Dirt-trackers destroyed at death as pack malfunctions
MOMENTUM relinquished almost as soon as it has been won.
That was the deeply frustrating reality of this tour after match four, a waferthin loss to a Highlanders side which were able to rise to the occasion in the closing stages where the Lions midweek team wilted.
It was the second time the Lions had succumbed to a late sting by a Super Rugby outfit in the space of a week, although the faultline was different. In this instance the Lions were let down by their scrummaging, whereas against the Blues it was a failure to put the clamps on the off-load.
The scrum is often described as the bread-andbutter of the forward game, but in Dunedin the Lions platform crumbled like burnt toast when, with a 22-20 lead and just six minutes left on the clock, it was essential it stayed solid.
Instead, this game was lost when the Lions forwards, having won a put-in on the edge of their win 22, were twisted and then shunted off the ball by a Highlanders pack which had changed its entire front row in the final quarter.
The penalty – cooly converted by bench fly-half Marty ‘Money’ Banks – was enough to see the Highlanders home. The scrum tutorial was all the more painful because, unlike the Lions, there was not a single international front five forward in the home pack, let alone one like Dan Cole with 74 caps.
It did not stop the Lions being hurled back in disarray as the pumped Highlanders bench trio of loosehead Aki Seiuli – who under Cole – hooker Greg Pleasants-Tate, and tighthead Siosua Halanukonuka wrote themselves into the weave of Otago rugby history.
Buoyed by their success, the front row super-subs then remonstrated with the referee as Elliot Daly linedup a 57 metre penalty with three minutes remaining, and, with the Lions longrange marksman forced to move it back, the kick fell agonisingly short.
The Lions had one last throw of the dice from a last minute line-out, but rather than attempt a driving maul the ball was whipped wide. However, with Joseph spilling the pass the final whistle sounded and the ecstatic Highlanders and their fans began to celebrate a famous win.
By the end of this encounter the demarcation between dirt-trackers and Test Lions had hardened to the degree that it is difficult to see how, barring injuries, a number of players can make the big breakthrough based on current form. Among them are Cole, Joe Marler, Rory Best, Iain Henderson, Robbie Henshaw, Greig Laidlaw, Tommy Seymour and Jared Payne.
Daly, who has been used as a utility rather than an outside-centre, is also on the outer, as is James Haskell, despite a solid outing against the Highlanders.
The home side showed why they were Super Rugby champions two years ago, displaying a genuine strength-in-depth despite having two All Blacks – fullback Ben Smith and scrum-half Aaron Smith cotton-woolled before the Samoa international – and a third, Liam Squire, injured. On top of that, there were four more absent with the Maori squad.
However, there was no question that the Highlanders would be anything other than full-throttle urgent, especially on a dry pitch under the roof cover at the Forsyth Barr.
They lived up to that billing, but the Lions stole their touchdown thunder, blunting the Kiwi jibe that they cannot get over the line by outscoring the home side by three tries to two.
Unfortunately, the Lions also forgot that you have to play for the full 80 minutes at optimum level against opponents who always do. In the end it was what helped the Highlanders over the line, and saw the Lions punished for a lack of urgency and composure – particularly in scrummaging concentration and technique – when it mattered most.
Those flaws were highlighted in the opening exchanges when the Highlanders’ All Black wing Waisake Naholo beat Tommy Seymour twice from a standing start, before a Lima Sopoaga penalty gave them a 3-0 lead. Seymour came close to making amends when, with 15 minutes on the clock, both he and Rhys Webb were denied tries when the TMO ruled they had failed to ground the ball, but the Lions at least drew level thanks to a Dan Biggar penalty.
Yet, it was the Highlanders making most of the inroads, helped by a lack of conviction among the cargot
riers in the Lions pack, and by a defensive line which was not as fast, powerful or aggressive as the one that ripped into the Crusaders three days earlier.
Despite Sopoaga missing with a penalty, the sustained pressure paid off when Naholo came onto the ball at pace in the 26th minute. The powerful wing smashed over, helped not only by blatant obstruction by Alex Ainley, but also by a stray elbow to the temple which knocked-out Courtney Lawes.
When Sopoaga made no mistake with the conversion the Highlanders led 10-3, and with Lawes replaced by Alun Wyn Jones the Lions were in need of a boost. They got it minutes later when Dan Biggar took a pass from CJ Stander before gliding past Naholo to carve out an opening for Jonathan Joseph. When the England outside-centre put his foot on the accelerator the Highlanders had no answer, and Biggar’s touchline conversion levelled it at 10-10.
That’s the way it stayed until the interval, although the Lions failed to finish off another chance when a stampeding run by Kyle Sinckler ended with his pass being knocked on by Payne.
The second-half was barely underway before the Lions stole a march when Seymour picked off a Sopoaga cross-kick intended for Malakai Fekitoa before racing in from 45 metres. Biggar could not land the conversion, and the Lions’ lead was soon whittled down to 15-13 when Sopoaga hit the target.
The tourists responded with a sustained assault. This saw them win a five metre scrum, and with Joseph making inroads and a Henderson drive attracting two defenders, captain Sam Warburton picked-up and scored after carrying Kayne Hammingtom over the line with him.
Biggar’s conversion saw the Lions well-placed for a solid win with a 22-13 lead going in to the final quarter, but as the benches were emptied it soon became clear that the Highlanders had more impact held in reserve.
They proved it initially by brushing aside slack Lions defence with a solid line-out drive on a Josh Dixon catch resulting in a try for hooker Liam Coltman.
With Banks converting the Lions were vulnerable at only 22-20 ahead, and the uncertainty was compounded when Owen Farrell missed with a penalty as soon as he came on.
It was the preamble to a final drama in which the Highlanders were the star turns and the Lions the extras.