Maro Itoje scores a try during the tour match between Queensland Reds and British and Irish Lions at Suncorp Stadium. Photo / Getty Images
Lions 52 Reds 12
The question was to the point, and Maro Itoje was ready for it, knowing that his performance in the victory over the Queensland Reds had already provided a compelling answer.
The British and Irish Lions captain had watched from the stands as Joe McCarthy, the Lions rookie, produced the kind of barnstorming display that had lit up Itoje’s first tour in 2017 against Western Force last Saturday.
At the time we wondered if it had ramped up the pressure on Itoje. He might be tour captain but there is a feeling that Lions head coach Andy Farrell offers guarantees to no player, not even Itoje. Every place is up for grabs, right until the 11th hour. It is the way it should be on a Lions tour.
For Farrell, the uncertainty is designed to engender a competitiveness that drives standards and wrings every drop out of his squad of 38 that may feature a new face by the end of the week if the unfortunate Elliot Daly is ruled out of the tour after suffering a suspected broken forearm.
Daly’s experience demonstrated just how precious the Lions experience is. The Saracens man had just returned to his irresistible pomp, relishing the competition and opportunity to step up for his second start this week after Hugo Keenan was ruled out with an illness. Now it is feared that he may not be able to add to his five Test caps for the Lions from the 2017 and 2021 tours.
It seems Itoje is taking nothing for granted either. Quite simply and magnificently, he led from the front, with his ferocious physicality, hard-hitting tackling and breakdown menace masking some disjointed moments in the first half from the tourists.
Itoje may have played more minutes in this extended season than most, but what stood out was his unrelenting energy. It rekindled memories of his second Test display against New Zealand in Wellington as a rookie on the 2017 tour.
He won nine line-outs, including stealing two of the Reds’ throws, scored one of the Lions’ eight tries, but most impressive of all was his rampaging contribution, disrupting the Reds at source and also stepping up in his carrying. His leadership manner may be reserved and considered in contrast to some of the chest-thumping Lions captains before him, but no one could have been in any doubt about who was leading the charge at the Suncorp Stadium in front of the Reds’ biggest crowd since the tourists were last here 12 years ago.
The question that hung in the air was whether his performance had come from his own determination, or as a reaction to McCarthy’s display. His answer will have been music to Farrell’s ears.
“It’s a bit of both, to be honest,” said Itoje. “I think the whole point of these tours is you’re with great players, and you see great players performing well, and it gives you extra motivation to perform well.
“I guess, despite my role as captain, I know that if I’m not playing well, then it doesn’t matter if I’m captain or not, I won’t be in the team, so I need to make sure that my performance is where it needs to be. I want everyone to play well, all of my team-mates, I want them to play well, and I guess our job as players is, one, to work together, and that’s really important, and two, to make all the coaches’ jobs as hard as possible when it comes to picking the team. It’s definitely a bit of both of that.”
Sitting beside him was Farrell, who despite a rather disjointed first half that included line-out losses, scrum penalties conceded, tackles missed and nine handling errors, relished seeing a number of players stand up and be counted when the pressure was on. As Les Kiss, the Reds’ head coach said afterwards, the Lions’ power came through eventually and inevitably.
Jamison Gibson-Park, Bundee Aki, Jack Conan and the official man-of-the-match Jac Morgan all stood out, while Tommy Freeman continued his scoring spree, with two more tries to underscore his finishing prowess.
“He played all right, didn’t he?” said Farrell, nodding towards Itoje. “Do you know what I thought was pretty pleasing? When you play your first game and you’re dying for another one to come around, especially when the second game is against the Force, people put their hands up and played pretty well.
“I was pretty impressed with most of those players who had a second chance in the second game today. That’s exactly what we want to see, a reaction. Maro was obviously one of them, I thought Jac Morgan was everywhere. Bundee was a lot better, Jack Conan looked strong. We can go on in that manner, but I suppose what I’m trying to say is exactly that’s what we want. The competition’s started and there’s reactions all over the place. Long may that continue.”
The Test side is starting to take shape, and under Farrell’s tenure, that is likely to form the bulk of next Wednesday’s side to face the ACT Brumbies in Canberra, with the door still firmly open for late bolters to force their way in against an invitational Australian and New Zealand side in Adelaide on the final Saturday before the opening game against the Wallabies in Brisbane in 17 days’ time.
With Hugo Keenan yet to start after pulling out of the Reds game with illness, and Blair Kinghorn having just arrived in Australia after his Top 14 commitments, the Lions still have a big question to answer at fullback, but Farrell is undeterred. “This is proper touring now,” he added.
Match details
Scoring sequence: 5-0 Toomaga-Allen try, 7-0 McLaughlin-Phillips con, 7-5 Freeman try, 7-7 Russell con, 12-7 Flook try, 12-12 Porter try, 12-14 Russell con, 12-19 Van der Merwe try, 12-21 Russell con, 12-26 Itoje try, 12-28 Russell con, 12-33 Morgan try, 12-35 Smith con, 12-40 Freeman try, 12-42 Smith con, 12-47 Jones try, 12-52 Ringrose try.