The British & Irish Lions may have been rocked by criticism in New Zealand of their playing style, but their victory against the Crusaders showed they are not going to be swayed by it.
They pitched up in Christchurch with six players from the 2013 tour to Australia who were making their first starts in New Zealand: if it was not quite the A-team, they brought their A-game, led around the field by authoritative, pragmatic half-backs.
The first two successful Lions tours, in 1971 and 1974, had a national pair of half-backs, Gareth Edwards partnering first Barry John and then Phil Bennett, and in South Africa in 1997 Matt Dawson and Gregor Townsend both played for Northampton.
Ireland’s Conor Murray and England’s Owen Farrell started against the Crusaders, resuming their partnership in Australia, although they started only one match there together and spent a total of 89 minutes together. It lasted 28 minutes on Saturday, Jonathan Davies’s head injury forcing a reshuffle with Jonathan Sexton taking over at fly‑half and Farrell moving to the midfield.
It gave Warren Gatland and his coaches the opportunity to look at an attacking midfield option that the squad’s lack of time together had looked like ruling out. When Eddie Jones took over as England head coach after the 2015 World Cup, he said that attack would be the last area he looked at because it took so long to develop. It took him the best part of a year but the Lions had four weeks between getting together and the first Test with the necessary emphasis on organisation, starting with defence which in Christchurch throttled one of the most potent attacks in Super Rugby.
Murray’s tactical kicking not only pegged back the Crusaders but, allied with alert chasers who cut down the space for the catcher and also blocked off room on the outside, gave them few outs. He kicked the ball on 17 occasions, more than the opposition scrum-halves in the first three matches combined, dealing with slow ball himself.
Farrell’s kicking also hurt the Crusaders, but no more than his distribution. His ability to stand square and hold the defence gave the Lions width which they failed to exploit, starting in the opening minute when Davies was unable to supply George North with a scoring pass.
Farrell played a minor role on the 2013 tour, starting three matches and coming off the bench in the final Test. He had been a Test player for little more than a year then, comfortable in a structured environment rather than reactive, but he is now, in the words of the Crusaders coach Scott Robertson, world class, playing what is in front of him.
Farrell and Murray helped the Lions to rise a few levels above their opening two performances, controlling both the pace and the shape of the match. The tourists may not have scored a try, and their count of two in three matches will have to rise in the next two weeks, but they created more openings than the leading team in Super Rugby without trying to mimic their offloading game.
The way Sexton dovetailed with Farrell gives the Lions an extra midfield option, although it will probably be activated if they are playing catch-up. Ben Te’o again showed he is more than a centre who takes the ball up the middle and keeps hold of it and the missing link in attack is understanding between players who are getting to know each other’s thinking.
New Zealand will know what is coming in the first Test, as the Crusaders did. They know that the surest way to mute Murray and Farrell is to take on the Lions at their strongest point, the set pieces, a hallmark of the All Blacks through the ages. A series that looks black and red will have shades of grey as the two sides trade in deception.
