Lions badly need tough match

By CHRIS HEWETT

TOWNSVILLE - Two matches into the tour and the statistics are already slumping.

By narrowly missing a second successive three-figure victory over non-Super 12 opposition, the British Lions allowed their points average to slip to 99.5 a match, and their try count to a modest 15 an outing - or, if you like, one every five minutes.

Graham Henry, Martin Johnson and company will barely be able to sleep at night.

It's difficult to take this second full Lions' tour of Australia seriously at the moment, thanks to the iniquities of a fixture list that gave the visitors an initial helping of cannon fodder, followed by opponents who curled up and died the moment the deficit exceeded 10 points.

If the elite Queensland state players do not stack up in Brisbane on Saturday, some penetrating questions will be asked of Australian rugby's ability to sustain an oval-ball invasion on this scale.

The tourists played some wonderful rugby - fast, direct, ruthless - during the second half of the contest at Townsville's small but perfectly formed Dairy Farmer's Stadium.

Jason Robinson, the rugby league renegade whose claims of unfamiliarity with the finer points of the union code are becoming less convincing by the day, scored five tries, four of them in the final quarter, to finish his Lions debut a whisker behind two 24-carat British wings of yesteryear, David Duckham, of England, and J. J. Williams, of Wales, each of whom managed six in one match heyday.

Another three went to Rob Henderson, the barrel-chested Irish centre, in the 83-6 victory.

"Not so bad for a night's work," he beamed afterwards.

But it was deeply disconcerting to see a professional outfit from these parts, albeit a young one, turn up their toes after spending the first 40 minutes giving their illustrious opponents an old-fashioned hurry-up.

At the break, the Lions were only four points ahead at 10-6. Their lineout was calamitous, their midfield distribution imprecise and their game-shaping laughably inept.

Tom Smith, a first-choice test loosehead in South Africa four years ago, struggled to hold ousted Wallaby Fletcher Dyson in the early set-pieces, and was obviously ill at ease.

Yet a halftime rollicking from Henry and a close-range score from the impressive Colin Charvis within a minute of the restart left the Invitation team struggling to refind their bearings.

And when Shane Drahm missed a penalty that would at least have kept them in touch, they blew a collective gasket in the technical and tactical departments.

Henry said the win was far better than the record 116-10 victory over Western Australia.

"We were very rusty in the first half, we lacked field position, we threw 50-50 passes, but we got it together in the second half."

Henry said the team would face a tougher test this weekend when they take on the Queensland Reds, who could include up to 12 internationals, including Wallaby captain John Eales.

Key players Martin Johnson and Jonny Wilkinson will make their first tour appearances against the Reds. Captain Johnson and first five-eighth Wilkinson will figure in a strong Lions team.

Injured English loose forward Lawrence Dallaglio has been left out for a third successive match.

The selectors made 12 changes to Tuesday's starting line-up, continuing to expose the squad before the three-test series against Australia begins on June 30.

Saturday's team: Iain Balshaw, Dafydd James, Brian O'Driscoll, Rob Henderson, Dan Luger, Jonny Wilkinson, Rob Howley, Scott Quinnell, Neil Back, Richard Hill, Danny Grewcock, Martin Johnson (capt), Phil Vickery, Keith Wood, Tom Smith. Reserves: Jason Leonard, Gordon Bulloch, Martin Corry, Colin Charvis, Matt Dawson, Austin Healey, Jason Robinson.

- INDEPENDENT