Paul Ackford offers his thoughts on the Lions' latest encounter in the Sunday Telegraph.
"Paul O’Connell, the Lions captain, doesn’t appear able to galvanise his charges. O’Connell had a fine match in the lineout and he worked tirelessly all game but in terms of leadership he was off the pace. O’Connell’s Lions were 20 points to the good after the first quarter but at the end of this match they were reduced to fighting for survival, so swiftly had the energy and passion left them. That doesn’t speak well off the captain’s ability to change the flow of the game.
Yet the Lions remain unbeaten, they did blood another nine players in head coach Ian McGeechan’s endless quest to bond one team, and they did scrummage superbly. Those aspects, and some fine individual performances, notably from Stephen Ferris, Andrew Sheridan and Joe Worsley, before he tired, were positives which the Lions can take away from Saturday’s work."
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