Lions vs Barbarians Match Report

Before the game, Ian McGeechan stated that he would rather the Lions win by 30 than 60, but with a final score of 59-8, Warren Gatland must be a happy man.

Owen Farrell scored the first points of the Lions tour with a penalty, but it was evident that the young fly-half was nervous, kicking the ball down Jared Payne’s throat and then having another kick charged down, the latter leading to a bust-up with Saracen’s team-mate, Schalk Brits, which earned the South African a yellow card. This incident showing the sense of occasion the match meant to both teams.

Sean Maitland nearly got the first try, but pressure from Dimitri Yachvili meant he was unable to gather Jonathan Davies kick through. Elliot Daly equalled the score for the Barbarians with a long-range penalty, before it became evident that handling errors would play a big part in the game.

A series of continuous pick-and-go’s resulted in Mike Phillips sniping and nearly scoring, but captain Paul O’Connell followed up and drove over for the try. Farrell converting. Five minutes later though, a second Phillips snipe proved successful and he went over to score. Farrell converting again to take the score to 23-3 at half-time.

After the break, Phillips continued to play superbly, as once again, he broke from a lineout and scored, Farrell successfully adding the extras. By now, the Lions started to play more freely. A Mako Vunipola offload put Justin Tipuric through but Joe Rokocoko did brilliantly to hold him up over the line. Then, a Maitland chip was gathered up by Tipuric who switched with Farrell, but with the try-line open, Farrell decided to pass which got intercepted, a move which epitomised Farrell’s poor attacking game.

And it was another poor pass from Farrell which led to the Barbarian’s only try. Leonardo Ghiraldini gathered up the loose ball and it was spread wide, Rokocoko left Toby Faletau for dead and passed inside to Kahn Fotuali’i who went over for the five points. Nick Evans missing the conversion.

From the restart, the Lions scored again. Evans knocked the ball on and it ended up in Jamie Robert’s hands who fed it to Davies, who dived on it over the line. Sexton converted. By now it was clear that the Hong Kong weather and humidity was affecting the players and the going got tough for the Barbarians who conceded two quick tries.

First, Alex Cuthbert gathered the ball off Roberts and galloped down the wing to score, before Conor Murray broke and gave the ball to Cuthbert for his second. Jonny Sexton missing both conversions. But with five minutes left, there was still time for two more tries. Dan Lydiate scored from a rolling maul and Sexton did add the extras this time, and then, with the clock in the red, Alun-Wyn Jones flopped over the line after the ball was spun wide. Sexton missed and the score ended up 59-8.

The Lions will be pleased with this well-structured performance, with stand-out performances from O’Connell, Phillips and Roberts.