Lions flyhalf Finn Russell produced an enormous opening first half to the collection opener because the British & Irish Lions received 27-19 over the Wallabies to go up 1-0 within the collection.
The Scottish playmaker was in classic contact early, replicating his well-known Calcutta Cup cross for a strive help for midfielder Sione Tuipulotu.
That strive put the Lions up 10-0 early because the onslaught continued from the guests, constructing a 24-5 lead early within the second half.
But Russell confessed in his post-match interview that the Lions barely opened the playbook in the first Test, sending a warning to the Wallabies that they haven’t yet seen much from the visitors.
“I think we only ran one lineout play tonight,” he told Sky Sports UK.
“We ran obviously a few exit lineouts, but we probably pushed them high enough up the pitch. Just with the ball being a bit greasy tonight with [Tom] Lynagh at the back, we thought we’d put him under pressure with the high ball.
“So we pushed the exits higher up the pitch. We ran one lineout play where Huw Jones broke by means of and nearly scored, however that was disallowed.
“In order that was the one set-piece we ran tonight. It’s good that we haven’t actually bought our set-piece going tonight, we haven’t proven a lot going into subsequent week.
“However it’s at all times a disgrace we didn’t get an opportunity to run a number of the performs as a result of like I stated the one we ran with Huw Jones, that would’ve been a strive simple sufficient.”
Russell’s confession that they only ran ‘one play’ shows the Lions have a lot more to throw at the Wallabies who need answers in Melbourne to force a series decider.
The No.10 admitted that the Lions “pushed things” too much in the second half which led to the Wallabies getting back into the contest.
“I think the second half we lost the territory battle, which we had won in the first half,” Russell said.
“And through that we probably forced a lot of things. There’s a lot of offloads that went to the deck or not gone to hand in the second half, and discipline wasn’t good enough second half either.”
