Combined Country XV 0 Lions 64: Quite what the Lions' coaches would have learned from this most facile of all exercises on their 2013 tour is a moot point.
The tourists kept a game collection of full-timers, part-timers and amateurs to zero, ran in 10 tries and move on to Saturday’s rendezvous with the Waratahs and possibly the likeliest ambush of all, the Brumbies in Canberra on Tuesday.
With the first Test to come in Brisbane on Saturday week, suddenly the series is beginning to loom that bit larger and, with that in mind, this encounter two hours of north of Sydney in the industrialised, seaside town of Newcastle was about players not suffering injury or messing up.
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There weren’t any apparent cases of either.
A pleasant, still evening under clear skies after temperatures touched the 20s during the day before, as is custom hereabouts, the moist evening ensured a few more spillages as the match wore on, which perhaps contributed to a reduction in the scoring rate in the second-half, during which the tourists added just four tries.
The majority of the crowd (20,071) craved a home try and were eager to encourage any moments of promise for the Country selection, which ultimately meant they were kept fairly quiet. The Lions went through a number of training ground moves, with Conor Murray again hardly taking a step (a feature of his tour performances) and Stuart Hogg an able stand-in at outhalf, as runners came from deep before those on the outside - with Brian O’Driscoll usually the pivotal figure - straightened the line.
Perhaps keeping their powder dry, there weren’t too many reprises of the Jamie Roberts-O’Driscoll axis dovetailing, although one or two would have had Warren Galtand and Rob Howley purring. All in all, O’Driscoll provided most of the evening’s classy moments and if the Lions are to unlock the Wallabies' defence one imagines he has to be a key figure.
Indeed, this looked like the three-quarter line in the making, for the first Test at any rate, with Tommy Bowe perhaps to come back into consideration for the second.
Up front, Alex Coribisiero got through a pleasing amount of work, though Paul O’Connell’s secondrow partner still looks up for grabs, as is the backrow, even if Justin Tipuric, a key component to the first four tries, was again the standout performer.
The Lions would also have been content with the ‘zero’ part, even if any score would have been embarrassing. The extent of their shove at their first put-in wasn’t so much encouraging, as potentially dangerous. When the Country lineout looked as susceptible off their second throw, Tipuric claimed the overthrow at the tail, charged up the middle with a hand off and the inevitable try followed off the quick recycle, Murray feeding Hogg, whose skip pass enabled O’Driscoll to put Alex Cuthbert over in the corner.
Hogg converted from the touchline and the home players were lining up behind their tryline without touching the ball again when the outhalf landed his second conversion.
Jamie Heaslip took the kick-off, good hands from right to left released George North up the left wing, and from the recycle the Lions went wide to the right where Cuthbert stepped back inside and fed the supporting Murray for the try by the posts.
It looked just like an ‘opposed’ training session, though more of the latter than the former.
Within two more minutes, Hogg himself had carved through a yawning gap off a lineout to touch down, but then hit the post with the conversion.
An overthrow by Richard Hibbard, Jarrad Butler’s kick upfield and a charge down by Richard Stanford on Sean Maitland’s attempted clearance briefly enlivened the home crowd. A couple of attacking lineouts led first to a sequence of pick and goes, but moving it away from the close-in ‘pods’ to local boy Lewie Catt merely resulted in Tipuric ripping possession, and quick hands by Heaslip, O’Driscoll and North released Maitland for a gallop up the left. North supported on the inside for the offload to score and Hogg converted.
Hibbard scored off an attacking lineout when peeling off a maul and North made it 38-0 by the 33rd minute when finishing off another training ground move. With Roberts running the decoy, Hogg fed Cuthbert coming off his wing on the wrap for O’Driscoll, running straight, to feed Maitland, who in turn fed North for Hogg to again convert.
It would have been more than a point a minute by the interval had the Lions not lost a third lineout with the half’s last play, thanks to what appeared a breakdown in communications, no-one rising to Hibbard’s intended target.
At the interval, Alun Wyn Jones and Leigh Halfpenny were brought on for Richie Gray and North, who had been gingerly stretching a heavily strapped right thigh after one first-half run.
It required all of 10 scratchy minutes of the second-half for the Lions to add to their tally, Heaslip, O’Brien and the forwards sucking in numbers with close-in carries before Hogg worked the ball wide for O’Driscoll to score with ease; the major surprise being that Halfpenny missed the touchline conversion.
He soon converted his own strong run-in to bring up the half-century, and after good work off an attacking lineout by Murray, with a clever pass to Jonathan Davies, Seán O’Brien took the scrumhalf’s pass off the recycle to fend off one tackle and score with numbers aplenty on his outside.
When Dale Ahwang had a try rightly disallowed by the TMO for an initial knock-on by the replacement winger, it briefly incurred the displeasure of the home crowd as the Lions' game became a little scrappy. They refocused after the siren to go through the phases and a quick tap by Mike Phillips, before Maitland hit the line too early, allowed O’Driscoll risk a grubber which was perfectly weighted for Davies to score. Halfpenny’s radar was again perfect to the posts from wide out.
Scoring sequence - 8 mins: Cuthbert try, Hogg con 0-7; 10 mins: Murray try, Hogg con; 12 mins: Hogg try 0-19; 20 mins: North try, Hogg con 0-26; 27 mins: Hibbard try, Hogg con 0-33; 33 mins: North try 0-38; (half-time 0-38); 50 mins O'Driscoll try 0-43; 55 mins: Halfpenny try and con 0-50; 66 mins: O'Brien try, Halfpenny con 0-57; 80 (+1 mins): Davies try, Halfpenny con 0-64.
Combined Country: Nathan Trist (Sydney University); Alex Gibbon (Southern Districts), Lewie Catt (Wanderers, Newcastle/NSW Country), Tareta-Junior Siakisini (Gold Coast Breakers/QLD Country), Tom Cox (Uni-Norths/ACT Brumbies); Angus Roberts (Sydney University/Melbourne Rebels), Michael Snowden (Eastwood, Sydney/Western Force); Haydn Hirsimaki (Sunshine Coast Stingrays/QLD Country), Josh Mann-Rae (Gungahlin/ ACT Brumbies), Tim Metcher (Southern Districts, Sydney), Phoenix Battye (Wanneroo/Western Force), Blake Enever (Easts, Brisbane/Queensland Reds), Richard Stanford (Eastern Suburbs, Sydney), Jarrad Butler; Tim Davidson (Sydney University/Melbourne Rebels, capt).
Replacements: Trent Dyer (Sydney University/Melbourne Rebels) for Battye (54 mins), Dylan Evans (NSW Country Wanderers, Newcastle) for Hirsimaki (56 mins), Shaun McCarthy (Burdekin RUC, QLD/QLD Country) for Cox (58 mins), Dale Ahwang (Barron-Trinity Bulls, Cairns/QLD Coountry) for Catt (61 mins), Tom Kearney (Noosa Dolphins/QLD Country) for Mann-Rae (62 mins), Battye for Stanford (64 mins), Rikki Abraham (Teachers West, Townsville/QLD Country) for Metcher (71 mins), Rory Arnold (Gold Coast Breakers/QLD Country) for Battye, Adam McCormack (Hastings Valley, NSW/NSW Country) for Snowden (both 74 mins).
British and Irish Lions: Sean Maitland (Scotland); Alex Cuthbert (Wales), Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland, capt), Jamie Roberts (Wales), George North (Wales); Stuart Hogg (Scotland), Conor Murray (Ireland); Alex Corbisiero (England), Richard Hibbard (Wales), Dan Cole (England), Richie Gray (Scotland), Iain Evans (Wales), Seán O'Brien (Ireland), Justin Tipuric (Wales), Jamie Heaslip (Ireland).
Replacements: Alun-Wyn Jones (Wales) for Gray, Leight Halfpenny (Wales) for North (both half-time), Rory Best (Ireland) for Hibbard, Ryan Grant (Scotland) for Corbisiero (both 52 mins), Matt Stevens (England) for Cole (53 mins), Toby Faletau (Wales) for Heaslip (54 mins), Jonathan Davies (Wales) for Roberts (57 mins), Mike Phillips (Wales) for Murray (71 mins).
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia).
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