Sharks lose their bite in game of two halves

We’ve all played in those games where, despite overwhelming possession and running every play in the book, a combination of great defence and wasted chances means you just can’t get over the line. After a first half in which they dominated, it looked as though the Lions might be left to rue their inability to break the ferocious Sharks defence, a burrowing try from Lee Mears the only exception to a distinctly average finishing display.

Let us not take anything away from the Sharks. The fight they showed to prevent the Lions from scoring was a fierce, occasionally deluded denial of what seemed to be certain try-scoring opportunities – when Brian O’Driscoll intercepted from a Sharks attack, he was chased back 70m and caught a paw’s width from the tryline. Granted, His Excellency would have scored that ten times out of ten in his youth, but the Shark who caught him looked like he’d tasted blood in the water.

Unfortunately for the Lions, at some point in the last few days Ronan O’Gara appears to have metamorphosed into Andy Goode. Seemingly unaware that this game was not in fact being played under Rugby League rules, O’Gara kicked and chipped a distressing amount of possession away in the red zone. This might have been partially forgivable had at least one of these dinks led to a score but, of course, they didn’t and he simply ended up giving away possession where hands would have done quite nicely thanks Ron.

Mike Phillips had a ponderous first half, all too often caught on the ball at the back of the ruck. Someone must have lit a fire under him at half-time, because he harpooned his way through the Sharks after the restart, weaving, dummying and diving for the line beautifully. His service was much improved as well, fired out quickly allowing the backs to have a run themselves – at least when O’Gara’s instinct to put the boot on it was thankfully overruled.

Luke Fitzgerald gave a good showing on the wing, a quick and eager young cub who made Shane Williams look about as energetic as Gordon Brown. For me, the Irishman has done enough to secure a test spot alongside Tommy Bowe, who seems to be a shoo-in on recent performances.

Is anybody else starting to worry that Paul O’Connell hasn’t yet justified a starting spot for the tests? A few months ago he was untouchable, a battering ram for Ireland in the Six Nations – in such good form that he pinched the Lions captaincy from HRH Brian O’Driscoll. But tonight, as in all of the three games he has played on tour so far, he was a non-entity in the loose, and a black hole as a captain. I would almost go so far as to say that he made Steve Borthwick look a good leader. When Simon Shaw came on to replace him he was everywhere that O’Connell was not, powering into tackles and making the hard yards. Alun Wyn Jones was just as lacklustre as O’Connell, which is disappointing considering these two are heavily tipped to start the tests.

A recurrence of a theme a touched on here a month or two back – gamesmanship. For most of the match, the Sharks tighthead Jannie du Plessis was scrummaging with his shirt halfway up his chest, meaning Gethin Jenkins was grasping at his flesh instead of being able to bind properly. This was clearly an intentional tactic from du Plessis, to which the referee was completely oblivious (he had a bad game all-round, really). The Sharks also spent a huge amount of time diving on the ball at the breakdown, killing it completely and getting away scot free. At one point the referee called over a Sharks player for a mere warning, despite saying that he’d committed multiple infringements – his yellow card was conspicuous in its absence.

As this tour will be played very much on South African terms, the Lions need to wise up. If the referees will not penalise players for killing the ball at the breakdown, we need to be there even faster and harder to prevent them from doing so. The Lions were better at the tackle area than last Saturday, but they are still occasionally offering about as much ball protection as a lacy thong in a gale.

Finally, on a positive note, the Lions didn’t concede a try. While their superior possession for most of the match slightly detracts from this as a defensive achievement, the Sharks didn’t look like scoring, and they are not at all a bad outfit. Shaun Edwards will be a happy(ish) bunny.