Lions hang on to draw first blood in Brisbane Test

The British and Irish Lions edged out Australia by two points in the first test inside Suncorp Stadium extending their 114-year unbeaten record in Queensland.

In an exhilarating first encounter in the three test series, tries from Welsh wing duo George North and Alex Cuthbert saw the famous red jerseys out-muscle a heavily wounded Wallabies side plagued by injuries and claim a 23-21 victory.

A brace of tries from debutant Israel Folau and the ever-dangerous threat of Curtley Beale and Will Genia took the home side agonisingly close to upsetting the pre-series favourites, only for the controversial fullback to slip with the final penalty kick of the game, which would have won the his side the game by one point.

The unearthly physicality of the collision was patent from the get-go. Jonathon Davies’ shuddering crash-line, running directly into his Australian counterpart Christian Lealifano, set the tone. Sadly for the home side, debutant Lealifano had to be stretchered off the field after just 53 seconds on the clock after trying the bring the Welsh inside centre down and getting his head on the wrong side of the tackle. Lealifano was conscious when leaving the field.

Australia’s aggressive line speed in defence and understanding of breakdown laws in the Southern Hemisphere put the home side on the front foot early on. But James O’Connor, a controversial choice at fly-half for many Australians, failed to convert two early penalty attempts.

Five minutes in, and it didn’t take long for the British and Irish Lions scrum to make their mark on the game. The belligerent British pack sent the Australians back-peddling at a rate of knots to earn a penalty that took the Lions into Australian territory, where the visitors will be aggrieved to have not come away with a score themselves. Instead, and to the delight of the home crowd, Australia opened the scoring with a scintillating break-away try which sent a resounding warning to the Lions.

The lightning-witted Genia seized on a penalty inside the Australian 22-meter line and caught the Lions backline off guard by tapping quickly and scything his way into the Lions half, side-stepping George North and drawing Leigh Halfpenny before executing a sublime three meter diagonal chip to right wing Israel Folau who obligingly ate up 20 meters to touch down for a breath-taking counter attacking try.

The wounded Lions hit straight back. Welsh 15 Halfpenny, who has been in amazing kicking form all tour, got the Lions on the scoreboard with 24 minutes gone with a three-point penalty before 6ft4’ winger North stunned all inside the Suncorp Stadium with a devastating 50 meter dash into the Aussie try line.

Berrick Barnes’ loose kick was gathered by North, who found himself under no pressure from Australian chasers just inside the Lions’ half. The 21-year-old Northampton Saints powerhouse then blitzed through flimsy tackles from O’Connor and Barnes before comfortably outpacing Genia to the try line on the left flank. In the blink of an eye the Lions were 10-7 to the good after Halfpenny’s assured conversion from the most extreme of angles on the left and the sea of red were orchestrated into full-voice.

North came within inches of touching down again just two minutes later after the Lions rumbled into Australian territory. The Welsh colossus found himself on the blindside of a ruck with Genia and Folau to beat 3 meters out, which he so-nearly did.

An agonising wait for the TMO to decide if North’s elbow had grazed the whitewash before touching down resulted in no try, but a previous infringement brought play back for a Lions penalty, which the ever-assured right boot of Halfpenny slotted from 34 meters.

But whatever Wales produce, Australia produce too. Rugby league convert, and danger-man Folau once again exposed the red jersey’s defensive fallibilities in the 15-meter zone to rip through a staggered Lions defence and get the Wallabies straight back into contention.

The Waratah’s flyer latched onto a drifted pass from blind-side flanker Ben Mowen 35 meters out before leaving Jonny Sexton in another epoch with a mesmerising side-step and stripping Halfpenny on the fullback’s outside shoulder to touch down for another spectacular try in a half of rugby that exceeded all the pre-match hype.

In stark contrast to the Lion’s goal kicker, O’Connor’s poor kicking form persisted, and he missed the conversion. If the Melbourne Rebels star had slotted his four attempts at goal, the score line would have read 22-13 to the home side. As it stood, the Qantas Wallabies trailed 12-13.

Barnes’ game ended prematurely after a nasty collision under a high ball with Folau, which saw the mercurial Curtley Beale enter the fray in his place: the preference of many even before Robbie Deans announced his squad, Beale’s notorious extra-curricular activities notwithstanding.

With minutes left in the opening 40-minutes, Alex Corbisiero’s 20-meter break through the heart of Australian territory set up an attacking platform for Sexton to pass wide to compatriot Irish centre Brian O’Driscoll who gave a delightful offload to Davies’ who was held up just meters short of the line.

From the consequent ruck to Davies’ dart for the line, the gold jerseys would have counted themselves very fortunate not to see anyone of three payers (Stephen Moore, Wycliff Palu and James Horwill) sent to the sin bin, or even sent off, for cynical foul play at the breakdown, going off their feet and over the top, with the Lions inside the Australian red zone with just a minute left in the first-half.

Bizarrely, Halfpenny missed the resultant penalty and the half-time scoreline remained a one-point ball game at 12-13 to the visitors.

The Wallabies’ cruel injury woes continued in the immediate resumption of the second half. Replacement centre Pat McCabe was taken from the field with a worrying knock taken on an old neck injury.

The depletion of Australia’s backline reserves saw flanker Michael Hooper forced to move into inside centre and the youngest member of the home squad, Liam Gill come into openside flanker.

With the home side’s morale at an all-time low, the Lions drew blood one minute after the enforced replacements. While compatriot North had been grabbing the headlines in the first 40 minutes, fellow winger Alex Cuthbert continued the trend of Welsh point scorers by adding his name to the scoresheet and stretching the Lions’ lead to eight points.

The Cardiff Blues right wing, who made his debut for Wales against Australia in 2011, roared through the Australian backline, fending off tackles from O’Connor, Beale and Genia to score another emphatic five points before Halfpenny added the two point conversion from straight in front of the uprights to make it 20-12.

Penalty goals then commanded the momentum of play as replacements flowed from the benches. Following persistent misunderstandings of breakdown legislature between Kiwi referee Chris Pollock and the Lions forwards, two penalties awarded to the Wallabies at the breakdown – to the manifest bafflement of all Lions players, coaching staff and sea of red supporters – saw O’Connor finally get his name on the score sheet, and Beale took over kicking duties to add the other three pints to make the atmosphere inside Suncorp palpably nervy at 18-20.

But the Lions dug deep and found some go-forward momentum themselves. Halfpenny’s unflustered right boot bisected the uprights from the right flank, in an identical position to the penalty he missed at the end of the first half, to give the visitors some five-point breathing space again at 18-23.

But the ever-dangerous Curtley Beale then made his mark on the game and ignited a lulled home crowd. The Melbourne Rebels fullback pulled off a delectable double side-step in midfield, which saw him glide through the Lions defence only to be hauled down desperately short of the Lions try line.

Mirroring the Wallabies lucky escape from the sin bin in the first-half, the Lions were lucky to avoid the same fate after climbing over the ruck to give away a penalty. Beale slotted the penalty himself to make it a nail-biting 21-23. Beale then missed another penalty attempt with panache, drawing the ball miles wide of the mark, as the Lions continued to get penalised inexplicably at the ruck and scrum.

Then, with one minute left on the clock, the stage was set for the divisive Beale. Another unfathomable penalty yielded from the Lions pack at the scrum saw Australia gifted a chance to win the game with a 46-meter penalty.

An all-encompassing silence blanketed all inside the Suncorp, as Beale held the test match in his right boot. But in a cruel twist of fate for the exciting fullback who changed the course of the match in the second-half, Beale slipped as he planted his standing foot to kick the penalty, and the ball withered in-flight and fell excruciatingly short of the uprights. 1-0 in the three test series to the Lions, but only just.