Australia head coach Joe Schmidt has revealed that his side had planned for the possibility of a weather delay after the Wallabies got the better of the British and Irish Lions in a chaotic third Test.
The encounter in Sydney was paused for 40 minutes early in the second half after two lightning strikes were recorded within 10 kilometres of Accor Stadium.
The officials took the players from the pitch and into the dressing rooms, while fans in the ground were advised to head inside for cover on a day of inclement weather.
While the Lions were caught off guard by the interruption, which came moments after they had lost lock James Ryan to a serious head injury, Australia seemed rather more certain of their processes.
The hosts emerged as quickly as possible once a restart had been agreed to make the most of a 10-minute warm-up period, and subsequently extended their advantage to power to a 22-12 victory and salvage pride after a 2-1 series defeat.
“It’s certainly one of the more bizarre [games I’ve been involved in],” Wallabies boss Schmidt said. “We had been warned that there might be a bit of lightning, so we had a plan and with that plan we made sure that guys kept moving. We had different guys rotating on and off the bikes, we’d a couple of bikes.
“We’d four balls in the changing room so guys could throw them around, so that guys could stay connected. The rest of the time, it was just trying to get us organised for the restart.
“We knew we had a penalty to touch and a plan, until it didn’t work. The players stayed dialled in very well.”
Australia led 8-0 at the time of the game’s suspension, with further tries from Max Jorgensen and Tate McDermott ensuring that they went on to secure victory.
The Lions endured a disrupted 80 minutes that also included the loss of Maro Itoje and Tommy Freeman following failed head injury assessments, along with the worrying incident involved Ryan that the Irish lock appears to have escaped without serious injury.
“Rigor mortis was setting in at one stage there for the lads,” head coach Andy Farrell chuckled. “I suppose that is what you come to expect with a schedule like the Lions schedule. We have seen it all now haven’t we.
“We were trying to work out what the rules were and what was going to happen, at one stage it looked like it was going be 45 minutes then it was pulled back to 30 minutes. There were updates constantly coming in but the lads stayed relaxed enough, had five minutes of a warm-up and got the show back on the road. What came off the back of that is Australia hit the ground running and thoroughly deserved their win.”
Footage from the Lions dressing room showed a couple of Lions players on their phones and others perched on bean bags, while their re-emergence came several minutes after that of their opponents.
Farrell insisted, though, that his side were fully ready for the resumption.
He said: “We agreed on 10 minutes for the warm-up and through our advice from our experts in that field, we made the call to come out five minutes before and stay out there so that we would be ready to go.”
Providing a player’s perspective, Lions forward Tadhg Beirne said: “It was just a bit strange, I suppose. I’ve never experienced something like that, there was a bit of the unknown.
“We were kind of told it was going to be 45 minutes, so you start trying to relax a little bit before having to get back up for it, and then all of a sudden it was, ‘you are out in seven minutes’, so all of a sudden you are trying to get switched on to focus again. That’s the challenge of it. I’ve never experienced it before, but I have now so I’ll know what to expect next time, I guess.”
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