MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A contentious try in the last minute by Hugo Keenan capped an extraordinary comeback win for the British and Irish Lions over the Wallabies in the second test on Saturday, played in front of 90,000 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The Lions rallied from 23-5 down in the first half to win the match 29-26 and seal an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series which concludes in Sydney next weekend.
In 2001 and 2013 the Lions lost in Melbourne after winning the first match of a three-test series against the Wallabies to force the series to a decider.
But Keenan’s try in the dying seconds allowed the Lions to avoid that fate for the first time. After winning the first test 29-17, they managed to overcome a vastly improved Australia that at times dominated Saturday’s match.
“Lions, Lions, Lions!” Lions captain Majo Itoje chanted at the end of the match, rousing the almost 40,000 Lions fans among the crowd at the giant auditorium. “This is special. This will live long in the memory.”
Wallabies captain Harry Wilson remonstrated with the officials after the match, asserting that Carlo Tizzano had illegally been taken out of play. But Keenan’s try stood. The Wallabies had given everything only to be denied in the last moment.
“It hurts,” Wilson said. “I’m so proud of this team. “We were written off but we came out and put our bodies on the line.”
Non-stop action
The first half was breathtaking for its non-stop action. The Wallabies scored three tries in seven minutes in a period of ascendancy in the middle of the half when the Lions buckled and seemed ready to break.
With pace and physicality, throwing big bodies against the Lions defense and equally by defending with vigor, Australia gained the upper hand and led 23-5.
Giant lock Will Skelton and backrower Rob Valetini lifted the Wallabies forwards to a new level of physicality which at times made the Lions look battered and exhausted.
Extraordinary rally
But at the point at which they seemed spent and the match seemed to have been taken away from them, the Lions produced an extraordinary rally to score two tries in the last five minutes of the half,
With tries to backrower Tom Curry and center Huw Jones, the Lions were able to go to halftime only six points down at 23-17.
Tom Lynagh scored the first points of the match with penalties in the fifth and 11th minutes. The Wallabies played composedly under pressure in their own half, confident in each other and the soundness of their gameplan.
But the first try went to the Lions. Jack Conan was over the Wallabies’ line in the 15th but lost the ball in the act of scoring. A minute later Dan Sheehan did score with an acrobatic dive over a kneeling defender after the Lions took a tapped penalty.
The conversion drifted wide and the Wallabies led 6-5. The Wallabies lost winger Harry Potter to a hamstring strain in the 20th minute and, with only two back reserves, were forced to put scrumhalf Tate McDermott on the wing.
The Wallabies went close to scoring through Jake Gordon, Len Ikitau and Fraser McReight before prop James Slipper scored in his 146th test and his second series against the Lions.
The Lions conceded a series of penalties and Freeman was shown a yellow card when he strayed offside in the leadup to the try.
Then, a quick double strike by the Wallabies. Gordon scored in the 29th minute, slicing through an inside gap as the Lions defense drifted too quickly, and fullback Tom Wright scored from the kickoff after Joseph Suaalii’s stutter step split the Lions in midfield.
Lions respond
With their backs to the wall, the Lions responded. After playing with scraps of possession for much of the half, they managed to produced their first concerted attacks and first Tom Curry crossed from Conan’s overhead pass, then Jones touched down.
The Wallabies scored the first points of the second half, a Lynagh penalty, and at times again the Lions looked to be just hanging on.
Again the Lions responded. Winger James Lowe slipped through Ikitau’s tackle and back-handed a pass to Tadhg Beirne who scored. The conversion made the score 26-24 at the start of the last quarter.
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