BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Finn Russell kicked a penalty, landed three conversions and set up the first try as the British and Irish Lions led from the first minute on the way to overpowering the Wallabies 27-19 in the series-opening rugby test Saturday.
In their first test match in Australia in 12 years, the Lions were dominant almost from the opening kickoff and led 17-5 at halftime following tries to Australia-born center Sione Tuipulotu in the 9th minute and flanker Tom Curry in the 36th.
“We’re delighted with the win,” Lions skipper Maro Itoje said. “The game was a tough test match. We started well, first half, we played a lot of good stuff.”
Ireland flanker Tadhg Beirne was voted player of the match in a forward pack that set the platform for the Lions.
“Delighted for the team — incredible win,” he said. “We knew it would be a battle.
“I thought our defense was very good for the most part. The last quarter there we started leaking a lot of penalties,” Beirne continued. “We’re certainly going to have to look at those and fix up those areas.”
The Lions will go to Melbourne with a chance to clinch the three-test series and retain the trophy they won here in 2013.
“The goal is to win every game here and we started off with a win,” Beirne said. “The goal continues next week. We’re competitors, and we want to win every week.”
The Lions were consistently dangerous in attack, and played with much better structure than the Australians, regularly having multiple options with ball in hand and numbers in defense.
Australia’s only points of the first half were against the run of play in the 29th, cutting the margin to 10-5, when winger Max Jorgensen contested Jake Gordon’s high box kick in the air, won possession and sprinted 22 meters to score in the right corner.
Lions hooker Dan Sheehan barged over in the right corner two minutes after the halftime break after strong leadup work from Huw Jones and Russell converted to make it 24-5.
The Australians cut the margin to 12 points with 12 minutes remaining when replacement backrower Carlo Tizzano burrowed over from close range.
Marcus Smith made it 27-12 with a penalty goal six minutes from time before Australia’s replacement scrumhalf Tate McDermott scored in the dying minutes to cut the margin to eight points.
The Lions are now 6-0 in their Australian tour after wins over Super Rugby franchises Western Force,Queensland Reds, Waratahs and Brumbies and an Australia-New Zealand invitational XV.
The foundations
The Lions scored two tries, had one disallowed and went close to scoring three other tries in a first half that set the tone.
Australia’s new cap Nick Champion de Crespigny bravely took a catch in the air from the kickoff for his first touch in international rugby but things started going badly for the home team two phases later when center Joseph-Aukuso Sua’ali’i was penalized for not releasing in the tackle.
Russell kicked the goal from 30 meters out to give the Lions a 3-0 and, seven minutes later, the Scottish flyhalf set up the first try for Tuipulotu and converted it for a 10-0 margin.
It looked almost too easy when, after a series of rucks in the attacking quarter, Russell ran left to right and floated a long cut-out pass to Tuipulotu in open space and the former Australia Under-20 player strolled over to score almost untouched.
The scoreboard briefly registered 15-0 when center Jones crossed in the 19th minute, but the try was disallowed on review when the Television Match Official ruled that the Scottish midfielder didn’t release the ball when he was dragged down in a tackle five yards out before regaining his feet to score.
The Lions went close to scoring a few times before Curry muscled his way over from the back of a ruck following a succession of penalties in the attacking quarter.
Next week
The Wallabies will get a full week to recover and regroup ahead of the second test in Melbourne next Saturday — hopeful of having backrower Rob Valetini and lock Will Skelton return from injuries to add some size and weight.
The Lions take on a First Nations and Pasifika lineup on Tuesday night in Melbourne, their last tour game before the second and third tests.
___
AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
