It has been a sixteen year wait for British and Irish Lions fans who were privileged to finally witness a test series win. The last time the lions won a series was when they beat South Africa 2-1 in 1997.
Twelve years ago the Lions led by Englishman Martin Johnson travelled to Australia and won the first test only to be out played by what was at the time the best team in the world in the second and third tests. The Lions of 2013 coming into the third test were also expected to suffer a similar fate….. or so we thought.
Lions coach Warren Gatland faced heaps of criticism in the buildup to the deciding test as his team selection was massively criticized. Gatland’s Welshman packed Lions team clearly backed their coach’s decision making when they walked out of Sydney with the Tom Richards trophy taking the series 2-1. His decision to leave out his two most experienced players Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell on top of the loss of Warburton through injury was frowned upon by virtually every rugby enthusiast around. Gatland opted for youth in place of experience whilst Wallaby coach Robbie Deans seemed to look for a bit more experience his side going in with George Smith in place of the inform Michael Hooper at open side flanker.
It turns out Gatland’s ability to make the tough decisions is what made the difference in the game. The tried and tested Welsh combination of Jamie Roberts and Jonathon Davies were in stellar form as they repeatedly chopped down the extremely potent Wallaby attack. The major deference maker in the game was the tight five who absolutely pounded the Wallabies in the set pieces whilst the third row of Dan Lydiate, Sean O’Brian and Toby Falatau were meticulous in both loose play and around the breakdowns hunting for turnovers like a pride of Lions. Full Back Leigh Halfpenny’s boot adding 21 points to break the record for most point in a test by a Lions was purely the icing on the cake.
A mistake from first kick-off of the game saw the Wallabies back peddling early on. Alex Corbisiero burrowing over the goal line within 90 seconds of the kick of indicated the Lions were there to play. Leigh Halfpenny’s conversion put the Lions up 07- nil by the second minute. Five minutes later Lydiate and O’Brian’s lethal combination forced a penalty right on the fifty meter mark and Halfpenny obliged knocking over his 33rd kick from 37 attempts on tour making the score 10-00. Christian Lealiifano got his first shot at goal from the ensuing kick-off giving the Wallabies their first points of the game taking the scores to 10-03 in just 8 minutes.
The Lions dominant scrum won earned them a penalty in the 12th minute and mister consistency Halfpenny knocked over the three points from 43m out on the angle. Three minutes later another authoritative scrum from the Lions earned Halfpenny another penalty shot taking the score to 16-03 fifteen minutes into the game.
A fifth scrum infringement by the Wallabies in the 25th minute saw prop Ben Alexander sent to the sin-bin by referee Romain Poite allowing Halfpenny to knock over his third penalty of the night. A ding dong battle all through the rest of the half made for some entertaining rugby. With just two minutes left in the half the Wallabies finally got their stride in deep in Lions territory. The Wallabies first steady scrum of the game came in the last play of the half and some brilliant stepping from James O’Conner saw the Wallabies score their first try of the game. Lealiifano’s convers brought the Wallabies back into the game sending the visitors into halftime leading 19-10.
The Wallabies started off the second half perfectly winning a penalty 35m out directly in front of the post. Lealiifano’s knocked over the three points bringing the game to 19-13. Some good pressure by the Wallabies earned them another penalty which Lealiifano knocked over with ease bringing the score to within 3 points mounting what seemed to be a strong comeback.
The Lions absolute dominance at the scrum gave Leigh Halfpenny the chance to regain a 6 point lead for the Lions and as expected the sharpshooter obliged taking the score to 22-16. Any thoughts of a Wallaby comeback were put to rest when Jonathon Davies carved through the Wallaby defense, off-loaded to Leigh Halfpenny who took-out the last defender and off-loaded to Jonathon Sexton who ran in under the post. Halfpenny’s boot added the extra two taking the scores to 29-16.
Halfpenny cut the Wallaby defence to shreds on the counter attack beating three defenders to set up George North for the 3rd Lions Try of the game in the 64th minute taking the score to 34-16. Dr. Jamie Roberts slicing through the Wallabies defense sealed the game for the Lions as Halfpenny knocked over his 8th kick of the game taking the score to 41-16 with 10 minutes to play.
The Welshman Leigh Halfpenny was undoubtedly named man of the match and is certainly the man of the series amassing a massive 116 points on tour whilst having scored 49 points in the three tests.
