For once when they’ve played alongside each other, Jamie Heaslip stood out as the star of the show. But the notion that he and Sean O’Brien don’t often play well together in tandem was largely dispelled by the flanker’s impressive array of handling as well as his carrying.
“I was happy enough with my game,” said the Tullow flanker in typically down-to-earth fashion. “There were a couple of little silly things I’ll have a look at on the video; there is always stuff to improve on. I mixed it up well enough and I’ll go back and assess everything now and have a look at it.”
With Justin Tipuric having laid down the gauntlet last Saturday in Hong Kong, and tour skipper Sam Warburton to make a delayed entry into the fray, the competition in the backrow is fierce.
"I'm not thinking about it like that. I'm thinking about doing my own thing," he said. "The way I play my game and mix it up a little that, whether that fits into a Test backrow is a different story. I have to concentrate on what I'm doing. Obviously Sam is there and he'll hopefully play this weekend. We'll see what happens from there. I just have to concentrate on doing my own job."
Outstanding memory
It's not enough to now lay claim to being a Lion. The outstanding memory of the day? "Winning. You know that was the biggest thing in my mind. You didn't want to go out and lose in a Lions shirt, especially your first one. I'm delighted to get a win regardless of the opposition. You can say you won in your first Lions jersey."
One of the main talking points was the kicking of Leigh Halfpenny, putting over 11 kicks out of 11. Asked if he had ever enjoyed a performance like that, Halfpenny observed: “No it’s up there with the best I’ve kicked. I’ve had some games in which I’ve had 100 per cent but not as many as that. I got the easy bit. The boys scoring the tries and things are doing all the hard work.”
“For me it’s about taking each kick at a time. When I got off the pitch I didn’t know how many I’d kicked. For me it was just going through my process. You sort of get in a groove and sort of look at the ball and you can picture it in your head going over.
"That's what I felt tonight. That comes from hard work on the practise pitch with "Jenks"," he said in reference to Neil Jenkins, the Lions kicking coach whom Gatland described as "one of the best kicking coaches in the world".
'A legend of the game'
"I can't think of a better guy to have teaching me and having alongside me in games and in training," said Halfpenny, who described his coach as "a legend of the game" and revealed: "He sat down with me on Monday night and said I'd be taking the kicking duties. I was absolutely thrilled. To be kicking for Wales was a dream of mine, never mind kicking for the Lions.
“ It’s unbelievable really and pretty mad. I was chuffed to bits when he told me and the nerves started kicking in then.”
Asked if he was surprised to have been given the duties ahead of Jonny Sexton, Halfpenny said: I was obviously hoping but Jonny’s a quality kicker as well, one of the best, so it was hugely pleasing when Jenks gave me the nod.”
