Highlanders 23 – 22 Lions

It was very much a second string team who came to Dunedin to face the Highlanders in the perfect conditions enclosed by the vibrant Forsyth Barr stadium. It was a game for Gatland to experiment and to play the players he’s still not sure about. At centre stage was tour captain Sam Warburton. Struggling with minor injuries and average performances, the Welsh flanker needed to put down a marker for himself against the most southerly rugby franchise. Rhys Webb too needed to rise to the gauntlet thrown down by Irish counterpart Murray, whilst Stander was competing with Faletau at 8. In all, the Lions can feel that they deserved the victory, having played reasonably well and putting three tries past the Highlanders. What will be more of a worry for Gatland, is the persistent discipline problem with the Lions conceding 12 penalties to the Highlanders 7. Many commentators have pointed fingers at the suitability of the referees with noticeable difference in areas of leniency between the two hemispheres. And there were a few calls made by the Aussie adjudicator, Angus Gardner, that will have frustrated the Lions, no more so than Dan Cole who conceded a penalty at a scrum; apparently he’s still mystified. Henshaw too would feel he was blocked off for Naholo’s crash try, but these are mute points when the Lions failed to convert kicks at the posts, despite Daly’s effort from within his own half.

Backs

Jared Payne – 5.5
Not his best game by far. An average performance strewn with silly errors including a dropped catch at the restart to award the Highlanders a scrum in a promising position. Defended relatively well particularly to scramble back and deny a try in the corner.

Jack Nowell – 5.5
The scrum cap always looks lively which is great if you can beat your man. Unfortunately, he was outmuscled in attack at times and didn’t have the chance to stretch his legs.

Jonathan Joseph – 7
Ideal conditions for the England centre and he showed why. His try epitomised his game, carving up the defence on the inside following a deft dummy from Biggar. Lacked in defence and bounced off a few Highlanders, but he’s there for his attacking stats: carries 10, metres made 55, gainline success 7.

Robbie Henshaw – 6.5
Another solid performance from Henshaw. Good in defence, getting the Lions out of a sticky situation to close ground and shut down a dangerous overlap in the 22. The question remains, does he get in ahead of Te’o?

Tommy Seymour – 6.5
This is something we’re beginning to see in this tour. The Lions wingers rarely have much to attack, be it from poor distribution to rapid and athletic opposition. Seymour had a quiet first half but judged the cross kick well to score a breakaway try; a gamble that paid off thankfully. It’s a favoured tactic for the Kiwis and Seymour bested them this time.

Dan Biggar – 7
Not bad from Biggar! Kicked fairly well but missed touch at one point and failed to convert a try from a very tight angle. Put his body on the line twice to draw the man and make the offload. Put in a defensive shift too. Pat on the back, Dan.

Rhys Webb – 7
Pocket rocket Rhys. Another lively performance from the Ospreys’ scrum half. Cut the Highlander wing defence open with a nice dummy and offload to Nowell. Tackled well with a massive hit on the Highlander winger to put him in touch. I felt he scored his try with ever so slight contact of his left hand and the TMO rushed their judgement. Kicking is still an issue.

Pack

Joe Marler – 6.5
He should be satisfied with that. Kept the scrum tight and carried well.

Rory Best – 6
The Ulsterman isn’t having the best of tours and looked sluggish at times but still managed to keep the lineout effective and the scrum strong.

Kyle Sinckler – 7
Good performance from the young man. Carried well up front and even showed the backs a thing or two, beating a loosehead to make metres in centre field. Good in the scrum too.

Courtney Lawes – 6
Was injured early on when he got his head on the wrong side of Naholo. However, was playing fairly well before and stole a lineout.

Iain Henderson – 7
A step up for the Irish lock. Put in some good runs as well as a few hits.

James Haskell – 5.5
Quiet game from the blindside who couldn’t really get involved.

Sam Warburton – 7
Turned his game around for the second half and went under the posts following the break. Spent half his time on the floor mopping up loose balls. He’ll start the tests based on his leadership credentials and breakdown work, but will come off for an impact player.

CJ Stander – 7
For large parts of the first half he was far too easy to put on the ground and barely made metres (averaging 2.14 metres per carry compared to Faletau’s 4.3 metres per carry against the Crusaders). The second half he performed better, carrying well, making a few hits and winning a penalty to give Daly a chance to seal victory.

Replacements

Ken Owens – 5.5
Threw well and put in a shift but nothing beyond that. Replaced Best 48’ (and blood 29’)

Jack McGrath – 5.5
Carried fairly well but, along with Owens and Cole, couldn’t maintain the scrum in the final quarter. Replaced Marler 54’

Dan Cole – 5
Scrummaging not his finest. Replaced Sinckler 49’

Alun-Wyn Jones – 7
The experienced lock looked good. Excellent play in general and showed great astuteness to tie in two players to open space for Warburton’s try. Looked tired by the end. Replaced Lawes 27’

Justin Tipuric – 5.5
Didn’t really have a chance to get into the game. Replaced Warburton 68’

Greig Laidlaw – 6
A more composed head and fresh legs. Should have kicked instead of Farrell. Just misses out to Webb to the back-up 9 role. Replaced Webb 48’

Owen Farrell – 5.5
Negated his good distribution with a missed kick. Replaced Biggar 68’

Elliot Daly – 6
Looked up for it and had a decent go at the posts from far. Creative from the Wasps’ man. Replaced Payne 63’

Worthy Mentions

Waisake Naholo – 8
Decent game from the strong man who looked threatening every time he got his hands on the ball.

Lima Sopoaga – 7.5
Good distribution (save a wayward pass to his own tryline) and good kicking to claim 7 points for his team. Did he impress the present Steve Hansen enough to get on the All Blacks bench?

Last thoughts and collated ratings

Overall team rating – 6.22
First XV rating* – 6.43

Individual nation ratings

Scotland player rating – 6.25
England player rating – 6.00
Wales player rating – 6.50
Ireland player rating – 6.25

The first XV rating goes some way to demonstrate the change in performance when the majority of the bench came on mid second-half. The front row replacements had a lacklustre game and conceded too many penalties at the scrum, negating the good work done by Sinckler and Marler in the first half. Sinckler has surely done enough to start the test matches. Biggar looked good with accurate kicking from hand (save one missed touch), flat, aggressive distribution and two superb offloads, one of which put Joseph in. I expect his performance was helped by his existing chemistry with Webb who also looked sharp. Farrell (68’) and Laidlaw (48’) couldn’t quite match that partnership and it showed in the latter stages. Farrell really should have made that kick. Warburton was another player who played well in the second half, but can the Lions really afford to have an anonymous first half flanker against the All Blacks? With Stander and O’Mahony eyeing up the blindside and O’Brien set for openside, you can’t help but feel Warburton really needs to find some form from somewhere.

*Composed of those who played the most minutes. For those replaced and not returning to play in the first half, an average is taken i.e. Lawes 6, AWJ 7, average 6.5.

By Dave Beach