ALL TIED UP

Sydney will be the destination for the deciding test in the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour after Australia defeated the tourists 16-15 in Melbourne on Saturday.

You can’t help but feel slightly sorry for Warren Gatland’s players though. Like last weekend in Brisbane, they played very well and with a lot of belief. However, unlike last weekend, this time around they came up short, epitomised by the last-minute penalty from Leigh Halfpenny which fell agonisingly short and summed up the Lions’ match. I put this loss down to two factors.

Firstly was the presence of Christian Lealiifano. After missing most of the first test (well, pretty much all of it) through injury, Lealiifano played an integral part in the Wallabies attack, but most importantly he did what James O’Connor and Kurtley Beale did not do enough of last weekend – land his kicks at goal.

Where Beale fell short and O’Connor was off the mark (puns intended), Lealiifano excelled slotting over all four of his kicks and providing Australia with eleven of their points. It gave the home side the momentum they were lacking in Brisbane and meant they weren’t relying on another late penalty to snatch a victory.

I may be sounding biased here, as the avid readers will know that I am a Brumbies fan, but I’d say Lealiifano was the man of the match in Melbourne. He really made the difference between the two sides – his running lines in attack were superb and he linked up brilliantly with Adam Ashley-Cooper in the midfield, while the aforementioned kicking was crucial for the Wallabies to stay in touch with the Lions.

The second thing was the presence of Craig Joubert as referee. While many criticised Chris Pollock for his interpretation of the breakdown in the first test, Joubert has been equally criticised by fans for his whistle-happy nature as he gave 25 penalties in the match, which equates to a penalty every 3 minutes and 12 seconds. Nobody wants to see a match that is ruined by a ref who blows up every little infringement.

Obviously referees are there to stop players from disobeying the laws of the game, but whenever a referee penalises players too often for small offences then it destroys the flow of the match and not only does it frustrate the fans, but also the players too. With 25 penalties you would also think that would warrant a yellow card for one team but there wasn’t even a warning for either side. Two completely different interpretations from two completely different referees.

Romain Poite will referee the final test, and he will be different to both Pollock and Joubert as he brings a northern hemisphere slant to the game. This should suit the Lions who are used to the way Poite will referee the match. However many said Pollock would help the Aussies, and that didn’t turn out too well for them. Don’t think that a northern hemisphere ref will benefit the Lions massively.

Joubert’s style put the Lions at a disadvantage. In a game where the Lions looked to use Leigh Halfpenny’s boot to keep them ahead of the Australians, Joubert’s harsh style resulted in too many penalties outside of Halfpenny’s range which meant instead that Jonny Sexton had to put the ball into the corner and then rely on the drive from the line-out maul. The fact that the Lions did not score a try tells us how successful that method was.

As for the Lions themselves, well they’ll have to pick themselves up again and get back to work this week. Any chances of a series whitewash have been extinguished and to simply win the series then they’ll have to perform even better than they have the last two weeks. They ran it too close in Brisbane and they ended up on the wrong side of the scoreline in Melbourne. If they aren’t careful then they could end up on the wrong side of the series scoreline too.

The return of Jamie Roberts and Alex Corbisiero could be essential for both the Lions’ attacking threat and their scrummaging potential too which may swing the balance in their favour. Certainly the Wallabies are beatable, especially if the Lions can match them up front. With no warm-up match this week however, the players have done all they can and Gatland will choose on what he has. Expect a team not too different to the one that started the first test.

So to Sydney we go – will the Lions roar, or be tamed?