After their most testing tour match, the Lions will be looking to lay down a marker when they take on the Brumbies in their second to last warm-up game before the Tests start.
Brumbies v British and Irish Lions | Wednesday 9 July | GIO Stadium
To Win (80 Mins)
Brumbies | Draw | Lions
Handicap
Brumbies | Lions
Shots were fired after the Lions narrowish 10-21 victory over the Tahs this past Saturday with Lions coach Andy Farrell suggesting the pitch had been waterlogged to make handling conditions harder.
Whether it was a spot of doctoring from the Allianz ground staff or the cyclone that hit New South Wales earlier in the week, it worked a treat with the Waratahs remaining competitive throughout the fixture.
The Lions struggled for rhythm in a stop-start game that featured a number of handling errors. Scottish centre Huw Jones did his push for Test selection no harm as the former Western Province man bagged a double while impressing outside of international teammate Sione Tuipulotu.
Andy Farrell will also be pleased with English scrum half Alex Mitchell’s performance as the Northampton Saints man controlled the tempo well and scored what would prove to be the difference maker early on in the second half.
While the Lions are well into their tour, the Brumbies have not kicked a ball in anger since their 37-17 Super Rugby semi-final defeat to the Chiefs on the 14th of June. They may well have a bit of ringrust to them having not played in almost a month.
The Brumbies will field a rather understrength side with James Slipper and Allan Alaalatoa, Noah Lolesio, Len Ikitau and Tom Wright all set to miss out having started in Australia’s narrow win over Fiji on Sunday. Wallaby lock Tom Hooper is likely to feature though as he only played off the bench at the weekend.
For the Lions, the rumour doing the rounds are that this is likely to be a close to the Test team as it gets at the moment.
Verdict: Brumbies (+)
The Brumbies actually have a tidy record against the Lions having won the 2013 fixture between the two sides and lost to a last minute try back in 2001. I’m backing them to keep things tight again here.
