NSW Waratahs 24 Lions 41
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| Brian O'Driscoll on his way to opening the scoring for the Lions |
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23/06/01:The British and Irish Lions bounced back from their defeat by Australia A with a 41-24 win over the New South WalesWaratahs today in a match marred by violence.
The Lions ran in five tries to four in a dress rehearsal for next week's first test with the Wallabies after their midweek team had crashed to anunexpected loss to Australia's second-string team on Tuesday.
Former rugby league international Jason Robinson scored twice while Brian O'Driscoll, Jonny Wilkinson and Dafydd James also crossed for tries forthe Lions.
Stu Pinkerton, Francis Cullimore, Sam Harris and Manuel Edmonds scored tries for the Waratahs but the result was largely overshadowed by theviolence.
NSW fullback Duncan McRae was sent off for punching while another five players - Tom Bowman, Brendon Cannon and Cameron Blades from NSWand Lions pair Phil Vickery and Danny Grewcock - were all sin-binned for foul play.
Bowman was shown the yellow card after just four seconds when he struck Grewcock with a forearm from the kickoff but it wasn't until thesecond half that the match exploded.
McRae was ordered off midway through the second half by referee Scott Young after unleashing a barrage of punches on replacement centreRonan O'Gara, which split the Irishman's face open.
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| Ronan O'Gara is helped off the pitch by James Robson. |
Three minutes later, another two separate fights broke out. Young sin-binned Grewcock, Vickery, Blades and Cannon for brawling and warned bothcaptains he would send off the next player to throw a punch.
"I'm just annoyed about the whole game actually," said Lions' coach Graham Henry. "If they (the Lions) hadn't had the discipline it could have gotvery, very serious. It was a very black day for the game of rugby down here today."
Waratahs coach Bob Dwyer said: "I thought there was a fair amount of aggressive play out on the pitch. Today was a bit too wild, but thesin-binning of four players was a bit ridiculous."
The Lions were far too big and powerful for the NSW forwards and much too quick in the backs although the Waratahs did expose some majorweaknesses in their lineout and defence.
The Waratahs went into the match without any of their test stars and most of their Super 12 regulars but were able to find plenty of holes in theLions' defence and rattled them with their aggression.
They fought back from 24-5 behind at halftime to trail 24-17 when the match suddenly exploded but the Lions finished strongly to secure theirfourth win in five matches.
The match had been played at a frantic pace in front of a full house of 40,000 with both teams keen to run the ball at every opportunity.
It began in extraordinary fashion with two tries and the sending off of Bowman within the first seven minutes and didn't let up until the end.
Irish centre O'Driscoll scored the opening try in the third minute when he made the initial burst through the centre then quickly recycled the ball.
It went left, then right before English flanker Neil Back sped down the touchline and turned it back inside for O'Driscoll to sidestep his way pasttwo defenders and score under the posts.
Despite being a man down, NSW responded with a try of their own just four minutes later when Wilkinson threw a wild pass inside his own quarterand flanker Pinkerton scooped up the ball and strolled over for a soft try.
The Lions reasserted their control when centre Will Greenwood threw the final pass for Robinson to score in the 14th minute and Wilkinson kickeda straight-forward penalty to give his side a 17-5 lead after half an hour.
The tourists extended their lead to 24-5 just before the break when Robinson crossed for his second try, picking the ball up from the base of theruck and darting over.
The Lions, who had racked up 241 points in their first three games on tour, looked as though they would run away with the match but had notcounted on a NSW fightback.
The Waratahs pulled back to within seven points when right wing Cullimore scored in the right corner off a floating pass from Edmonds that lookedsuspiciously forward and Harris reached over to score in the same spot in the 51st minute.
But the Lions regained their composure after the fist fights, with Wilkinson, who finished the game on 19 points, outsprinting the defence to scorein the 65th minute and James crossing in the 74th minute.
Their two tries put the result beyond doubt but the Waratahs had the final say when Edmonds sidestepped his way over three minutes beforefull-time.
The Lions play NSW Country on Tuesday with the first of three tests against Australia's world champion Wallabies in Brisbane next Saturday.