fifth attempt was flagged away but was shown by TV replays to have been successful.
The Saracens pivot played his part in the Lions’ outstanding defensive performance which denied a try to the Crusaders who had been averaging five tries per game this season on their way to a club-record run of 14 consecutive wins.
Farrell’s tactical kicking was sound and he distributed the ball well to the tourists’ powerful ball carriers. But Farrell also gave Gatland cause for thought by the way he slotted in elsewhere in the backline when the Lions lost Wales center Jonathan Davies to a head knock in the first half.
Farrell started the match in a halfback combination with Ireland’s Conor Murray which seemed the likely combination the Lions will take into the test series against New Zealand, starting June 24. But he later yielded the flyhalf role to Jonathan Sexton when the Irishman took the field as a replacement after the loss of Davies and fullback Stuart Hogg.
Farrell still kept some of the duties of first receiver, sharing those with Sexton and giving Gatland a preview of another possible test backline alignment — with the Irish pair of Murray and Sexton maintaining their established combination and Farrell taking a role in midfield.
Gatland also has to find ways to accommodate Ireland’s Robbie Henshaw or England’s Ben Te’o in midfield but Farrell showed he has a wide range of options.
“It was great to get a win tonight,” Farrell said. “We had a great feeling out there. We really wanted to attack in everything we did and I thought that showed for the full 80 minutes.”
Farrell said the Lions were able to put the Crusaders under pressure with the accuracy of their kicking game, their strong chase and the reliability of their lineout.
“We’ve got some good wingers who can get after the ball and tonight, even though it was dry, it was greasy so to play in the right part of the field was crucial,” he said.
“I thought in defense we were aggressive. We really got off the line no matter where we were on the field, so I think it’s a step in the right direction for us.”
Fullback Israel Folau ended a year-long scoring drought in test matches with two tries as Australia beat Fiji 37-14 on Saturday in the home side’s 2017 rugby season opener.
The Wallabies have often had difficulty in season-opening matches, losing to Samoa in 2011 and Scotland in 2012 at home. But they made no mistakes in this match, dominating from the outset when Folau scored his first try in the third minute and winger Henry Speight added another seven minutes later — his first of two on the day — to give Australia an 18-0 lead at halftime.
Folau’s second try came in the 55th minute. Replacement hooker and regular captain Stephen Moore scored the other Wallabies try.
Vereniki Goneva and Timoci Nagusa scored second-half tries for Fiji.
The last time 28-year-old Folau crossed for a try for the Wallabies was last June against England.
Australia got off to a fast start with Folau scoring after Bernard Foley nailed a cross-field kick. However, the Wallabies lost their edge when Folau was yellow-carded for an accidental high shot on Fiji flanker Naulia Dawai in the 20th minute.
Australia prevented the Fijians from scoring, but didn’t manage to cross themselves again until Folau’s second try 15 minutes into the second half.
Fiji created plenty of chances, with lock Leone Nakarawa, who was part of its gold medal-winning Olympics sevens team, causing plenty of opportunities. But too often a pushed pass and some scrambling defense from the Wallabies saw an attacking raid fall short.
Moore’s try came after a Wallaby maul from a lineout five meters from the touchline, while Speight grabbed his second try after the full-time siren sounded.
“Really happy with the guys, the intent was really strong but it was a performance that was indicative of a six-day preparation,” Australia captain Michael Hooper said. “We probably left two or three (tries) out there. The Fijians’ offload game was pretty hard to deal with at times.
“I was really impressed with some of our defense in the first half, keeping them to zero was pleasing.”
Karmichael Hunt, who has played 11 rugby league tests for Australia and also two seasons in Australian Rules football, made his rugby debut for Australia.
Playing out of position at inside center, Hunt played strongly and his tackle count was second-best among the Wallabies on the night.
Australia next plays Scotland in Sydney next Saturday and Italy in Brisbane on June 24.
Meanwhile, Scotland helped new coach Gregor Townsend get off to a perfect start by easing to a comprehensive 34-13 victory over an inexperienced Italy side in the first test of their June tour at the Singapore National Stadium on Saturday.
The Scots made light of losing three experienced players to British and Irish Lions duty in New Zealand with hooker Ross Ford leading the way with a brace of tries after the break as Singapore hosted a Tier One test match for the first time.