The British & Irish Lions tasted success in their first match on tour in Australia as they beat Western Force 54-7 in Perth.
There are still three weeks and four matches before they start the business for which they will be remembered – the Test series against Australia.
But there was still plenty for their management to ponder after the game.
Finn's flair
There has been debate whether the Lions will attempt to play with more flair in this series than they did under Warren Gatland, the previous coach who generally preferred to take route one.
If Finn Russell is to be the Test fly-half, it will surely be impossible for them to do anything else. In the second minute against the Force, the mercurial Scot created the opener with a clever kick pass for Dan Sheehan.
The captain entered into the spirit of it and touched off a basketball pass to James Lowe, before getting on the end of a backhanded offload from the wing to score a fine try.
It was the first of eight tries for the Lions. Amid a flurry of overloads and dexterous handling, most of the tries felt more like watching the Barbarians than the Lions, so entertaining were they.
Pollock's eventful day
More has been spoken about the Lions’ youngest tourist than anyone else so far, and Henry Pollock was unavoidable once the game started in Perth, too.
The 20-year-old loose-forward started at No 8 and was in the action throughout. Not all of it was positive, like when he dropped the ball when set for a break early in the first half.
But there were several times when he showed why he is regarded so excitedly as a point of difference for the tourists.
It was his break that made the second try for Tomos Williams. Pollock was on hand when Russell bolted unexpectedly at a penalty to create the third, then managed to embroil himself in a scuffle that followed.
He was the fall guy for persistent infringement by the Lions, and was shown a yellow on the brink of half time, but he came back on and set up another try with a kick and chase.
Praise for Hansen
Mack Hansen is an enigma. Derided as a “former Aussie now Irishman” when the teams were being announced at the stadium, he generally had a nightmare.
He dropped balls. He gave away a penalty for blocking. He was part of the wider malaise at restarts. And, until the final play of the game, the game largely passed him by in attack.
And yet he still came out of the game smelling of roses. When Andy Farrell, the coach, was asked in his flash interview to pick out an individual who excelled, the name he landed on was Hansen’s.
The coach cited the Canberra-born wing’s tireless chase at one point in the second half, which eventually won possession back for his side, as an example of the work rate Lions should aspire to.
Shown on the TV in his coaching box at the time, Farrell had celebrated the moment with as much delight as he did any of the tries.
Perth fans out in force
Rugby union is far from the preferred sport for much of Australia, not least in Perth.
Western Force have had troubles establishing themselves over the years, anyway, and finishing among the also-rans in the Super Rugby season hardly helps.
But when the Lions came to town, the attendance at the Optus Stadium ballooned. The crowd of 46,656 fans was the largest in the franchise’s history by more than 10,000.
“Disappointed [the result] ran away at the end but to be expected against a team of Lions quality,” Nic White, the Force captain and try-scorer, said in his TV interview after the game. “In front of a club record crowd that was unbelievable.”
Lions indiscipline
Farrell seemed in better humour than he did after the Lions had lost their match against Argentina the previous week, but he pointed out there is still a long way to go.
The Lions gave away four penalties early on, when the home side put them under pressure immediately after the tourists had opened the scoring.
Indiscipline also showed in their fallibility at restarts. Although the Force wilted and the Lions were able to rack up a variety of good-looking tries, the coaching team will not have been tricked by the scoreboard.
They will face tougher tests, even before they start the Test series itself, and the tourists know they will need far more polish if they are to claim what they came for.
