Why Lions Still Shine: Optimistic Takes After the Defeat

A 28-24
loss against Argentina
means the British and Irish Lions will head to Australia on a note of frustration. For anyone keen for a good omen, the last time they lost their opening game was in 1971, and that did not turn out badly.

Andy Farrell refused to offer caveats for what he called a “disconnected” display. Indeed, he positively squirmed at any hint of mitigation for a disappointing result.

That said, a strange evening presented plenty of encouraging aspects for the class of 2025. And, frankly, Farrell cannot disregard them because his team have a foundation on which to build in Australia.

Strength of opposition

Put simply, unless the Invitational Australia and New Zealand side are loaded with All Blacks, the Lions are unlikely to face opposition as strong as they did on Friday evening until July 19 when the Test series begins in Brisbane.

It always seemed punchy that Argentina were 17-point underdogs with some bookies, and so it proved. Despite fielding a few relative rookies who will have been unfamiliar to viewers outside of South America, they were always going to pose attacking threats.

Their cohesion and clinical edge, and strength of their progress under Felipe Contepomi, were crystallised in three fine tries. The first was created when Santiago Carreras ghosted onto a pass from Tomás Albornoz. Juan Martín González sparked the second, which was finished by Albornoz, by pouncing on a loose ball.

Then, for the third, Argentina thrived in open space once more. Albornoz was the architect, stepping past Tom Curry and brushing off Henry Pollock before offloading to Joaquin Oviedo. Justo Piccardo took it on and two replacements, Matias Moroni and Santiago Cordero, capped the 70-metre move, as Moroni grubbered ahead for Cordero. “We took our chances,” head coach Contepomi said. This was the difference.

Shades of shape…

Intricate and varied phase play is Farrell’s calling card and, while the end product went missing too often, the
Lions
did seem to have made impressive progress in that facet. How often do we hear coaches insist that attack is the last piece of the puzzle to come together? There were no such pleas here.

On the back of an
Argentina
drop-out in the eighth minute, the Lions retained possession and probed on both flanks, with Fin Smith ghosting behind a four-man pod before Tommy Freeman arced all the way from the right wing onto the left a phase later.

Smith’s attempted kick-pass towards Jac Morgan, one of the many forwards who migrated to the touchline, was then plucked by Ignacio Mendy. Patience and greater accuracy can enhance such foundations.

…and a line-out that is bound to improve

Maro Itoje admitted that the Lions were short of line-out rhythm after both Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ronan Kelleher missed their men over the 80 minutes. Just as the presence of Ollie Chessum immediately polished England’s line-out during the Six Nations this season, so he will improve the Lions’ scruffy set-piece efforts upon being introduced in Australia.

The second-row shake-up is fascinating, with Joe McCarthy and James Ryan also returning and Scott Cummings bound to strive for more game time. Jack Conan rather than Ben Earl at No 8 would provide another outlet and Chessum can always slip to blindside flanker to tighten everything up.

Intent from the off

An alternative perspective on the frustration voiced by Farrell and his players regarding the slew of errant offloads is that the Lions evidently felt free enough to attempt them. While that might seem like an attempt to clutch at straws, Farrell’s men will have to throw ambitious passes to seize try-scoring chances Down Under. A head coach such as Farrell would probably prefer to refine ambition rather than coax a conservative side out of their shell.

Busy wings

Freeman was particularly proactive as far as hunting touches. Mack Hansen arrived from the bench to replace Duhan van der Merwe and looked for work as well. Farrell believes in a “messy” attacking system where wings are given licence to circle into midfield and this was a seriously promising start.

Scrum a resounding success

Argentina have not been particularly imposing in the scrum for some time, but Ellis Genge and Finlay Bealham still took them to the cleaners. Both props laid down statement performances, which is a significant bonus with Andrew Porter and Will Stuart yet to be used. One area that
Farrell
did endorse was the “aggressive” scrummaging, which can be a destructive point of difference against the Wallabies.

Two 12s – now for a 13

Bundee Aki candidly conceded that he did not feel able to bring Sione Tuipulotu into the game as much as he would have liked. To reinforce the same point, Tuipulotu seemed to grow more prominent in attack after Elliot Daly replaced Aki on the hour mark. As far as balancing back lines, the pair of specialist outside centres in Garry Ringrose and Huw Jones will be important figures on this tour. The plus point is that, in Aki and Tuipulotu, the Lions have two combative, skilful focal points to deploy in the 12 jersey.

Here come the cavalry

From Finn Russell to Chessum via Conan and the Leinster cohort, Farrell will be close to a full complement from here on in. They are waiting only on Blair Kinghorn, capable of starring either at full-back or on the wing once his Toulouse commitments are done.

Costly lessons

Reviewing a tight and painful loss – one that was underpinned by a number of straightforward fixes – is a sure-fire way to move forward. As early as the second minute, after Argentina won back a high ball, the Lions clustered around a ruck catastrophically. The Pumas could play to space all too easily, and eventually eked out three points.

Argentina’s first try was another elementary spacing issue. It was inexcusable that the Lions were outflanked on the second phase after a line-out, which came from an inability to fold around the breakdown quickly enough.

Contact skills were lacking for the next three points, with Pablo Matera pouncing, and the Albornoz try – a real sucker-punch – was spawned directly from a Van der Merwe fumble inside the Pumas 22. Tadhg Beirne’s neck-roll was another costly lapse and Rodrigo Isgró was far too quick for Pollock’s supporting colleagues at the death, darting in for a clean pilfer.

The margins are fine and there is enough quality in this Lions squad to address these shortcomings rapidly.

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