But the encouraging last 20 minutes were preceded by an hour of unmistakeable physical dominance by the Lions, with and without the ball. It resulted in the Wallabies mostly spinning their wheels as they tried to bend the Lions’ defensive line, which came up hard and fast and with aggressive intent.
As it tends to do, losing the contact zone led to rivets popping all over for the Wallabies, with handling mistakes, penalties and set-piece turnovers then leading to the Lions routinely escaping their end, and putting pressure on the Wallabies at the other.
Tommy Freeman of British and Irish Lions gets past Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii Credit: Getty Images
The final stats sheet showed the Wallabies had considerably more carries than the Lions, but considerably less metres as well. Trying to get past the impressive backrow of Tom Curry, Tadgh Beirne and Jack Conan, the Lions kept the Wallabies post-contact metres to 255 – at an average of 1.8 metres per carry.
The Lions? They had an average of 2.5 post-contact metres per run.
Which leads us up back to Valetini. The big Brumbies backrower was ruled out of the first Test with a calf injury, along with Will Skelton (calf) and Langi Gleeson (cork), and as seen in the narrow win over Fiji as well, Valetini was very sorely missed.
As the Wallabies’ top ball carrier for the past four years, the winning performances of Australia in that time – and particularly under Schmidt – have come when “Bobby V” is taking every third carry, most of them into the teeth of the defence. When he is not there, the Wallabies struggle to go forward, recycle with pace and launch their attack.
Rob Valetini poses with the John Eales Medal during the 2024 Rugby Australia Awards at Royal Randwick Racecourse.Credit: Getty Images for Rugby Australia
“There’s very much some of our collision area work that has to be better, because we know they are coming so hard there,” Schmidt said.
Valetini’s return at the MCG would make a huge difference at the MCG, and so too other potential tweaks to beef up the physicality, like Angus Bell starting and possibly even big winger Dylan Pietsch as well. Tate McDermott’s late-game impact, and existing combination with the impressive Tom Lynagh, may also see him get a shot to start.
Schmidt said he would look at possible changes on Sunday after getting a medical update.
It all goes on the line in Melbourne, as it did in 2001 and again in 2013. The Wallabies managed to win in both those tours, and when asked for the one thing that gave him confidence they could get a similar result in Melbourne, Schmidt nominated the courage of his side.
“I know it’s a cliché, but you can’t coach character. You live and die by the effort you make to contribute to the team,” he said.
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“I just felt guys kept getting up and contributing. It’s tough against the quality they’ve got and some of the momentum they’ve built. I thought we stayed in the fight.
“I’m not saying the Lions didn’t deserve to win it, because I feel that they did. We’ll have a look in the cold light of day probably and be a little bit more analytical, but very proud of the way the players fought their way back.“
I honestly thought the players’ efforts tonight showed a desperation that they are so committed to playing for their country.
