Secure your tickets to next week’s historic MCG clash between the Wallabies and British & Irish Lions.<\/a><\/p>\nHere’s what we learned from the First Test:<\/p>\n
1. Beirne silences the doubters<\/p>\n
The Lions\u2019 backrow selections were put under the pump ahead of Saturday\u2019s opening Test but boy, did Tadgh Beirne, Tom Curry and Jack Conan deliver.<\/p>\n
The much-maligned Beirne (23 tackles, seven carries) was outstanding and a deserving best on ground after his flying start at Suncorp Stadium.<\/p>\n
The Irishman also earned three turnovers and two lineout steals\u00a0while Curry (one try, one assist) and Conan (11 carries for 64m) performed strongly all night. <\/p>\n
Aussie flankers Fraser McReight (12 carries, 16 tackles, two turnovers) and Nick Champion de Crespigny (19 tackles without a miss) were all heart with skipper Harry Wilson giving it his all but the Lions were relentless at the breakdown.<\/p>\n
Beirne will be the first man picked in Andy Farrell’s side for Melbourne and leaves the Lions spoilt for choice across their impressive second and back rows.<\/p>\n
2. Missed opportunities aplenty<\/p>\n
The Lions could have \u2013 and should have \u2013 been further ahead than their 17-5 buffer at oranges.<\/p>\n
Huw Jones looked to have scored a certain try in the 19th minute after scrambling his way over but had his five-pointer overruled when the TMO ruled the Scotsman failed to release the ball before playing on.<\/p>\n
Joe McCarthy was similarly within a whisker of his own Lions try after the big lock missed the grounding on a Finn Russell cross-kick by a fingertip in goal.<\/p>\n
The Wallabies also had their fair share of near misses and will rue them dearly.<\/p>\n
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii should feel hard done by after a no-arms tackle from Ben Earl in the lead-up to his disallowed 60th minute try while a pair of kicks in-goal from Wilson and Harry Potter in the 63rd and 65th minutes almost found their mark.<\/p>\n
3. Jorgensen built for big moments<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no doubt Max Jorgensen is a long-term Wallaby winger after his try-scoring turn on rugby\u2019s biggest stage.<\/p>\n
The 20-year-old sent Suncorp Stadium into a frenzy by soaring high above Lions fullback Hugo Keenan and racing away to score untouched in the 28th minute.<\/p>\n
Jorgensen finished as Australia’s second-highest carrier – and best post-contact (30m gained) – with two line breaks and two tackle busts to boot.<\/p>\n
Crucially, Jorgensen was error-free with ball in hand, solid in defence and the young gun should be lining up once more in Melbourne for the Second Test next week.<\/p>\n
However, more will be required of wing partner Harry Potter after a mixed night – he could come under pressure from the likes of Andrew Kellaway, Dylan Pietsch and Filipo Daugunu.<\/p>\n
4. Flyhalf battle tale of the tape<\/p>\n
The contrast couldn’t be clearer between Finn Russell and Tom Lynagh.<\/p>\n
Lynagh fought tooth and nail on his starting debut – he kicked well, carried tough and even shook a few defenders for a linebreak.<\/p>\n
However, the young Queensland was put under immense pressure all night with the Lions regularly shooting up and laying hits – one particular tackle in the air before halftime could’ve come under greater scrutiny.<\/p>\n
Conversely, Russell was given more latitude by the Wallabies and made every inch a mile with seven sharp runs speckled around a slick passing game that yielded assists for four line breaks and a try.<\/p>\n
Whether Lynagh is retained or Joe Schmidt looks to Ben Donaldson or James O’Connor will be a fascinating tale heading into Melbourne’s must-win clash.<\/p>\n
5. Sea of Red cut with Gold<\/p>\n
“Lions, Lions, Lions, Lions, Lions” – it’s a echo you just can’t shake.<\/p>\n
Tens of thousands of red-clad Lions fans swept through Brisbane and into Suncorp Stadium for what turned out a very vocal 52,229-strong crowd.<\/p>\n
Wallabies fans fought hard to cut through the noise and made a few inroads after Jorgensen’s try but the sound – like the score – was largely Lions-centric.<\/p>\n
Just like 2001, 2013 and every other Brisbane Test before it, 2025 has gone the Lions way both on and off the field.<\/p>\n
Now, it’s time for Australians to stand up and show their voice and colours in Melbourne and Sydney. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Wallabies will have to overcome the odds in Melbourne and Sydney after falling to the British &…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,6408,760,85],"class_list":["post-5917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-british-irish-lions","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}