IF WE know little more about the capacity of these Lions to compete at the highest level after a deeply disappointing match at Rugby Park here yesterday, at least we know more about Gavin Henson. The Wales centre, so distressed to be omitted from the squad that will play New Zealand on Saturday, produced all the strength and commitment to suggest the brightest of futures.
But for this gem of an individual display that earned him both of the visiting team’s tries, the Lions would have struggled to beat a Southland team that scrapped for every ball, legally and illegally. The debate about play at the breakdown, a feature of every tour to the opposing hemisphere since time immemorial, is becoming tedious, but it came as a surprise that the yellow card was not brandished.
The Lions tried to play rugby in the face of offside play by Southland at ruck and maul and behind the loose scrums and they did not do it very well. It would have served them better to have kept it tight and play a territorial game; as it was, their passing, particularly at half back, broke down under pressure and they could not press home their advantage.
Henson’s skills, though, held up wonderfully well and when Tom Shanklin appeared in the second half to play centre (for the first time here), it reconstituted the midfield that performed for Wales at home. There will be a review of last night’s game before the match 22 for Saturday’s international is announced today, but, having said flatly that none of last night’s squad will be considered, Sir Clive Woodward can hardly change his mind now.
The decision-making around the Wales centres was of a lower standard than the Lions required; control of the ball was poor on both teams, but Southland’s judgment created space for their back three in a way that the Lions could not. “We seemed to decide that, after 15 minutes, we’d play a catch-up game, which was definitely not the plan,” Gareth Jenkins, the assistant coach, said.
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The Lions set-piece gave them every opportunity: they were comfortable at the scrums, where John Hayes made a return to the province where he spent two seasons in club rugby, and dominated the lineout. Donncha O’Callaghan played his best game of the tour and Martyn Williams survived an ordeal by referee in the first half to lead the Lions back to a degree of safety. But there was no fluency, for which the contribution of yet another quality open-side flanker, Hale T-Pole, can be blamed; T-Pole not only scored Southland’s try, he invariably appeared any time his team moved the ball wide.
The Lions’ shortcomings were made more apparent after they ran up a ten-point lead in almost as many minutes. Turnovers (26 is an unacceptable number for a club team, let alone an international side) and penalties littered their game, as much from overeagerness as the intervention of the home team. It must be said, though, that many of these players appeared against Otago on Saturday and have been to-ing and fro-ing from Christ church airport more times than they would have wished.
Ronan O’Gara’s first penalty emphasised an early miss by his opposite number, Richard Apanui, but the patient build-up to the first try was in marked distinction to what happened subsequently: the Lions went through the phases, Mark Cueto was held short, but O’Gara’s pass from the ruck allowed Henson to stretch through the last defender.
They could not score again for a further 44 minutes and, during that period, Southland drew level, despite losing Paul Miller, their influential No 8, with a strained calf muscle. Apanui kicked one penalty goal, missed another but converted T-Pole’s try, which stemmed from a bouncing pass from Gareth Cooper falling into Southland hands. Denis Hickie covered well, but T-Pole won the lineout to set up a powerful maul, from which he broke off and touched down.
The flanker was even there to intercept from Geordan Murphy as the Lions raised their game, but Lewis Moody took a lineout, the forwards rolled to within a metre of the tryline and Henson’s strength gave him another try. With Andrew Sheridan offering a massive physical presence — the Lions always intended to give him and Shanklin extended game time after both had suffered niggling injuries — that should have paved the way to a powerful finish, but Southland clung on to their coat-tails.
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So frustrated did the Lions become at their inability to win clean possession near the Southland line that O’Gara shrugged his shoulders and kicked penalty goals, two from less than 15 metres. It was not an encouraging match.
SCORERS: Southland: Try: T-Pole (48min). Conversion: Apanui. Penalty goals: Apanui 3 (17, 69, 80+2). Lions: Tries: Henson 2 (13, 57). Conversions: O’Gara 2. Penalty goals: O’Gara 4 (6, 65, 79, 80+7).
SCORING SEQUENCE (Southland first): 0-3, 0-10, 3-10 (half-time), 10-10, 10-17, 10-20, 13-20, 13-23, 16-23, 16-26.
SOUTHLAND: J Wilson; M Harrison, B Milne (rep: P Te Whare, 63), F Muliaina, W Lotawa; R Apanui, J Cowan (rep: A Clarke, 80+7); C Dermody (captain), J Rutledge (rep: D Hall, 60), A Dempsey (rep: J Murch, 53), H Macdonald, D Quate, H Tamariki (rep: R Logan, 80+2), H T-Pole, P Miller (rep: J Wright, 40+1).
LIONS: G Murphy (rep: G D’Arcy, 80+2); M Cueto, O Smith (rep: T Shanklin, 50), G Henson, D Hickie; R O’Gara, G Cooper (rep: C Cusiter, 51); M Stevens (rep: A Sheridan, 41), A Titterrell (rep: G Bulloch, 51), J Hayes, S Shaw, D O’Callaghan, L Moody, M Williams, M Owen (captain; rep: S Easterby, 69).
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Referee: K Deaker (New Zealand).