Don’t cry for the Lions over Argentina. It’s the best thing that could have happened to them. As they shake out limbs from their flight Down Under, the worst thing that they could do is consign to history what happened against the Pumas in Dublin and focus purely on what lies ahead in Australia.
The sting of an opening-day loss – good job Argentina didn’t send their first team – should be their touchstone for the next six weeks. Romance is for the fairies. Tradition and folklore, tales of epic adventures on tour, is for the punters in the pub. It’s time to get real in Western Australia. At least the Lions can get on with the job in hand. No more hype and hoopla. They’ll be lucky to make a Sport in Brief item in the local papers. All the more so after a loss.
Just as well Andy Farrell appears to see it that way, too. The head coach was bristling. No guff about taking the positives. He knows that it is already time to circle the wagons, time to do away with the froth and frippery that accompanied the send-off game and get down to knuckle-duster training. Such as jumping and securing a high ball; such as diving on the ground to pinch a loose pill; such as not throwing the ball willy-nilly as if you were part of a Barbarians invitational side and not a member of a prestigious British and Irish Lions team intent on going through a tour unbeaten.
Such was the love-in surrounding the Lions, excusably so up in the stands of the red-bedecked Aviva Stadium, less so on Sky TV’s coverage where cool-headed, objective appraisal seemed an optional extra, that it was no wonder that players lost their focus; never found that hard-bitten edge that is the defining quality of a good Lions side.
The Dublin match was always going to be a tricky bugger, a distraction from the real business at hand. Of course, it was fun and lucrative and all that – and if it prompts the usually myopic big-wigs to pull their fingers out and get Argentina (along with midweek games in Uruguay and Chile) on to the Lions’ rotation circuit then the occasion will have been worth its weight in gold – but it was unnecessary.
The Lions do need to ride the Sea of Red wave for all it is worth. On Friday the Lions appeared to be swamped by it, a giddy, naïve tourist heading into the Bondi surf.
The Lions are tourists. They play overseas. Idealistic? Perhaps. But consider this. For almost the first time in the annals of the professional game, the Premiership clubs did the decent thing and moved their final by a week to free up preparation time for the Lions. And what did they do? Rather than acclimatising themselves to local conditions in Perth, getting on with their own thing without undue interference – as noted above, it is always a shock being in Australia with a national rugby union team to realise just how far down the news agenda the sport actually is – just bonding and building, they ran the danger of getting carried away by the buzz that was in and around Dublin for days.
There is good as well as bad in all this, of course. The love and affection vibe is an essential part of the experience, all the more so after the hollow feel of the Covid-blasted 2021 trip to South Africa. The Lions do need to ride the Sea of Red wave for all it is worth. On Friday the Lions appeared to be swamped by it, a giddy, naïve tourist heading into the Bondi surf.
Post-tour hindsight might well see Farrell coming to appreciate the moment for what it gives him – an opportunity to crack down. The lessons are obvious. This is what happens if you ignore the basics. You lose Test matches if you prat about through silliness, chucking Hail Mary passes rather than doing the boring thing and going through the phases. Lineout fluffs. Misaligned defence and half-cock tackling. There was energy in the Lions’ play, desire and ambition, but where was the game-savviness, the cool head keeping the racing heart quiet?
Things can only get better. And they will. That is a certainty, partly because of time spent together, partly because of the standard of opposition and partly because the Dublin XV will never take the field again.
If the Test series is won then the 24-28 scoreline becomes the same sort of historical entry as the last time the British and Irish Lions lost the opening game of a tour in 1971… That trip didn’t turn out too badly.
It is important to be critical of a sub-par Lions’ performance. But it is also necessary to realise that this is not an Ireland or England under the microscope, when the throw-forward appraisal after a loss would be sobering for their supporters. That doesn’t happen with a Lions team until the Test series begins. So, Dublin matters in giving the Lions a wake-up call but it also doesn’t matter. If the Test series is won then the 24-28 scoreline becomes the same sort of historical entry as the last time the British and Irish Lions lost the opening game of a tour, a 15-11 defeat to Queensland at Ballymore in 1971, the prelude to the Test series in New Zealand. That trip didn’t turn out too badly.
We have celebrated those tourists ever since, for their Welsh-based verve and magic, for the tough hombres up front who enabled Gareth and Barry and Gerald to dart and dance, for that perfect blend of warrior-like spirit and wizardry in the feet.
They were a star-studded lot and this 2025 iteration do not appear to have the same some of game-breaking potential in their ranks. Or not yet. It is difficult as well as unfair to make a true assessment of this group until three or four games have passed. Then we will know if the addition of a Dan Sheehan or Ollie Chessum or Finn Russell or Huw Jones or Blair Kinghorn will have repaired last Friday’s fault lines – more accuracy, more grunt, more devil, more presence.
Those who did well against Argentina – props Ellis Genge and Finlay Bealham, wing Tommy Freeman (the occasional blemish notwithstanding) – will not be able to rest on laurels for the next cohort of Lions will be doubly determined now to put down markers. Others such as Duhan van der Merwe or Marcus Smith (hamstrung by the daft decision to see him as a full-back), or the double-whammy centre combo, or the slightly over-hit half-back kickers, can’t afford to stew in their misery. The Lions is about everyone contributing in training as much as it is in matches.
The 2025 Lions may have shown part of their hand in Dublin, but they have plenty of cards yet to play.
There are upsides, of course. The scrum was a big plus, all the more so given the Wallabies have upped their own game in that regard. Joe Schmidt will spend as much time poring over the tapes as he will studying his own players when they come up against Fiji. The former Ireland head coach knows all too well that the Dublin setback was informative only up to a point. After all, the Pumas put more than 60 points on his Wallaby mob only last year.
It is such a relief that the squad is now in Australia. The fanfare will die, shoulders will be put to the wheel and each and every team selection over the next fortnight will be fascinating. The 2025 Lions may have shown part of their hand in Dublin, but they have plenty of cards yet to play.
