British & Irish Lions news: Tourists crush Reds in Brisbane, call up Owen Farrell for injured Elliot Daly

Tuesday saw Andy Farrell’s British & Irish Lions team convincingly beat another Australian Super Rugby Pacific side in the form of the Queensland Reds.

With a final scoreline of 52-12 in favour of the tourists, the Lions put in a near-perfect performance, although there remain a couple of issues in need of ironing out.

Here, Sports News Blitz writer Jacob Garrett takes a look at the standout aspects of the Lions’ victory and considers which players put their hands up for the first Test.

Lions’ forward pack dominates

This week’s warm-up game featured possibly the best performance of Farrell’s various front-eight configurations over the course of the tour.

Despite some issues at scrum time, particularly with regard to Andrew Porter’s style and his tendency to come in on the angle – providing a suspect picture for the referee – the forward pack was almost flawless.

And with Ollie Chessum and captain Maro Itoje causing havoc at lineout time, messing up the opponent’s ball and being a constant menace, the skipper firmly answered any lingering doubts about his quality in the face of competition from Joe McCarthy and Tadhg Beirne.

But the real star of the show was Welshman Jac Morgan.

Donning the iconic seven shirt, the Welsh skipper was immense against the Reds, brilliantly using his ball-stealing ability to hamper the hosts’ attacking momentum at ruck time.

That defensive work complemented some really nice play with ball-in-hand as he carried well and eventually picked an excellent line to dot down courtesy of an excellent Jamison Gibson-Park–style skip pass from Alex Mitchell.

Morgan’s solid performance was also due to a first-class balance in the back row, where Tom Curry and Jack Conan got through a mass of hard yards and offered great work in the loose.

Indeed, every back-rower has excelled when starting on this tour, making configuration in that area a real headache for Farrell and his coaching team.

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Freeman executes Farrell’s system

Within Farrell’s system, one famously honed with the Irish national side, wingers are a vital tool when it comes to attacking shape.

Farrell’s wingers are required to push hard on the flanks, constantly look for work, and regularly get the ball in their hands, often as second-ball players.

Northampton Saints’ Tommy Freeman filled this role to perfection against the Reds.

Coming into the tour in red-hot form, his scoring ability was second to none on Tuesday, but question marks remain over his starting spot thanks to pressure from Mack Hansen and James Lowe, who both fit perfectly into Farrell’s system and know their roles like the back of their hands.

Freeman was often seen in the back of shape, connecting the two lines of attack excellently and using his aerial threat to operate as a key fetcher during kick-offs.

As if that was not enough, the match also highlighted his try-scoring prowess, with the Saint grabbing a wonderful double.

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Search for perfection continues

Perhaps this is an overly critical thing to say after such a dominant performance, but there is a fear that some of the issues seen at the Suncorp Stadium, especially those earlier in the game, will be punished by a fast-improving Wallabies side.

Notably, during the opening 10 minutes, it felt as if the Reds had a lot of dominance on both sides of the ball.

They found ample purchase in phase play as the Lions appeared passive in the tackle and even outright missed some simple front-up tackles.

The Reds were moreover able to push the Lions into key errors with ball-in-hand, leading to knock-ons and textbook mistakes around running-line timings and basic passing.

Eventually, the quality of the Lions squad took over and they pulled away, with there a stark difference in the firepower on the respective benches.

However, considering that the Wallabies boast decidedly more consistent quality in their squad, the Lions’ slow starts might turn into a serious problem come the first Test.

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Owen Farrell replaces Daly

There was yet another horrible tour-ending injury against the Reds, this time for English ever-present Elliot Daly.

The specifics of the injury are yet to be confirmed, but it seems to be a forearm injury.

Regardless, it comes as a real shame as, following much scrutiny over his inclusion on the tour, the Saracen had been quality when given the opportunity.

Daly could even have found himself wearing the 23 shirt come Test time on account of his ability to play outside centre, both wings, and full-back.

Owen Farrell has since been called up as a replacement by father Andy, which creates an interesting dynamic.

Hopefully, the England legend will provide some key experience for this exciting Lions team.

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