Sexton steps up as All Blacks get a test preview
Game on, then. The British and Irish Lions have roared back to life.
Maybe next week at Eden Park there will be a contest, at least, after they put on a dominant display in downing the New Zealand Maori 32-10 in Rotorua last night.
This ‘‘fourth test match’’ was the time to really see if the Lions had something about them.
A pumped up, quality-laden Maori side in a one-off fixture was meant to provide a stern challenge a week out from the big stuff but, in the end, they could hardly fire a shot.
The majority of the 28,177 crammed in were left sighing but the waves of red were left with renewed spirits, after witnessing a rather different Lions team to what had been bumbling along for the first couple of weeks of this ride.
To show their effort against the Crusaders wasn’t a one-off, the Lions forwards muscled up in a massive way.
The Maori had a backline to kill for but they hardly saw the ball.
Their pack was always the question mark on this fixture and, in the end, they were monstered off the park by a re-invigorated side in red.
The Maori hardly got a glimpse of what the Lions’ 22-metre area looked like.
And what Owen Farrell injury? What seemed the biggest talking point of the last few days – the quad injury to the influential English first five-eighth which has him in doubt for the first test – was squashed by the performance of Jonny Sexton.
Even before Farrell was scratched from this one, the wee Irishman was given the chance by Warren Gatland to show what he could offer. He was good coming off the bench against the Crusaders when linking with Farrell but the coach had acknowledged he had been underwhelming in his two games before that – the tour opener against the Provincial Barbarians and in a Pro 12 semifinal defeat for Leinster.
But on a cool Rotorua night, he was hot property, the 31-year-old, with halfback Conor Murray again providing superb support and Gatland had the luxury of wheeling them off with around 15 minutes remaining.
Sexton immediately took the ball to the line and offered a punch and threat which had not yet been realised on this tour, with the powerful Ben Te’o looking a continued threat outside him.
Despite laying down a spinetingling haka challenge, which followed a stirring national anthem after a minute’s silence for the victims of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the Maori looked somewhat nervous. They shouldn’t have been – it was the Lions with everything to lose.
But a couple of handling errors early allowed the Lions to ease their way into the contest. The boot of Leigh Halfpenny – who’s just as deadly accurate as Farrell and hasn’t missed a kick on tour after knocking over seven from seven – eased the Lions to ascendancy on the scoreboard.
With just a week’s preparation, the Maori were never going to be as well-oiled as the Lions but it was thought they would at least be able to provide the natural x-factor and flair to trouble them.
It wasn’t through lack of trying – they went for quick lineouts and tried to go wide – but it was just all a bit sloppy.
They did have a ray of hope early on, with Nehe Milner-Skudder flying down the flank and grubbering, the Lions making an absolute meal of tidying up and Liam Messam flying through for a try in his hometown. But that was really it.
Tawera Kerr-Barlow had a time to forget, conceding an early second half penalty which put his side under pressure, then, when he was sin binned, for collecting Halfpenny high, came two Lions tries.
Their scrum got down to work and flexed its muscle and then came the decisive blow, with referee Jaco Peyper awarding a 51st minute penalty try.
The sea of red celebration that was monumental.
With centre Matt Proctor helped off with a shoulder injury, the Maori couldn’t buy a trick and the hungry Lions big men suddenly had two tries in three minutes, with the ever-dynamic Maro Itoje crashing over.
The Lions have found their after roar.