FORCE FLATTENED

I sat down on Wednesday morning in anticipation for a Lions mauling and they didn’t disappoint. A 69-17 drubbing of a weakened Western Force side was a nice way to keep the tour going and here is the low-down…

The Good

That try from Brian O’Driscoll was simply majestic. The beautiful little inside pass from Manu Tuilagi set O’Driscoll away for another brilliant try in Perth for the talismanic Irishman. On the topic of tries, both Jonathan Sexton and Owen Farrell proved that fly halves don’t just create tries, but can score them too, with two identical tries. Throwing dummies to fool the defenders, Sexton and Farrell both cruised over for easy tries in an easy victory.

Despite the strength of the opponents, nine tries is very impressive, and it shows the strength of the Lions’ attacking play. Leigh Halfpenny must be given a lot of credit too for his flawless kicking performance – eleven kicks went over, and plenty of them were tricky shots from the touchline. He hasn’t done his chances of making the test side any harm.

One player I have been very impressed with so far is Mako Vunipola. Having come on for the injured Cian Healy, the Saracens player was everywhere, making big runs and scrummaging well too. I would say he has a very strong chance of starting the tests against Australia, and on his form, who would argue with that call?

The Bad

The side sent out by the Western Force was nothing short of a disgrace. It’s not very often a club side gets to face a touring side of the Lions’ magnitude, and the Force decided to sacrifice this game in order to prepare for their meaningless Super Rugby game against the Waratahs on Sunday. I’m sure a lot of the Force players will be very upset to miss out on the chance to play against the Lions. Very disappointing, and not much of a test for the tourists.

Everybody presumes that Rory Best was omitted from the original 37-man squad due to his poor line-out throwing for Ulster and Ireland. Unfortunately he did nothing to suggest he has sorted it out, throwing it over the head of Alun-Wyn Jones on two occasions in the first half. If the Ulsterman wishes to take the chance he has been given by Warren Gatland, he’ll need to improve quickly.

The Lions will also be very disappointed that they couldn’t make their scrum advantage count. Clearly going forward in the set piece, the Lions could never force the penalties that they will need against Australia, and they will have to focus on converting that dominance into points, because they won’t score nine tries against the Wallabies.

The Ugly

Cian Healy’s injury did not look good. Sadly we will not see him back in a Lions jersey before the end of the tour and he will fly home. Hopefully he will be alright for the new season. Also rather ugly was a citing involving Healy too. As replays proved, Healy was not guilty of biting Brett Sheehan, and it is disappointing that the citing happened in the first place. Thankfully Healy has been cleared.

Red rising

Tomorrow the Lions move to Brisbane to face the Queensland Reds in Brisbane. And this match should be their first real test on this 2013 tour. The side that the Reds have selected is far stronger than the Western Force team, which shows one thing – they are taking this game very seriously indeed.

It’s hard for the Lions to care about results here. As we have seen in Hong Kong and Perth, the Lions are susceptible to turning down very kickable penalties simply to go for the corner and get their attacking moves working. But the Reds are a world renowned great team, and if the Lions begin to worry too much about getting the moves working, they could actually lose this game.

With extra places left in the Australian squad, there will be some of the Reds players looking to grab one of those spots, none more so than fly half Quade Cooper, who was a shock omission from the initial squad. This is a bit more than just a match against a touring side for the Reds – this is a chance for them to prove themselves to Robbie Deans.

So this will be a big game for the Lions, to really see how their side will compete in Australia. If they’re not up to the standard required, they could end up with egg on their faces tomorrow…

British & Irish Lions vs. Queensland Reds

Saturday 8^th June, 10:30

Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

Warm-up match

Live on Sky Sports 2

BRITISH & IRISH LIONS

15. Stuart Hogg (Scotland), 14. Alex Cuthbert (Wales) 13. Manu Tuilagi (England), 12. Jonathan Davies (Wales) 11. Tommy Bowe (Ireland), 10. Owen Farrell (England), 9. Ben Youngs (England); 1. Mako Vunipola (England), 2. Tom Youngs (England), 3. Matt Stevens (England), 4. Richie Gray (Scotland), 5. Geoff Parling (England), 6. Dan Lydiate (Wales), 7. Sam Warburton (captain, Wales), 8. Toby Faletau (Wales).

16. Richard Hibbard (Wales), 17. Dan Cole (England), 18. Adam Jones (Wales), 19. Paul O’Connell (Ireland), 20. Justin Tipuric (Wales), 21. Conor Murray (Ireland), 22. Jonathan Sexton (Ireland), 23. George North (Wales).

QUEENSLAND REDS

15. Ben Lucas, 14. Rod Davies, 13. Ben Tapuai, 12. Anthony Fainga’a, 11. Luke Morahan, 10. Quade Cooper (captain), 9. Nick Frisby; 1. Ben Daley, 2. James Hanson, 3. Greg Holmes, 4. Adam Wallace-Harrison, 5. Ed O’Donoghue, 6. Ed Quirk, 7. Beau Robinson, 8. Jake Schatz.

16. Albert Anae, 17. Sam Denny, 18. Jono Owen, 19. Radike Samo, 20. Jarrad Butler, 21. Jono Lance, 22. Michael Harris, 23. Dom Shipperley.

Referee: Jaco Peyper (RSA)

Assistant Referees: Jerome Garces (Fra), Garratt Williamson (NZ)

TMO: tba (NZ)

Assessor: Scott Young/Andrew Cole (Aus)