What a fantastic turnaround by the Lions. At half-time I was seriously worried, they hadn’t really fired a shot in the first 40 minutes and I have always thought that there could be no way back from a defeat in the first Test.
They came back out of the tunnel a much more focused team, kicked better and started putting phases together and we started to notice that South Africa aren’t very disciplined and organised in defence.
Finally, the Lions got big Courtney Lawes and Jack Conan running at them, while Maro Itoje — the Lions man of the match by a distance — was immense. Although there were plenty of dramas in the second half, I felt confident of a Lions win from about 25 minutes in. There had been a sea change.
Owen Farrell and Conor Murray are pretty good players to bring on with all their experience
Maro Itoje (L) was absolutely immense for Lions and was their man of the match by a distance
This Springbok team might be World Champions but they have had no opportunity to develop since the Rugby World Cup 2019. They have had no Test rugby, looked vulnerable and short of rugby but made some bad calls as well.
The game was still there for the winning when they brought off Faf de Klerk and Handre Pollard. Why would you do that?
I can’t claim to have been quite so confident at the break, though! After all the build-up, excitement and hype, it was a desperately disappointing first half, no sort of spectacle and some way short of the Lions game against South Africa A which combined fire and fury with real skill.
We should not underestimate nerves, with so many Lions making debuts and that was behind the rash of three early penalties given away by Tom Curry.
Tom Curry (centre) was aware of the need to be aggressive but he needs more discipline
Yes, he needed to get into the Boks faces and lead the battle from No7 and Curry was aware of that, but the margins are so small that he needed to be much more disciplined.
Pollard helped himself to two successful kicks at goal from Curry offences and then another Englishman, Elliot Daly, coughed up another penalty and another three points.
It was all rather reminiscent of England in the Six Nations and makes you wonder what the problem is. I thought the calls were sound, so it wasn’t the Australian referee Nic Berry.
What struck me is that apart from some good early lineout takes from Lawes, the Lions failed to launch him and Conan into the Boks
