In the early stages of the game, Brian O’Driscoll has already had some issues with the referee, giving away a penalty and being told to “leave it” at another ruck. As you can see from the picture, BOD is not supporting his body weight and for all intents and purposes is killing the ball. Referee Chris Pollock has a word with him and captain Sam Warburton. This forced the Lions to adapt their breakdown strategy as they fanned out and let the Wallabies have the ball for the most part. You can question the referee and his interpretations for sure, but the Lions learnt their lesson and from then on didn't contest as frequently in positions that could be used to kick for goal. The positive of this is that the Lions learned from their mistakes and seemed to adapt from then on out but it was certainly harder for them to compete at the breakdown. They showed good restraint and discipline in keeping the kickable penalties down and interestingly it seemed that some of the substitutes took a while to adjust. For example, Mako Vunipola gave away a penalty moments after Leigh Halfpenny had given the Lions a 5 point lead.
I’m going to take a look at Israel Folau’s first try next. A quick penalty from Will Genia sees him gain tremendous yardage and get into the Lions half as he is chased by North and Phillips with James O’Connor and Folau in support. He is looking for options as he is chased down, from what I see, he is expecting O’Connor to run an inside line, where he could pop the ball off to his left, this would also make it more difficult for defenders such as the incoming Halfpenny, as he must decide which man to choose, Folau or O’Connor (O’Connor would run the line but probably a little too late). What’s interesting here is Halfpenny’s gesture. I’ve circled him here and as you see, his left arm is raised and he appears to be gesticulating to the left. In this situation the touch-line is your friend and like an extra defender. Showing the defender the line is no easy thing to do (as Johnny Sexton would find out with Folau’s second), it requires good flexibility and superb body positioning.
The second image highlights what I feel North and Halfpenny's path should have been. North was in a better position to reach Genia and he was on his way to tracking him down. Phillips was still trailing but looked in position to pick up O’Connor’s run should he make one (he is positioned just behind North). It is a bit of a nightmare scenario and if you were being harsh you could probably place some blame on Halfpenny for ultimately going with Genia when it looked like North would catch up. Big credit goes to Genia for the quick penalty and the superb run but also for drawing in the two defenders and then deftly putting in a kick which set Folau away. It’s harsh to criticise here, it is a difficult scenario for any defender. More credit goes to some superb attacking play from the Aussies.
Ultimately North and Halfpenny (circled) commit to Genia whose well-timed kick ends up in Folau’s arms and he races home
Now on to Folau’s second score, which was a combination of some good back play and poor defending. The screenshot shows Folau with his hands on the ball after some quick recycling and good hands from the Wallabies put him into space, I’ve highlighted the paths of the three main players in the shot. Corbisiero’s is in red, Sexton’s is in blue and Folau’s is in black. A lot of blame for this score should go on Sexton. Much like the first score, the touch-line is your friend. His body position is quite poor, he shows Folau far too much space and he doesn’t try and close down the space in between himself and Folau. His hips are tending towards the sideline and he is guiding the attacker inside towards a relatively slow covering defender in Corbisiero.
That can be beneficial in most defensive scenarios but the quick offloading game the Wallabies used meant the defence was stretched and they had an overlap. That is not the time you show the man the inside channel. Folau is given an acre of space (Circled) in which to step inside and he easily steps inside Sexton who adjusted to late in an attempt to make the tackle, Folau’s acceleration guides him past Halfpenny and Corbisiero to score his second in a terrific debut.
