West Magic Tames Lions
Ihaia West’s superb try with six minutes to go helped the Blues defeat the British and Irish Lions 22-16 at Eden Park last night.
Rieko Ioane’s early try gave the Blues an ideal start, with the Lions responding thanks to their maul and a try from CJ Stander to take the lead.
Rob Howley spoke about the Lions bringing ‘Rugby chaos’ to the media this week, except it was the Blues who delivered that with their try before the interval, Stephen Perofeta’s penalty bouncing back off the post before Sonny Bill Williams did brilliantly well to touch down in the race for the ball, meaning the Blues led 12-10 at half-time. West and Leigh Halfpenny traded penalties before with their scrum on top, the Lions took a 16-15 lead into the final 10 minutes.
West then ripped up the script, his magic solo try sending the crowd of over 40,000 onto their feet after great build-up work from Luatua and Williams. From 22-16 with less than five minutes to go, the Lions couldn’t find a response.
The Blues might be the weakest of the New Zealand sides but they have the sixth-best record in Super Rugby this year, and how it showed here as they pushed the Lions all the way. Rieko Ioane and Sonny Bill Williams, watched by Steve Hansen, both firmly put their hands up to start in the Test series.
The Lions lineout and especially their scrum performed well, and they were far more cohesive than on Saturday against the Provincial Barbarians.
Ill-discipline however was a major problem, with Liam Williams sinbinned only minutes after coming on in the second half, and they had to dig deep to come out on the winning side.
R Ioane, Williams, West Perofeta, West West
Cons: Pen: For British and Lions: Try: Con: Pens: Yellow Card: Planet Rugby
Stander Halfpenny Halfpenny 3, Williams.