The Australian Kangaroos may have come away with a 22-18 win over a spirited Great Britain side, but they hardly looked like the world champions as they struggled to put away a twelve man Great Britain and Irish Lions side. After captain and NRL hardman Adrian Morley was sent off for a high tackle on Robbie Kearns after only twelve seconds- many were predicting a one sided whitewash of the Poms. Not only had they lost their most experienced player against the Kangaroos, but they were expected to take on a side desperate to prove themselves with a man missing in their line.

Australia predictably opened the scoring when Phil Bailey completed a simple passing movement to go in out wide, and with Fitzgibbon off the field with a concussion, the kicking duties (for some reason) fell to untried goal-kicker, Craig Gower. He failed to deliver, producing an Ikin like goal-kick to miss horribly and leave the Aussie lead at 4-0.

GB's try was similar to Australia's, this time it was Brian Carney going in off a long Sean Long pass. Despite the presence of Andy Farrell in the side, the kicking duties fell to the St Helens' halfback, who missed the conversion. The Lions were the better side in the early exchanges, Keith Senior exploiting the defensive inadequicies of Cronulla's Phil Bailey at will- whilst the likes of Stuart Fielden and Andy Farrell stood up to the Australian forward pack. The trend for our second rowers going missing continued, whilst Willie Mason was (sadly) Australia's finest forward when he hit the field. He simply menaced the Lions better than any other forward.

Australia scored shortly before halftime, this time Lockyer stepping up and putting in a calm grubber. Trent Waterhouse did an outstanding job to run onto the ball and score a try in his Test debut, but Gower was again unable to convert- even though this one was a little easier than his first.

After halftime, the Great Britian and Irish Lions were still fired up- and Keith Senior's combination with Paul Sculthorpe continually found the defence of Australia's backs wanting. Whether it was Bailey getting turned inside out or Hegarty failing to come up- the Australian backs (with the exception of Minichiello and Lockyer) were grossly outclassed. Senior scored a crucial try not long after the break, showing plenty of power and pace to cross from fifteen out. Long was finally able to land one, and the score went to 10-8, before a Sean Long penalty made it 12-8. Michael Crocker was sent off during this period, and deservedly so, after he took offence at a Brian Carney tackle and threw a few punches. He was lucky not to get sent off again towards the end of the match for a similar offence on Stuart Fielden.

Brett Kimmorley silenced a few of his critics to put Australia back in front. With most of his side failing to show up, Kimmorley seized the game and put passenger half, Craig Gower in near the posts with a brilliant bullet pass. Fitzgibbon had returned, and thankfully for Australia, was able to convert to make it 14-12.

Gower's woeful experiment with the five eighth position was compounded when he dropped the kick-off to give Great Britian the sniff they needed. From the resulting scrum, Brian Carney crossed for his second despite the attentions of Lockyer and a flying Willie Mason. Paul Deacon, who I thought deserved a run at halfback ahead of Long, converted the tough sideline try to put the Lions up 18-14.

With five to go, however, the class of captain Darren Lockyer rose to the top. The mercurial fullback put Craig Wing into some space with a good pass, and then backed up to score the possible match-winner underneath the posts.

Great Britain and Ireland, to their credit, tried to the very last. Two short kick offs were attempted, with one finding Hegarty and the other finding Carney on the last play of the game. A penalty, for Andy Farrell kicking a drop-out on the full, rubbed some salt into Great Britain's wounds to make it 22-18 at fulltime.

Australia had little reason to celebrate. Their so called 'class' had managed to lift them to a 22-18 win over a Great Britain side who played the entire game a man down (except for the period in which Crocker had a stint in the bin), and who were probably the better side. The Lions butchered tries that would have sealed the game. Radlinski somehow dropped a brilliant Senior offload after the big centre had made a break, whilst Terry Newton's punch on Shannon Hegarty was the instigator for the Kangaroos' last try.

With Morley likely to miss the next two tests, Paul Wood will most likely get a look in for the squad. David Waite's side out-performed the expectations, with the likes of Farrell, Horne, and Sculthorpe justifying their selections for at least another week.

KANGAROOS
Lockyer- 9.5 (Easily Australia's best)
Minichiello- 8.0 (Was faultless)
Bailey- 5.0 (Awful game, and shouldn't be there next week)
Wing- 7.5 (Was surprisingly good in the backs)
Hegarty- 6.0 (He played!?)
Gower- 5.5 (Was carried by Kimmorley, and really shouldn't be in five eighth)
Kimmorley- 8.0 (Stood up and showed he can play halfback at the top level)
Kearns- 7.0 (Was solid)
Buderus- 7.0 (Wasn't his finest game)
Webcke- 7.5 (Again asserted why he's a world class prop)
Fitzgibbon- 7.0 (His goal-kicking was vital)
Simpson- 6.5 (Barely noticed him)
Ricketson- 6.5 (Ditto)

Mason- 8.0 (Australia's best forward, was intense)
Waterhouse- 7.5 (Had a solid debut test)
Civoniceva- 6.5 (Was quiet)
Crocker- 7.0 (Made some damaging runs, but needs to learn some control)

LIONS
Radlinski- 6.5 (Easily Great Britain's worst, just couldn't stay focussed)
Carney- 8.5 (Excellent finishing, he must have Panthers' fans salivating)
Senior- 9.5 (Dominated and was allowed to by a woeful backline)
Connolly- 8.0 (Solid defensive game)
Horne- 7.5 (Had a fine game on the wing, made some incisive runs)
Sculthorpe- 8.0 (Went quiet after halftime)
Long- 7.0 (Made some stupid errors)
Morley- N/A (His hit was good though)
Newton- 7.5 (Had a brain explosion late in the game, but played well)
Fielden- 7.5 (Wasn't at the level I'd expected, but still stood up)
Farrell- 9.0 (Played his finest game at this level)
Peacock- 7.5 (Failed to live up to the wraps I had on him)
Forshaw- 7.0 (Didn't really see much of him)

Anderson- 7.0 (Pretty quiet)
McDermott- 6.5 (He played!?)
Deacon- 7.5 (Immediately lifted the Lions when he hit the field)
Gilmour- 7.5 (Had a solid period on the field)

CHANGES
Australia must remedy their backline worries. My suggestion would be to dump Bailey and Hegarty entirely. Lewis and DeVere should be there. Likewise, Gower isn't a five eighth, and hasn't been able to do the job for two matches now. But with no clear replacement, Anderson has all kinds of nightmares. My suggested Australian side would be:
1: Darren Lockyer ©
2: Anthony Minichiello
3: Matt Sing/Shannon Hegarty
4: Michael DeVere
5: Luke Lewis
6: Craig Wing
7: Brett Kimmorley
8: Robbie Kearns
9: Danny Buderus
10: Shane Webcke
11: Craig Fitzgibbon
12: Steve Simpson
13: Luke Ricketson

14: Willie Mason
15: Trent Waterhouse
16: Michael Crocker
17: Petero Civoniceva

Great Britain basically need to adequately replace Morley (since he'll doubtlessly be suspended) and get Anderson and McDermott off the bench. The Lions won't beat Australia solely on defence, and they showed plenty of flare and organisation. Some youth and talent would be better on the bench then two aging hardmen.

Great Britain and Ireland are in a perfect position to take a series out, and showed this morning that they had every intention of trying. Regardless of what side Australia fields in the next game, the Lions should be able to counter it effectively. No five eighth and a defensive nightmare in the backline have Australia wounded, and the Lions need to go for the throat and fully exploit the poorly picked Australian squad.

I can't wait for the second test.

nice summary chris ill have to agree with you on all of that. i was so impressed with kimmorley, ive been bagging him all this time but he was awesome. onya lockyer, he played well. hegarty was shit and has to be dropped. same as bailey. lewis and sing to come into the side for mine. i dont remember much of the second half as i was too tired and too busy jerking off over phil gould (same as redguy).

I don't know whether you can really give Kearns a Ratting, he was only on for about 12 seconds. But other than that Ia gree with everything, we need a Five-Eight in the team and we don't really have one basically

Kearns played in the second half.

Chris

Agree with australian ratings for the most part but I think mason had a couple of good runs when the poms were tiring maybe deserved a 6.5 I thought webcke was our number 1 forward, as for the backs I dont think any of them had a great game Lockyer was solid in defence, but did look shakey under the high ball, bailey and minichello couldnt contain Senior which is an absolute must if they are going to win the series, come to think of it sculthorpe carved them up a few times too,
Wing was awesome in attack but his defensive positioning needs work, hegarty well all know how quiet he was.
Smith replacing bailey was a good choice, but I would of gave chris McKenna a phone call first.

Is carney joining the panthers?

It's looking likely. Shane Richardson converted Carney from gaelic football a few years back, and with him off contract after 2004, he could be wearing the black for Penrith in 2005. I tihnk Lewis and/or Rooney are off contract around then, so he'd be a good replacement. Better defensively than either, and has a level head.

Chris

That would be awesome.....
as you guys know I see through black, white and blue eyes but being a penrith junior, I have a soft spot for the men from the foot of the mountains, and in my opinion carney has been the most underrated winger in the ESL since he started.