Andy Farrell admitted there is plenty for the British and Irish Lions still to work on ahead of their looming three-Test series against Australia as he provided new updates on Owen Farrell and Henry Pollock.
The famous tourists delivered a largely scrappy and disjointed performance against the New South Wales Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday, making too many handling errors in a hard-fought 21-10 victory at Allianz Stadium.
It was a far tougher test than the Lions had received against the Western Force and Queensland Reds in two emphatic eight-try, 50-plus point victories to open the tour following an initial farewell loss to Argentina in Dublin, with a number of attacking opportunities not taken and mistakes costing them three more potential tries in the second half.
Though there were positives to take with the dominant set-piece and the performances of several individuals like two-try Huw Jones and man-of-the-match Alex Mitchell, Andy Farrell knows his side have a lot to tighten up before that first Test against the Wallabies - who play their only warm-up fixture against Fiji in Newcastle on Sunday - in Brisbane on July 19.
“We’re satisfied with the win, you obviously have to celebrate every win,” the head coach said. “You have got to be thankful for that.
“But with the amount of territory and possession that we had, come away with so much dropped ball and turnovers et cetera, to say we left a few out there was an understatement really.
"It’s good learning for us. A different type of game, close and under pressure. Again, we didn't come out of the blocks hard enough. We need to address that obviously and we need to address our exits after scoring tries because we need to be more clinical there.
"But this was a different type of game, the ground was wet for some reason. I don’t know why it was wet. It’s good for us because they played hard at the breakdown and big line speed, sometimes we overplayed.
“I thought we were better when we played more direct and off 9, there is some good learning for us along the way.”
There was a watching brief only at Allianz Stadium for Owen Farrell, who arrived in Sydney on Friday as a replacement for Elliot Daly, who suffered a tour-ending arm fracture against the Reds.
Dad Andy confirmed the former England captain would likely not play against the ACT Brumbies in Canberra on Wednesday either as he looks to acclimatise and pass the necessary protocols having not featured for almost nine weeks after suffering a concussion while playing for Racing 92 in early May.
“He slept last night so hopefully the jet lag is not too bad,” Farrell Sr said. “Probably not [be in the squad against the Brumbies]. I don’t know, with jet lag et cetera you’ve got to go through protocols. That normally takes a few more days than that I would have thought.”
For the second game in succession, the Lions were forced to rejig their starting lineup ahead of kick-off in Sydney, budding England star Henry Pollock withdrawn as a precaution with a tight calf as captain Tadhg Beirne moved to blindside flanker and Scott Cummings came in at lock, with Duhan van der Merwe handed a replacement’s role as they reverted to a 5-3 bench split.
However, Andy Farrell allayed any fears over the Northampton back-rower before the match.
“A slight problem with the calf, nothing too serious,” he told Sky Sports.
“But knowing what we know, we thought it was right not to risk him.”
