The tries will come as Gatland’s men finally begin to click into gear
The Lions executed a brilliant defensive display against a few familiar faces they will meet again soon
Make no mistake, this was a breakthrough game for the Lions. This win over the best provincial side in New Zealand was far more comfortable and emphatic than the scoreline suggests, and could be the launch pad for a successful tour.
I was never worried about the slow start against the Barbarians and Blues, because the first three games of any Lions tour, let alone one where the games come so thick and fast, are there for players to bed in and get to know each other, while the coaches try out various combinations. The most successful tours are those where some momentum is built in those games and then the party kicks on in games four and five.
This win over the Crusaders has put the Lions in a good position, set them up nicely for the Highlanders and Maori, given the Lions coaches lots of options and given the Kiwis some real food for thought. In short, apart from the absence of any tries – and they will come – the game provided everything Warren Gatland would have wanted.
This was a game won by the Lions’ outstanding defence. Their line speed, tackle count and discipline were all crucial in stopping the Crusaders getting a foothold in the game. For a side who have averaged five tries a game and who have not been beaten at home by a non-New Zealand side for years to never look like scoring was a testament to the Lions’ organisation, structure and determination. Defence coach Andy Farrell must be a happy man, and rightly so.
But while the whole side were defensively excellent, with George North winning a remarkable four turnovers, the key to this win was the front five. Against a Crusaders front five who are not far from being the All Blacks front five, they utterly dominated. Steve Hansen will not enjoy poring over the footage of this encounter.
The set-piece was incredibly important, and the Lions functioned well, while they took three of the Crusaders’ line-out throws in the first half and drew a succession of scrum penalties.
But more than the set-piece, the defensive shift put in by the Lions front five decided the outcome of this encounter. Rather than committing three or four men to the breakdown, the accuracy of the Lions tight forwards at the tackle meant that only one or two of them needed to commit. The fewer players in a ruck, the more defenders or attackers you have, and the fewer gaps there are for the opposition. The Lions’ extra numbers, increased line speed and discipline – they conceded half the number of penalties as they did against the Blues – meant that the Crusaders had no space to move it wide and no gaps to run into. With a low number of missed tackles, the extra number of tight forwards in the defensive line contributed to very high tackle counts for the front five.
Not only did the Lions deny the Crusaders the space to run their usual expansive attack, they also deployed a well executed and astute kicking game in which they put boot to ball more often than against either the New Zealand Barbarians or Blues, as they successfully sought to win the territorial battle. Conor Murray and Owen Farrell were absolutely outstanding, both in their options and in the accuracy of their kicking game, and they managed to force the Crusaders into a game they were not comfortable with.
Going forward, the Lions carried well, with Taulupe Faletau, Mako Vunipola and Sean O’Brien to the fore. Sure, they missed three or four good chances to score tries, but my experience from previous Lions tours is that it takes a while to build up that timing you need to break down a defence as good as that of the Crusaders. Most important was the fact that they created those breaks; if they continue to do that the tries will come.
The most important thing about this match was that you could see the bones of a Test side appearing. The front five were superb and could easily be picked as a unit. Faletau also impressed and is surely bolted on for the Tests, while O’Brien played well enough to suggest that he may pip Sam Warburton to a Test slot, especially as the Lions captain is carrying an injury.
Although he does not carry as well as CJ Stander, Peter O’Mahony was also quietly effective yesterday and excelled at the line-out and breakdown, where his work was of the highest order.
Behind the scrum, Ben Te’o was brilliant and is surely pencilled into the Test side. I also thought that Anthony Watson’s excellent tackling in defence and pace in attack terrified the Kiwis, and have made him a very real contender.
The most interesting area is the midfield, where Farrell was great at No 10 but combined intelligently with Jonathan Sexton when he moved to the centres after Jonathan Davies’s injury. A back division centred around the axis of Murray, Sexton and Farrell, with the power of Te’o and North and the counter-attacking threat of Watson is a great mix.
The tour is on: the Lions have roared at last.