British and Irish Lions: Maro Itoje performance should put Aussies on notice

BRISBANE, Australia — A try in the 45th minute was the icing on the cake for what was close to the perfect game for British and Irish Lions captain Maro Itoje as he produced a monster performance in his first match in Australia.

After he witnessed the Lions savaging of the Western Force in Perth from the sidelines, it was clear Itoje had a fire in his belly and determination to make a mark on the game as he led from the front to consistently challenge the Queensland Reds’ lineout and breakdown, while his ball carrying took his game to another level.

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Itoje’s fingerprints were all over the game with his impressive work rate seeing him sit just alongside teammate Jac Morgan on the tackle count with 18, while he swatted away several Reds’ lineouts and went to work at the breakdown, earning two turnovers.

A steal early in the first half eventually set up the Lions’ first try and certainly settled any nerves after the tourists found themselves behind after 10-minutes. An intercept in the second helped his side clear their own 22 and eventually led to Huw Jones’ incredible try in the 65th minute.

But it was his work rate with ball in hand that really saw the hulking lock standout. With 10 carries he made 31 metres with two line-breaks as he led from the front to take on the Reds’ defence and help unleash the tourists’ massive backline.

“It’s a bit of both, to be honest,” Itoje told his post-match news conference when asked if he was motivated by his teammates to perform. “I think the whole point of these tours is that you’re with great players and you see great players performing well and it gives you extra motivation to perform well.

“I guess despite my role as captain, I know that if I’m not playing well, then it doesn’t matter if I’m captain and I won’t be in the team. So I need to make sure that my performance is where it needs to be, and I want everyone to play well.

“All of my teammates, I want them to play well, and I guess our job as players is one to work together and that’s really important. And two to make all the coaches’ jobs as hard as possible when it comes to picking the team and yeah it’s definitely a bit of both of that.

“I’m just enjoying being part of the team. I’m enjoying getting to know all these guys that we spent so long battling against, I think the camaraderie of the group is great. Whoever plays there’s genuine support, you know, I’ve played in teams where there hasn’t quite been genuine support, and there’s been genuine support. So, I’m just really enjoying being part of the team.”

Morgan was another standout performer and has more than added his name to the mix for the opening Test in two weeks after his hugely impressive man-of-the-match performance. Making a massive 18 tackles, winning three turnovers as well as nine carries for 49 metres, his 56th-minute try capped off a near-perfect game for the 25-year-old.

Lions coach Andy Farrell lathered on the praise after he was asked of Morgan’s performance.

“I thought Jac Morgan was everywhere,” Farrell said.

“Well, the way that he plays tonight, he can play wherever he wants. His offloading game, and his point of difference is obviously how quick he is on the floor. He was aggressive in his hitting, and his carry was aggressive as well, so he’d be delighted with his performance.”

Meanwhile, the Reds simply had no answers for what the Lions were producing after they kept the match competitive early through the first half before the wheels started to fall off just before the break.

Their young halves pairing of Kalani Thomas and Harry McLaughlin-Philips often looked lost when taking on the Lions’ monstering defence, while some of Thomas’ decisions to run the ball were questionable.

Josh Cannam and Joe Briel were the standouts in the forward pack with Briel dominating almost every collision, before he set up Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen’s opening try, while his charge down on Jamison Gibson-Park eventually led to the side’s second try. His defence was just as impressive with 12 tackles and a turnover.

But it was Wallabies hopeful Hunter Paisami who made sure to grab Joe Schmidt’s attention ahead of the first Test in Brisbane in two weeks.

Out of favour behind Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and Len Ikitau, Paisami sent a reminder to Schmidt of just how destructive he can be after he shook off five defenders, took on the line several times with two line breaks, while he didn’t miss in defence either with a perfect 10 tackles through the night.

“We expected nothing less from Hunter,” Reds coach Les Kiss said of Paisami’s performance. “I was talking to Hunter and he was standing there with Bundee [Aki] and both of them were relishing the contest that they had. I thought was a very good contest and Hunter was quality, really.

“He got us on the front foot a number of times. If you make those decisions, you’ve got to be ready to take them and I thought that’s when we created that momentum and got the scores we needed to.

“He was important for us. And I thought right through the 80 minutes he kept putting it together, even the kicking game that he had as well, I think there is one kick that he put there that nearly found the money for us as well. He was pretty good tonight.”

Scoring an accumulative 106 points across two matches — including 52 on Wednesday night — the Lions have truly started to purr with Schmidt left to ponder just how his Wallabies can take such a massive beast.