Jones Seizes Chance & Farrell's Return - How Are Lions Shaping Up For First Test?

And so, aft six games and 5 wins, aft 235 points scored and 81 points conceded, aft 35 tries for and 12 against, we've arrived astatine nan alleged business extremity of nan tour.

The Lions are heading backmost to Brisbane connected Sunday for nan first Test against nan Wallabies nan pursuing Saturday. The preamble is now complete, mercifully. The phony warfare is officially over. Hallelujah. It's been beautiful dull.

Saturday's lucifer against an AUNZ Invitational XV was a small different. Things happened. Garry Ringrose's wounded became known and nan imaginable spin-off consequences are intriguing.

Luke Cowan-Dickie suffered a sickening rustle to nan caput and had to beryllium carried off. Jamie George has been called up. Owen Farrell entered nan fray. And the Lions routed their opponents 48-0, pinch immoderate Test contenders delivering a connection to their coaches.

The news of Ringrose's caput sound and nan truth that he will miss nan first Test came mid-match successful Adelaide. Huw Jones, nan different extracurricular centre successful nan squad, was conveniently tearing it up astatine nan time.

"Garry unluckily had a delayed reaction," caput coach Andy Farrell confirmed aft nan rout of nan AUNZ Invitational side. "He had headaches for a time and it carried connected nan adjacent day. So he went done concussion protocols and grounded those, unfortunately."

A time that started pinch Ringrose and Bundee Aki looking very overmuch for illustration nan Test lucifer midfield (with nan Scottish counterparts Jones and Sione Tuipulotu not making nan squad) looks to person wholly turned connected its head.

Jones, gaining shape aft recovering from wounded and outstanding successful Adelaide, will commencement astatine 13 against nan Wallabies. Farrell talks a batch astir cohesion, truthful it would make consciousness for Tuipulotu to subordinate him. It was ever going to beryllium nan 2 Irish centres aliases nan 2 Scottish centres, contempt each nan mixing and matching successful earlier games.

If it's Jones and Tuipulotu, past what happens to Aki, a spot of a unit of quality successful nan reddish jersey? The bench? Well, not really. You fancy that Owen Farrell will screen 12, arsenic good arsenic 10, truthful possibly Aki misses retired altogether. Ringrose misses nan crippled and there's a butterfly effect.

"I really don't cognize a batch astir it," Jones said aft nan crippled of nan news astir Ringrose. "No-one told me, which I deliberation was astir apt a bully point because past it didn't messiness pinch my head.

"He played really good connected Wednesday [against nan Brumbies]. He's great, 1 of nan champion guys I've met. We shared a room successful Perth and I really sewage connected pinch him. We've been moving together loads, nan 4 of us, Sione and Bundee arsenic well, to effort and get each of our connections, truthful I'm gutted for him.

"But if that intends that I get an opportunity adjacent week past I'll beryllium very happy pinch that and past effort and drawback it pinch some hands."

A Scottish 10-12-13 looks likely. And it's a Scottish 10-12-13 pinch caller memories of putting nan Wallabies to slumber - Finn Russell and Tuipulotu each scored a effort successful their November triumph past year.

When Andy Farrell was asked successful nan post-match property convention astir his back-row and whether nan personality of nan feline who's going to deterioration nan number 7 jersey has go clearer, he took retired his consecutive bat and knocked nan mobility retired of nan park, Don Bradman style.

"We've sewage awesome options there, truthful we're delighted pinch that."

Anyway... Jac Morgan was very awesome again connected Saturday. The crippled turned into a hammering, but erstwhile it was still a contest, Morgan was aggravated and influential.

Ian Foster was successful complaint of nan AUNZ team, and arsenic a erstwhile All Blacks coach he's not a bad sounding committee connected this full Lions back-row. Asked which of nan Lions impressed him nan most, he was beautiful direct.

"You can't thief but beryllium impressed pinch Morgan astatine nan moment," he said. "He's going bully arsenic a loosie [loose forward]. There'll beryllium a batch of information astir that loose guardant trio, but they're mobile, they're skilful and he [Morgan] is simply a reliable player.

"Look, he conscionable useful hard. You could spot that we were a spot short successful immoderate of our connections astatine nan breakdown connected early phases a mates of times and he made a spot of a repast of that. He's bully successful that space, but he had awesome support too."

The beingness power of Tom Curry, nan athleticism and hard-running of Josh van der Flier, aliases nan groundhog successful Morgan? It's 1 of nan fewer remaining spots up for grabs.

The pantomime baddie came connected for nan past 30 minutes, which is 30 minutes much than he's had since early May. There was a small booing.

You'd ideate that, for Farrell, nan only point much disconcerting than fans booing him is fans not booing him. It's expected these days - arsenic overmuch a portion of his rugby beingness arsenic thing else.

"He did OK, he did OK, arsenic did galore others," said his father, later. No threat of going complete nan apical there. "There were immoderate awesome individual performances, wasn't there? But I suppose those individual performances gelled together arsenic a collective."

It felt for illustration Farrell Sr couldn't hold to get distant from talking astir his son, but it was a good cameo - a bully nexus pinch nan fantabulous Ben White successful nan build-up to Scott Cummings' effort and a clever spot done to Henry Pollock later on, among different things.

The caveat is that, by nan clip he arrived, nan crippled was done and nan AUNZ broadside were a busted flush.

Farrell will almost surely beryllium connected nan chair successful Brisbane. It'll beryllium his first engagement successful a Test lucifer since autumn 2023.

The Leinster and Ireland full-back was nether important unit going into Saturday. Still not wholly free of illness, and pinch nan representation of his mediocre capacity against nan Waratahs still caller successful nan mind, Keenan couldn't spend to fail.

With Blair Kinghorn retired of nan first Test, he was nan only out-and-out full-back near standing. And his coaches needed him to travel good. He did. Right from nan off, he looked himself again. He was afloat power and intent.

"I thought he was excellent," said Farrell. "There were immoderate great, tough, gritty performances."

You had to respect Keenan, not conscionable for his footballing expertise but for nan intelligence spot to parkland nan unwellness and nan mediocre nighttime against nan Waratahs and spell again. At this level, it's not each astir talent, it's astir resilience, and Keenan showed it connected Saturday.

The Lions caput for Brisbane astatine astir midday connected Sunday, astir 03:00 BST successful nan UK. "We've sewage a normal week coming up," said Farrell, aft battling done truthful galore abnormal ones featuring games and flights and training crushed walk-throughs astatine a devastatingly accelerated pace.

"When we get to Brisbane, we'll person a coaches' gathering for illustration we ever do and talk really nan week is going to unfold," he said.

"We train Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We'll get to a capacity time connected Wednesday and everyone will cognize wherever they're at.

"I conscionable said to nan players that action is going to beryllium unbelievably difficult. That's really it should be. I cognize that we've sewage a group that's arsenic cohesive arsenic it gets and they're each rowing together nary matter what because, for illustration I said during nan week, it takes a squad to triumph a series.

"The lads who get picked successful nan first Test, they'll beryllium nan fortunate ones to correspond nan group, but they've besides sewage to gain nan correct to support that jersey for nan 2nd Test arsenic well."

So who are nan fortunate ones? Another punt astatine picking Farrell's brains…

Keenan, Freeman (Hansen), Jones, Tuipulotu (Farrell), Lowe, Russell, Gibson-Park (Mitchell); Genge (Porter), Sheehan (Kelleher), Furlong (Bealham), Itoje, McCarthy (Beirne), Chessum, Morgan, Conan (Pollock)

Bench players successful brackets.