Queensland Reds 12 British & Irish Lions 52 (FT)
And to see us out, here’s Johnny Watterson’s player ratings:
[ Lions Player Ratings: Jac Morgan and Jack Conan stand out in another Lions rompOpens in new window ]
High marks for Jack Conan and Jac Morgan.
Match report has landed:
[ Tommy Freeman bags two tries as dominant Lions impress against Queensland RedsOpens in new window ]
That more or less wraps up our live coverage. We’ll stick in reaction from those on the ground in Australia, as well as our match report here once everything drops.
For match footage and try highlights, do scroll up through the blog. For now, though, thanks for joining us.
Jac Morgan was undoubtedly the best player across the board, though. If we praise Josh van der Flier for nailing the basics and Henry Pollock for his magic moments, well Morgan mixed both to beautiful effect today.
He made the most metres of any Lions forward (44m) while making 21 tackles, second only behind Conan of the men in red. Throw in a couple of highlight reel breakdown steals, and a try to boot off a lovely running line, he had a very, very good outing.
Full time: Reds 12 Lions 52
Not a vintage display from the Lions. They were certainly better in Perth on Saturday, making Saturday’s selection fascinating as the Test team starts to take shape.
Jack Conan was the pick of the Irish tonight. His carrying makes him invaluable, he is one of the few out and out big ball carriers in this pack.
TRY LIONS
GARRY RINGROSE
85 mins: His first touch on the wing! Ringrose hasn’t seen any ball since coming on for Daly. Smith goes wide of the scrum, missing out two runners with his pass to send Ringrose over. Simple finish in the corner. Smith kisses the kick from out wide.
Reds 12 Lions 52
83 mins: That’ll be a deliberate knock on I suspect. Smith tried to pull the trigger to go wide but the rush defence got in the way. The TMO will have a look.
Penalty only. Tim Ryan the guilty party. The Lions want a scrum.
82 mins: Cowan-Dickie is held up but the Reds were caught offside in the build-up. They’ll tap and go 5 metres out...
80 mins: Paisami has been thee Reds’ best player, this time stripping the ball from Genge. The Reds get caught in possession, Morgan again involved as a penalty is given away. Morgan has also been named player of the match. Huge day for him given what Pollock and van der Flier did on Saturday.
Smith kicks back into the corner.
79 mins: Morgan, again has been very good. This time he wins a breakdown penalty inside the Reds half. This will set up one last Lions attack as Smith kicks into the 22.
77 mins: Another scrum penalty against the Lions. Neither frontrow, starting or replacement, has covered themselves in glory today. As much as this is looking to be a 45+ point win, there are plenty of sloppy moments for the Lions to look at.
75 mins: Ah, that would have been some try. Paisami throws another nice offload to beat Conan and Earl. He sends Anderson away into space with just van der Merwe to beat. He tries the chip and chase option, only to badly slice his effort into touch.
73 mins: Now the Reds win a scrum penalty. This is a scrappy final quarter for the Lions. That said, the Reds fail to find touch and van der Merwe runs the ball back.
72 mins: The Lions need to be careful this doesn’t peter out into a damp squib in the last few minutes. Fin Smith tries to kick ahead but his effort rolls over the dead ball line.
71 mins: Uru throws a sensational offload over the defender but, unfortunately for the Reds, Anderson is tackled into touch.
67 mins: Daly tried to shake off that arm injury, he hid on the wing for a few minutes. But they’ve decided to take him off. Garry Ringrose is on, he goes to wing with Freeman at fullback. Interestingly, Ben Early has come on and looks to be at centre.
ROG meanwhile forgot what country he’s in, commentating in French for a second there.
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HUW JONES
66 mins: An opportunistic score but Jones had the gas required to score. The Reds tried a chip and chase outside of their own half but Jones got up into the line to block and then intercept the kick. He then speeds away to score in the corner after a dash from halfway.
Fin Smith misses the wide conversion.
Reds 12 Lions 47
63 mins: Potentially a big moment in the tour here. Elliot Daly came flying out of the line to hit Campbell man and ball. He misses the tackle and has injured himself to boot. Hopefully it’s just a stinger or a dead arm, because the way he’s reacted it could be something worse.
Meanwhile the TV cameras pan to Finn Russell who is icing his wrist. Never a dull moment!
62 mins: That, though, is a coach killer as they say. Itoje claims the restart but can’t get to deck as the Reds defenders swarm. They hold him up in a choke tackle and win a scrum.
60 mins: Aki with some lovely touches now. That one-handed offload could well have sent Morgan in again had he not slipped. Only a matter of time now before another score...
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TOMMY FREEMAN
Sure enough, Freeman barges over from close range after taking the pass from his Northampton mate Mitchell. The attack could have gone wrong when Mitchell threw the ball behind Conan a few minutes ago, but the Lions recovered well.
Reds 12 Lions 42
59 mins: The Lions are turning the screw now. Daly pins the Reds back with a grubber inside the 22. The chase swarms, tackling Campbell on his own 22 before Aki swoops for a breakdown penalty.
To the corner they go. James Ryan comes on for his Lions debut. Chessum goes off.
TRY LIONS
JAC MORGAN
57 mins: Morgan has quietly been excellent tonight. Off the scrum, Aki gets melted thanks to a hospital pass from Smith. He rides the contact, the Lions recycling before Mitchell picks Morgan running a brilliant line to barge over. Smith converts.
Reds 12 Lions 35
54 mins: That was a clever lineout move, Curry jumping but the ball going short to Chessum who deftly returns it to Cowan-Dickie. Not for the first time tonight, Toomaga-Allen gives away a breakdown penalty, sticking his hands where they shouldn’t.
The Lions opt for a scrum under the posts.
53 mins: Now the Lions get a penalty after running out of their own 22. A high tackle while Conan was carrying. Fin Smith with some nice touches there, putting runners into gaps. He takes the penalty and kicks it up to the edge of the 22.
51 mins: Farrell makes a rake of changes. Porter, Stuart, Kelleher, Gibson-Park and Russell are all gone. Genge, Bealham, Cowan-Dickie, Mitchell and Fin Smith all enter.
50 mins: Another high tackle gives the Reds a penalty. Itoje was the culprit this time. The Reds will go to the corner.
48 mins: Soft penalty from Stuart. A high tackle allows the Reds to build some free territory. The carrier was low, so it’s a bit harsh, but he needs to work harder to avoid the neck/shoulder.
TRY LIONS
MARO ITOJE
45 mins: Just like that, the Lions turn it on. Aki makes metres in contact, getting over the gain line. Gibson-Park snipes from the breakdown, beating one man before throwing the offload to Itoje. He powers over under the sticks. Simple things done well.
Russell converts.
Reds 12 Lions 28
44 mins: The Lions D is better in contact. Curry flies up out of the line and leaves a gap, missing Uru. Fortunately for him, the offload is loose and the Reds spill.
O’Gara on commentary, referencing the missed tackle on Uru: “If that’s Sua’ali’i, he’s gone.”
42 mins: Salakaia-Loto gets up to compete at a lineout and forces Chessum to spill Kelleher’s throw. More errors to start the half!
41 mins: Right then, here comes the second half. Finn Russell kicks things off.
Reds 12 Lions 21
In terms of the Irish players, Porter has his try but gave away a scrum penalty. Kelleher had an early lineout pinched but has been good in contact, albeit with one handling error. Conan has been very good in contact, making 32 metres so far.
Gibson-Park’s passing has been exquisite, game management less so with the Lions at times playing too much in their own half. Aki has been industrious, if trying to force things with a handful of errors.
As the first half went on, the Lions attack started to click better. On first phase, their backline moves are working very well. That’s the influence of Ireland assistant coach Andrew Goodman.
Still, though, there are too many errors. Passes being forced inside the 22. Unsympathetic passes with too much speed on them, or not launched into areas where they can be caught. 10 turnovers coughed up so far by the Lions, too many. Gone is the efficiency we saw on Saturday, the Lions are down at 2.3 points per 22 entry. They want to be closer to 4.
Half-time: Reds 12 Lions 21
The Reds win a free-kick at the scrum and kick it off to bring us to the break.
A frustrating first half full of errors, but the Lions have a healthy lead nonetheless.
39 mins: Russell is ticking now. He picks off defenders beautifully, sending Freeman into space. His chip and chase comes up empty but the Lions come again after the clearing kick.
They get into the wide channel but Kelleher then spills Jones’ pass. Unsympathetic above his head but, again, good players catch those.
38 mins: What in the name of god happened there? What is it with the Lions and restarts?
They botch this one as the ball bounces inside the 22 and over the try line. Wing Anderson tried to get there to score before it rolls dead. I don’t think he got there on time, but we will check upstairs.
Conan and Gibson-Park were the initial culprits, too busy looking at each other and neither claiming the kick. Fortunately for the Lions, Anderson couldn’t get there before the ball went dead. Because no one touched it before going over the line, we’re back on halfway for a Lions scrum!
TRY LIONS
DUHAN VAN DER MERWE
36 mins: Nice hands from Conan send the big wing over in the corner. A free-kick at the scrum allows the Lions to play inside the 22. A few phases later, Chessum and Conan link to suck in defenders and gift van der Merwe a straightforward finish. Lovely skills.
Russell converts from out wide.
Reds 12 Lions 21
34 mins: Aki and Stuart get their wires crossed. Shame, as the interplay between the Lions finally looked to be clicking with Daly and Russell passing nicely into space behind decoys. Aki was trying to go behind Stuart and to his backline in space, but the prop got in the way. Scrum for the Reds.
33 mins: Daly spills a high ball to gift an attacking platform to the Reds. The defence, though, responds, knocking the Reds back phase after phase. An aimless kick is the result, this time Daly taking it cleanly and calling for the mark.
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ANDREW PORTER
29 mins: The try comes two phases after the penalty. Kelleher taps from under the posts. When he’s held short, his Leinster teammate picks and barges over from close range.
Russell adds the easy extras.
Reds 12 Lions 14
29 mins: Tommy Freeman is over. The officials want to check with the TMO but that looks like he’s grounded the ball over the line.
On second viewing, he’s grounded the ball short of the line. Freeman was whacked in the head by the defender, though, so there should be a penalty.
NO TRY
Doleman gives a penalty under the sticks for the high tackle. All this came off the back of another backline strike which sent van der Merwe into space. The Lions first phase strikes are going very well. Nothing else is so far.
TRY REDS
JOSH FLOOK
26 mins: The Lions look all at sea. They overplay in their own half and give away a penalty. That allows the ball to be kicked into the corner. Another kick in behind, this time from McLaughlin-Phillips, asks questions of Duhan. He looks tentative, never wanting to get to the ball and Flook cashes in to gather and score.
McLaughlin-Phillips misses the conversion.
Reds 12 Lions 7
23 mins: Wow. That wasn’t pretty from van der Merwe, but somehow he survives. He tries to claim a cross-kick inside his own 22 but spills inches from his own line. Lachie Anderson smells blood and dashes for the bouncing ball but somehow, the Scottish wing gets to the ball first and manages to offload as Gibson-Park takes it away from the line.
He is then lifted dangerously in a tackle but the Reds manage to put him down safely.
TRY LIONS
TOMMY FREEMAN
20 mins: The Lions hit back! Once again, Russell takes the ball behind Aki and gets his backline going. This after a maul draws in a few Reds defenders. Two flat passes, Russell-Daly-Freeman, suck in the defence and offer Freeman a straightforward finish.
Russell levels with the conversion.
Reds 7 Lions 7
19 mins: Russell and Itoje combine well in contact to earn a turnover. Toomaga-Allen then ignores the referee’s call to leave the ball at the ruck and is penalised.
Another penalty heads to the corner.
18 mins: Another scrum penalty against the Lions. This one is against Porter for collapsing.
16 mins: That’s a howler from Daly. The Lions run two brilliant backline moves off a lineout. The first sees Russell link with van der Merwe to send Freeman into space. The second sees Daly carry on the opposite flank but, instead of linking with his support on a switch line, Daly fires the ball into touch. He’s been so good on this tour so far but that is a moment to forget.
15 mins: Morgan wins one of his trademark breakdown turnovers before later getting on the end of a short pop to barge into the 22. The ball is ripped in contact, though, and the Reds clear.
13 mins: A tricky few minutes for Aki. Well, this one wasn’t his fault but it’s not a good look. He tries to pop a short pass to Curry as the Lions run a four-man pod. Curry spills in contact.
Lions are well off the pace here.
12 mins: Oh that’s a shocker. Aki of all people gets on the back of a maul five metres out. He is literally inches from the try line when he pounces for the score but somehow the Reds manage to hold him up. He really should have scored.
Echoes of Kelleher being held up by Jordie Barrett at the World Cup.
11 mins: The first link of the Aki-Jones partnership leads to an error as the Scot fires an unsympathetic pass. Tricky for Aki, but ‘good players catch those’, as Joe Schmidt infamously once said.
There was advantage for a late tackle, so Russell does get the ball back to kick for the corner.
TRY QUEENSLAND REDS
JEFF TOOMAGA-ALLEN
9 mins: The former Ulsterman scores against the Lions. It all started with the break from Paisami. From then, number eight Brial makes more ground with a strong carry. The Lions can’t deal with the ferocity of the close carries and Toomaga-Allen eventually barrels over.
As with the Force on Saturday, the Linos are slow to react to the intensity of the early collisions.
Reds 7 Lions 0
8 mins: Paisami is causing problems in midfield. First of hall his hands send a teammate into space. Later in the phaseplay, he makes a bust before offloading to take play into the 22.
6 mins: Another error. Freeman gets up in the air well to claim a high ball but, once he hits the deck, he spills while trying to free his arms.
This after a few of his offloads went awry in Dublin.
3 mins: The Lions spill at the base of a ruck. ‘What, me?’ is the reaction of Gibson-Park to the decision. Not sure if it was him, Stuart might have been the guilty party when carrying into contact. First attack comes to nothing.
Stuart then gets a shove on at the scrum but his angle was illegal. The Reds clear with the penalty.
2 mins: The Reds spill their opening lineout and are then guilty of regathering in an offside position. Russell kicks the penalty down the line up towards the 22, but the Reds pinch the lineout.
There’s Itoje, though, who wins the race to the bouncing ball. Somehow, via a lost lineout, the Lions have the ball inside the 22.
1 min: We are underway in Suncorp as Jack Conan takes the opening kick-off deep inside his own 22. Gibson-Park’s first touch is a nice clearance kick to touch.
Reds 0 Lions 0
James Doleman reffed the game in Dublin against Argentina. He has the whistle again here.
Another area to keep an eye on is the backrow. Against Argentina, they went with three number sevens really in Morgan, Curry and Earl. On Saturday, it looked more balanced with Beirne at six, van der Flier at seven and Pollock at eight.
Today, Conan finally gets a go as the only specialist eight in the squad. He’s alongside Morgan and Curry as Farrell mixes his backrow blends from the two games. Still plenty of opensides, perhaps in anticipation of Australia’s threat on the floor with Fraser McReight et al.
Just over five minutes to kick-off. Will the Lions continue their better attacking play after the Force game? Will they look more ready to deal with the initial intensity from a side looking to have a crack off the tourists? Will they finally catch a kick-off?
We’ll find out soon.
Here’s ROG. To be fair to him, he’s well able to chat rugby after a 24 hour flight.
Gordon D’Arcy’s weekly column was published this morning. It’s definitely worth a read for the tactical analysis of how Farrell’s Lions want to play, and how it looks familiar to Ireland fans.
Farrell’s system is familiar. Pods of players operating off 10, occasional screen passes out the back or flat ball at the line with room for individuals to express themselves within that structure. Russell’s crisp, short-passing game fits perfectly in that playing environment.
— Gordon D'Arcy
Ronan O’Gara has flown out to Brisbane to be part of Sky’s coverage. They’ve just said he’s been dragged more or less from his flight to the sidelines.
God love him, he looks wrecked.
Andy Farrell has given a bit more detail to Sky Sports on why Keenan doesn’t feature.
Unfortunately for him he’s got a bug that he couldn’t shake off. The dreaded bug that always goes around every single rugby camp. He’ll get his chance shortly.
— Andy Farrell
Big news from Brisbane. Hugo Keenan is OUT of today’s clash. A blow for the Leinster and Ireland fullback, not featuring in any of the first three games leaves him up against it in the battle for the Test 15 jersey.
That said, Blair Kinghorn, the only other specialist fullback in the squad, also hasn’t played due to Toulouse’s Top 14 run. Only one of them can start in Saturday’s next game, though. Whoever Farrell picks will be instructive to his Test thinking, surely, with game time running out.
Given the Lions are in Brisbane, now is as good a time as any to look back on our chat with Queensland native Tom Court. The Irish international who didn’t pick up a rugby ball until the age of 23, Court is good value on his own career (including his brief Lions stint), the state of Australian rugby and why Ireland isn’t as good as other nations at developing props.
Tom Court - Ireland's accidental Lion
We do have over 90 minutes until kick-off. Plenty of time to procrastinate in the office and listen back to Gordon D’Arcy’s take on which Irish Lions have impressed so far on the tour.
Plenty got a go on Saturday, including the likes of Joe McCarthy and James Lowe. Tonight, it’s the turn of Porter, Kelleher, Conan, Gibson-Park, Aki and Keenan to press their claims for a Test shirt.
We shouldn’t forget James Ryan as well who, after recovering from his own injury, needs a big game off the bench to force Farrell’s hand given the competition at secondrow.
Listen to the latest edition of The Counter Ruck podcast below.
Which Irish players have impressed for the Lions?
First look at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. The Lions infamously won the first Test here back in 2013, when George North scored that wonder try running back a kick from deep.
The Reds, perhaps unsurprisingly given the name, are playing in a dark red strip tonight. That won’t be confusing at all, given the Lions colour scheme...
Anyway, here’s the XV of the side coached by Les Kiss, the man who coached the Irish defence during the 2009 Grand Slam.
Ulster fans will recognise a familiar face in prop Jeff Toomaga-Allen. A former All Black, his propping partner Aidan Ross also has a cap for New Zealand. Behind them, secondrow Lukhan Salakai-Loto has lined out 41 times for the Wallabies.
Another pair of Wallabies, Hunter Paisami and Josh Flook, also bring an international flavour to the Reds midfield.
Just the 14 changes to the starting XV from Saturday. In terms of parochial interest, Andrew Porter and Rónan Kelleher make their first starts in the famous red jersey. Jack Conan also lines out in the backrow having come off the bench last time out.
Jamison Gibson-Park is finally deemed fit enough to play on this tour, his halfback combination with Finn Russell a first look at what is widely seen as the favoured pairing for the Tests.
Bundee Aki is back in at 12 in an intriguing midfield pairing with Scotland’s Huw Jones, while Hugo Keenan also returns to fitness to make his Lions debut.
Just like the 46A (or the artist formerly known as), you wait ages for a Lions game in Australia and they all come along at once.
Just a few days after Andy Farrell’s side began their Australian sojourn in Perth with a dominant win over the Western Force, they’re back in action in Queensland, the Reds today’s opponents. Nathan Johns here to guide you through the game as it happens. We’ll build up from now until the 11am (Irish time) kick-off.
