Third Test - Australia 16-41 Lions

Australia 16 – Lions 41

Warren Gatland’s British and Irish Lions needed a win in front of 83,702 supporters in Sydney to claim their first series in 16 years after previously infallible kicker Leigh Halfpenny failed to convert a last-minute penalty to overturn a 1 point deficit in Melbourne as the second test finished 16-15 to the Australians.

All the midweek controversy surrounding the omission of potential captain Brian O’Driscoll was soon forgotten when English prop Alex Corbisiero wriggled over The Wallabies’ line inside the second minute to become the first non-Welshman to score a point on the tour as he opened the scoring for The Lions.

The touring side continued as if they had something to prove and it took only until the 10th minute for fullback Leigh Halfpenny to receive a chance to settle his nerves and slot a kick from 50 metres to make it 10-0.

The Lions’ revised back row of Faletau, O’Brien and Lydiate fought hard in the loose to fill the void of injured captain Sam Warburton who was sidelined with a hamstring injury and The Lions looked the more physical side in the opening of the game.

Most of Australia’s problems stemmed from the scrum, however, as The Lions’ front row asserted their dominance time and time again over The Wallabies. A penalty from each side took the score to 13-3 as Lealiifano sank his first of the game and Halfpenny made it a commendable 35 from 39 kicks on the tour.
After The Wallabies pulled down two more scrums French referee Romain Poite had had enough and tighthead Ben Alexander was sentenced to ten minutes in the sin bin. Halfpenny was yet again on point to capitalise on Australia’s indiscipline and made it 6 points from Australian infringements at the scrum and moved the score to 16-3.

Even with an extra man and Australian winger Israel Folou having to be replaced with a hamstring injury The Lions failed to add to their tally in the first half before Australian fly half James O’Connor danced through some lacklustre Lions defending to bring the score to 16-10 on the stroke of half time.

The Lions’ conceded another 2 penalties early in the second half to bring the total to a frustrating 8 penalties for The Aussies who came within 3 points to 19-16 and a comeback looked like it could be on the cards before Halfpenny put another one through the sticks to make it 22-16.

It took until the 57th minute for countrymen Jonathan Davies and Leigh Halfpenny to link up and break the Australian backline before the fullback released Jonathan Sexton to take the game to 29-16 once Halfpenny had effortlessly converted.

The Aussies were not beaten however, and it took some valiant Lions defence to stop them scoring as they strung together phase after phase in a desperate attempt to get over the Lions’ line. Scrum Half Genia stated the Australian intentions as he ran a penalty under the posts instead of taking the points but the gamble didn’t pay off as Robinson knocked it on.

The Lions’ defence paid off less than a minute later as Leigh Halfpenny cemented his claim for player of the series by collecting a clearance in his own half and proceeding to slice the Australian defence in two before setting Winger George North up for his 4th try of the series.

The 69th minute saw Jamie Roberts put the cherry on the already convincing Lions’ win by running a penetrating line off the back of a maul to score under the posts. Leigh Halfpenny converted to bring his total for the game to 21 points – a record for any Lions player- and the game finished 41-16, the most emphatic Lions win ever over an Australian outfit.

A great win for Gatland whose shock selections will now be considered tactical genius and The Lions will now keep an eye on New Zealand – whom they will face on their next tour in 2017.