Eales admits, Australia feeling the heat

MELBOURNE - Australian captain John Eales admits the pressure of needing to beat the Lions tonight in the second test is starting to get to the Wallabies.

Australia must win to level the series after the Lions triumphed 29-13 in last week's opening match in Brisbane.

Eales said yesterday that beating the Lions was the biggest challenge the Wallabies had faced.

"There's a lot more pressure on, there's no doubt about it," said Eales, who will captain Australia for the 50th time in a test.

The Australian players had been stung by the criticism they received after last Saturday and had accepted that they were to blame for the defeat.

But he rejected a suggestion by former Wallaby skipper Michael Lynagh that his, Eales, own form had been affected by thoughts of retirement.

"That's not right at all," Eales said. "I haven't thought about it at all because as [former Australian test cricketer] Ian Healy told me, as soon as you started thinking about retirement, then you basically should retire.

"So I've taken that on board and I'm not going to think about it until the end of the domestic season."

Australian coach Rod Macqueen said the Wallabies were guilty of over-complicating things in the first test and needed to concentrate on getting the basics right in the second.

"The side that wins these big games is the side that does the simple things well, and the Lions do them extremely well," Macqueen said.

"They've got a very good scrum, they've got a very good lineout, and they've got a very well-rounded side.

"Their individuals obviously excelled last week and we saw uncharacteristic one-on-one missed tackles from our side, and you just can't expect to win big games like that.

"So we've been looking at our own game and trying to improve on the basic things, and we're going into the game trying to prove we can play a simple game-plan well."

Macqueen also admitted that the Wallabies had made a tactical blunder against the Lions by trying to play the ball wide so often, and were guilty of being over-confident.

"Obviously, there might have been some complacency in the side," he said.

"It's very difficult to say whether it was passion or complacency or whatever, but we certainly didn't perform to the standards we had set ourselves in the past."

The only positive point from last week's defeat had been the way his team played in the last 25 minutes, when they fought back from 3-29 behind to score two late tries.

The Lions had played six lead-up matches, but Australia went into the opening test with just one warm-up game, against the New Zealand Maori, and Macqueen said they would be better now for the experience.

"As a side we really only started to function in the second half and hopefully that run is going to make us a much better side this week."

The Lions have never lost a series to Australia, with the Brisbane win extending their record to 15-3 in head-to-heads.

Macqueen said he suspected that the Lions were trying to conceal some injury problems and he would not be surprised if the stated team was not the combination which ran out tonight.

The Lions coach, Graham Henry, said the Australians showed glimpses of sparkle in the last quarter of the first test, when Andrew Walker and Nathan Grey crossed for tries.

"The wounded world champion side are going to play up to their best, there's no doubt about it," Henry said.

"If we play like that [the last 20 minutes] in the second test we'll get smashed."

Australia: Matthew Burke, Andrew Walker, Daniel Herbert, Joe Roff, Nathan Grey, Stephen Larkham, George Gregan, Toutai Kefu, George Smith, John Eales (capt), David Giffin, Owen Finegan, Rod Moore Michael Foley, Nick Stiles.

Reserves: Brendan Cannon, Ben Darwin, Matt Cockbain, David Lyons, Chris Whitaker, Elton Flatley, Chris Latham.

Lions: Matt Perry, Dafydd James, Brian O'Driscoll, Jason Robinson, Rob Henderson, Jonny Wilkinson, Rob Howley, Scott Quinnell, Neil Back, Danny Grewcock, Martin Johnson (capt), Richard Hill, Phil Vickery, Keith Wood, Tom Smith.

Reserves: Jason Leonard, Dorian West, Martin Corry, Martyn Williams, Matt Dawson, Austin Healey, Iain Balshaw.

- AGENCIES