CHIEFS 6 BRITISH & IRISH LIONS 34
For the second game running the entire squad, late call-ups and all, congregated in the away dressing-room and sang one of their four anthems. For the second game running the choice was the Fields of Athenry, to commemorate Rory Best's OBE and captaincy of these victorious Lions. So much for a split squad.
In truth, the NZ Herald might have had a point – a dozen years ago.
But compared to the last time the Lions toured New Zealand this squad is harmonious and singing from the same hymn sheet. Just as pertinently, 37 of the squad have been involved in these two handsome, back-to-back wins.
Allowing for the Chiefs being without their six All Blacks and six Maori players in their starting line-up, this was another expression of set-piece cohesion and defensive strength, and also decorated with the most eye-catching contribution to date from their back three.
Jack Nowell scored two tries, the first a pick-and-dive finish after a Best-Iain Henderson clear-out off a carry by Dan Biggar, the second a pitch-length attack off an overthrown attacking lineout by the Chiefs, instigated by Justin Tipuric, Dan Biggar, Robbie Henshaw, Jared Payne, Elliot Daly, Payne again, Henshaw again and then Courtney Lawes, Biggar again and finally Iain Henderson, with a superb pass, giving Nowell the space for a sharp, side-stepping finish. Try of the tour so far.
They’ve come a long way in three-and-a-half weeks and six games. In six games they have only conceded seven tries, while they have now scored 11, with nine of them coming in the last three matches.
For Best, this was particularly sweet after his lineout horrors and loss as captain against the Brumbies four years ago. The collective performance was a tribute to his leadership as well as the players’ desire. He agreed this was not a match a player necessarily wanted to play in, but once picked it was imperative not to have regrets.
A meaningless midweek match?
“I would argue against a lot of people who are saying that,” said Biggar, who typified the team’s desire and was very good again.
Absolute honour
“When you pull the shirt on it’s an absolute honour. Rory Best spoke so well this week and prepared us so well in terms of making sure that whatever our motivation was, whether it was individually, family, friends, whoever it is, we made sure that was a real performance of courage and rolling our sleeves up tonight.
“It was really good to put a little bit of pressure on the guys, but the focus now switches to Saturday, and I suppose whoever is involved in that 23, and whoever is not, it’s our job to prepare the team as well as we can and hopefully achieve something special on Saturday.”
This Test series will be a mini-marathon, not a sprint. There were a host of individual displays which will encourage Warren Gatland and co to believe they will be able to dip into this squad, as they’ll have to do.
CJ Stander, like Courtney Lawes, Henderson and others, had another industrious game, carrying as hard as ever, working around the pitch and forcing one superb turnover off an attacking Chiefs maul.
“You need to put your hand up,” he said. “There is going to be injuries and there is going to be swaps. You just want to give the coaches a headache. If everyone puts their hands up in a squad of 40 everyone is going to get pushed, players are going to get pushed and the momentum is going to go forward.
Stander never found his form in Munster’s end to the season after returning from the ankle injury he suffered in their Euro quarter-final win against Toulouse, but has rediscovered his mojo out here.
“I would say I was struggling at the end of the season, yeah. It was just good to get out and play well again. I was probably, I won’t say in a dark place, but I didn’t know what was going on. I was trying to look at things, ‘how I can change?’ or ‘what I need to do better?’ The big thing for me was just getting out there, just running with the ball again and enjoying the game that I have always loved but I lost that for a while.
“Sometimes you get into a dip and then people just keep on pushing you down. It’s like the deep end of the pool and a lot of people just keep pushing you down. You just need to get back into the top and the boys have lifted me, lifted my spirit anyway. It was good to be on tour and enjoying it.”
Scoring sequence: 10 mins Biggar pen 0-3; 18 mins Biggar pen 0-6; 21 mins Donald pen 3-6; 26 mins Nowell try, Biggar con 3-13; 40 (+ 2 mins) Donald pen 6-13; (half-time 6-13); 54 mins penalty try, Biggar con 6-20; 59 mins Nowell try, Biggar con 6-27; 64 mins Payne try, Biggar con 6-34.
CHIEFS: S Stevenson, T Pulu, T Nanai-Williams, J Fa'auli, S Alaimalo; S Donald, F Christie; S Fisi'ihoi, L Polwart, N Laulala, D Bird, M Allardice, M Brown, L Boshier, T Sanders. Replacements: C Tiatia for Pulu (12 mins), L Messam for Sanders (55 mins), J Taumateine for Christie (58 mins), H Elliot for Polwart (60 mins), L Laulala for Alaimalo (66 mins), A Ross for Fisi'ihoi, A Moli for N Laulala, M Karpik for Allardice (all 65 mins). Sinbinned: Brown (55-65 mins).
BRITISH & IRISH LIONS: L Williams (Wal); J Nowell (Eng), J Payne (Ire), R Henshaw (Ire), E Daly (Eng); D Biggar (Wal), G Laidlaw (Scot); J Marler (Eng), R Best (Ire, c), D Cole (Eng), I Henderson (Ire), C Lawes (Eng), J Haskell (Eng), J Tipuric (Wal), CJ Stander (Ire). Replacements: A Dell (Scot) for Haskell (14-22mins), A W Jones (Wal) for Lawes (54-58mins), T Seymour (Scot) for Daly (60), Daly for Payne (77). Sinbinned: Marler (12-22 mins).
Referee: Jerome Garces (France).
