British & Irish Lions news: Alex Mitchell, Huw Jones seal hard-fought win over tough Waratahs
The most recent fixture of Andy Farrell’s British & Irish Lions tour Down Under saw them take on the iconic New South Wales Waratahs.
With the match taking place in front of a record crowd in the new-look Allianz Stadium in Sydney, the punters certainly got their money’s worth with the most competitive battle of the tour thus far.
Following back-to-back half-century scores for the Lions, against the Queensland Reds and Western Force, this fixture finished 21-10 to the Lions.
Here, Sports News Blitz writer Jacob Garrett takes a look at how the Waratahs created such a tight encounter and considers which players showed good signs during the most competitive game thus far.
Waratahs’ game plan pays dividends
The Waratahs’ game model created an interesting barrier for the Lions to overcome.
With both the Reds and Western Force trying to go toe-to-toe with the Lions and throwing the ball around more freely, the clear gulf in quality took its toll, leading to heavy victories for Farrell’s side.
In comparison, the Waratahs relied heavily on passive, drifting defence and then an aggressive blitz-and-jackal threat in the outside 15 channels.
Often the Lions were forced to throw long balls into the wide channels, which gave the Tahs an opportunity to fly up and hit the likes of Mack Hansen man-and-ball, which gave them momentum to compete over and through the subsequent breakdown.
This forced a lot of handling errors, penalties, and turnovers for the Sydney-based side, where they could either kick to the corner and go to their maul or give their dangermen on the outside – such as Derby Lancaster, who had a very impressive performance – the space and broken field to attack a disjointed Lions defence.
The hosts really honed in with this jackal threat on the edge by positioning key breakdown operators in these wide 15s, such as Charlie Gamble, who was outstanding and probably the best-performing player from any of the Australian provinces that the Lions have faced thus far.
So should Farrell and his coaching team be worried by this performance, where they allowed a team like the Waratahs to ‘rough them up’ and stagnate their attacking structure?
In short, not really.
The Waratahs never really imposed their own attacking identity on the game as they relied heavily on counter-attacks and set-pieces.
This will differ to Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies, who will look to play their own game rather than alter their approach out of respect for the Lions.
Where this sort of game does affect Farrell’s thinking is seeing how his players react and adapt to this approach.
With a team perhaps lacking some of the nailed-on starters for the Test matches, it gave Farrell a good look at how they can adapt and persevere with their performances.
Players such as Alex Mitchell, who won Player of the Match, Ben Earl, Blair Kinghorn, Scott Cummings, and the centre partnership (more to come on those two) really stuck their hands up with some quality performances.
‘Huwipulotu’ partnership in full flow
This fixture saw the inclusion of the much-desired partnership of Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu.
The Glasgow and Scotland teammates have made quite a name for themselves as one of the premier centre partnerships in the Northern Hemisphere and the world of rugby.
With both having the ability to break lines with their athletic ability and the skills to put fellow teammates through holes, they are two of the most complete players on the tour.
And we saw this partnership flourish excellently on Saturday.
As mentioned, the Waratahs came with a clear game plan in defence, with a desire to force the Lions to throw wide balls into the outside channels. The two Scots recognised this and adjusted their play perfectly.
Huw Jones’s first of two tries is a perfect example of this adjustment.
After a rolling maul for the Lions, scrum-half Mitchell plays the ball. The Lions were playing a very recognisable shape where the nine throws the ball to the inside centre, missing the fly-half, as the fly-half wraps round and the outside centre comes on a short line.
Following a lot of wide and out-the-back play from the Lions, the inside centre – and one half of the ‘Huwipulotu’ partnership – decides to hit his fellow partner on the short hard line, where Jones slices through a hole and goes under for five points.
The excellence of this move was not just the decision to play against the grain but the deception of how it was performed.
Tuipulotu, knowing the Waratahs would be in a passive drift expecting the ball out the back of the move, shapes his body – and his head – to hit the wrapping Fin Smith.
But the ball did not follow the centre’s body shape and deceived the defence brilliantly.
This ‘no-look’ pass is a motion tried very rarely, but has been perfected by Sione Tuipulotu (possibly learnt from his fellow Scot Finn Russell – many England fans may remember him dismantling the English defence with one in the famous 38–38 draw in 2019).
This move, followed by several excellent decisions and actions on both sides of the ball, should hopefully see this ‘Huwipulotu’ partnership start against the Wallabies.
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Brumbies up next in Canberra
What follows this tough Waratahs fixture is possibly the hardest match of the tour in the capital.
The Brumbies came third in Super Rugby Pacific this season and are scattered with some quality players.
After seeing a lot of the nailed-on Test players rested for the game in Sydney and the upcoming fixture bound to be the most competitive, I think we could see a glimpse into Andy Farrell’s thinking for his starting Test side.
The likes of captain Maro Itoje and sole out-and-out number eight Jack Conan should return in the pack – alongside the star partnership of Jamison Gibson-Park and Finn Russell.
Make sure you’re up and about to watch on the 8th – it should be the most interesting watch pre-Test matches.
MORE FROM JACOB GARRETT: British & Irish Lions news: Six Wallabies to look out for on the eagerly awaited tour to Australia
