The message from the British & Irish Lions since they put this Test series beyond Australia in such dramatic fashion has been about the intent to finish the job and make it a 3-0 sweep.
On Thursday, as he unveiled a team showing just two changes from the one that delivered that 29-26 epic win in Melbourne five days previously for this third and final Test against the Wallabies, head coach Andy Farrell added another layer to that objective – he wants his Lions to win in style.
The tourists’ progress through this great country had not produced the rollercoaster ride of emotions that last Saturday’s Test brought in front of 90,307 supporters at the MCG, but there have been flashes of brilliance in the manner the Lions knocked over their four Super Rugby and two invitational opponents.
Farrell’s men were superb for 50 minutes of the opening Test in Brisbane, opening up a 24-5 lead before allowing the home side to rally to 27-19. In Melbourne, it was a strong fightback from 23-5 after 30 minutes that produced four of their five tries on the night while restricting Joe Schmidt’s side to just three points in the final 50. The Lions boss does not expect the perfect performance at Accor Stadium this Saturday but in adding the snarl of James Ryan to the second row and the unpredictability of Blair Kinghorn to the left wing he has selected a side he wants to bring out the best in themselves and show just what these 2025 tourists are made of.
“Hopefully it will be remembered for the type of rugby that we played and the way that we went about it together,” Farrell said.
“We came here and wanted to win a series. We’ve achieved that but we have a massive responsibility to make sure that we finish this off with something that we promised ourselves with. It’s a big ask but it’s something that we’re determined to do.
“You can say what you want about the game (last Saturday) and how exciting it was, and finishing in the last minute but it was five tries to three. We have shown our ability throughout this tour to be able to get over the line and am I right in saying that over a three-game series, eight tries after two games is pretty good.
“We are happy with that, it shows the type of mindset and our ability to stay calm and go through two sets of 14 phases to be able to get the job done is where you want to be.”
While he has taken pride in the way the Lions have gone about their business on the pitch he has seen enough from his players since preparations for this final Test began in earnest on Tuesday to give him confidence there will be no switch-off from his players and this tour will not peter out with that most disappointing of conclusions, the dreaded dead rubber.
“Win or lose we were going to have a couple of days off because at this stage if we don’t deserve that we are in the wrong place anyway. The few days off when the lads were able to spend time with each other and families has just rejuvenated them a little bit for that one last push and that one last push was something we promised we were going to row in and do eight weeks ago.”
Ryan, who will be captain Maro Itoje’s third successive second-row partner as he follows the now-injured Joe McCarthy, and the benched Ollie Chessum into the number five jersey, has impressed Farrell with the way he has grown into his first Lions tour, with his impactful appearance off the bench at the MCG last Saturday part of a strong contingent of walk-ons who helped swing the game away from the Wallabies.
“He’s seen his niche in his game, and not trying to be somebody else,” Farrell said of the Leinster and Ireland lock. “He does all the unseen work, all the graft stuff and has done it with a bit of venom in his game.
“He’s not tried to be a ball–playing forward like some of the second rows have been, but he hits hard defensively, and hit rucks really well, so we all need a bit of that.”
Schmidt has made four changes to his side in Australia’s attempt to restore some further pride in the union code in their homeland, with wing Harry Potter, tighthead prop Alan Alaalatoa and flanker Rob Valetini ruled out through injury, replaced, respectively by Dylan Pietsch, Taniela Tupou and Tom Hooper, while scrum-half Jake Gordon makes way for veteran number nine Nic White in his 73rd and final game as a Test Wallaby.
Their rebound from an opening defeat to coming within a minute of levelling the series has helped make this game an 82,000 sell-out and brings the total attendance for the three Tests to 224,000. Farrell was quick to shut down any talk of Australia being removed from the Lions’ rotation alongside New Zealand and South Africa.
“I don’t think it was ever off the agenda in my opinion,” the head coach said.
“Every single team, country, province, has their ups and downs but Australia – the sporting nation that they are – are always going to come back.
“That on the weekend is no surprise to us, and why we expect them to be better. Have a look at the year they’ve got coming up. They’re going to be a force to be reckoned with, 100%, with all their experiences, come the World Cup in 2027.
“It would be tragic not to tour here. We’ve had a blast. To me it’s insulting to talk about it in that kind of way.”
T Wright; M Jorgensen, J-A Suaalii, L Ikitau, D Pietsch; T Lynagh, N White; J Slipper, D Porecki, T Tupou; N Frost, W Skelton; T Hooper, F McReight, H Wilson – captain.
B Pollard, A Bell, Z Nonggorr, J Williams, L Gleeson, T McDermott, B Donaldson, A Kellaway
H Keenan (Leinster/Ireland); T Freeman (Northampton Saints/England), H Jones (Glasgow Warriors/Scotland), B Aki (Connacht/Ireland), B Kinghorn (Toulouse/Scotland); F Russell (Bath/Scotland), J Gibson-Park (Leinster/Ireland), A Porter (Leinster/Ireland), D Sheehan (Leinster/Ireland), T Furlong (Leinster/Ireland); M Itoje (Saracens/England) – captain. J Ryan (Leinster/Ireland); T Beirne (Munster/Ireland), T Curry (Sale Sharks/England), J Conan (Leinster/Ireland).
R Kelleher (Leinster/Ireland), E Genge (Bristol Bears/England), W Stuart (Bath/England), O Chessum (Leicester Tigers/England), J Morgan (Ospreys/Wales), B Earl (Saracens/England), A Mitchell (Northampton Saints/England), O Farrell (Saracens/England).
