Farrell sticks to his guns for future gains

THE Lions may have lost to Argentina, but as an indicator of what is to come Down Under it does not count for much.

- PAUL REES

The last time they went down in the opening game of a tour, which Friday night was even if the venue were Dublin rather than an Australian city, was in 1971 and that trip did not go too badly.

The Lions then stopped off in Australia for a couple of matches before going on to New Zealand and they had barely got off the plane when they found themselves taking on a pumped up Queensland at Ballymore who won 15-11, prompting their coach Des Connor to predict the tourists would prove to be the worst team ever sent to New Zealand.

Given what had happened to the Lions there in 1966, that was saying something but Connor was no latter-day Nostradamus. It shows the danger of rushing into snap judgements: when the Lions started their first full tour of Australia in 1989, they laboured in their opening match against Western Australia, then a rugby outback, prompting dire predictions. They won the series.

The Lions were on Friday night without their Leinster contingent, the core of the squad, as well as Finn Russell, while the injury to Huw Jones ment they had no specialist 13, something that was to tell in attack, especially when play broke up and large gaps appeared between players.

Argentina won the early battle in the air, looking to exploit the presence of Marcus Smith at full-back, although the rather larger Duhan van der Merwe was the more fallible and even Tommy Freeman was outmanoeuvred occasionally, but what will have interested Australia the most was the threat the Pumas posed in transition.