ADELAIDE - The AUNZ XV invitational clash was meant to be the toughest test for the Lions ahead of the series against the Wallabies, instead they produced their most comprehensive performance yet. Their efforts saw AUNZ co-captain David Havili label the group the "best in the world", but former All Blacks coach Ian Foster still believes they have work to do.
After the Lions were forced to toil in their wins over the Waratahs and Brumbies over the last week, the AUNZ side were given the task of battering and bruising the tourists in their final hit out. Instead they played them into form with the likes of Duane van der Merwe, Sione Tuipulotu, Huw Jones and Owen Farrell all making cases for Test positions next week, as they came close to posting a cricket score at the famous Adelaide Oval.
But despite the landslide result, Foster has warned the Lions still have work to do after he was asked to compare the current line-up to the side he faced as All Blacks assistant coach in 2017.
"They're good, I think they've got a lot of work to do for next week," Foster told reporters. "I think they'll be pleased with today's performance and in some ways it was good having a bit of a front foot game for them, probably getting the chance to get a bit more flow in their game and if they can continue that when the battle's a bit harder at the breakdown, I think that that'll be their challenge.
"But look, they're a quality team, good depth, but that brings complications sometimes at selection time, so you know, I think the test of the tour is how they deal with selection in the next week and keep the rest of squad happy.
"He'll [Schmidt] bring a lot of belief because I'm sure that Wallabies team will know what they want to do and they'll believe in what they want to do, and that's his [Schmidt's] biggest strength.
"They'll have a plan and I think there's been signs the last four or five games, I think the Lions will be happy with all the wins to date, they'll be happy that a lot of players have played time and they'll probably be happy that they haven't actually put performance together yet that they really want, but they don't want to do that before next week.
"They'll be primed, but there's something about the Wallabies. I just think that if they can be tough enough at the ball carry to be able to get some front foot ball against the Lions team, they'll be a challenge."
The Lions looked a much different outfit to the one that was left frustrated and pushed to the limit by the Waratahs a week earlier with their defensive efforts creating an impenetrable red wall that snuffled out any potential attacking raids from AUNZ, while their attacking prowess shone through as they punished every error.
First it was a quick lineout in the first half that caught AUNZ napping after Havili kicked the ball out on the full. Hugo Keenan was quick to run to his mark and fire the ball in field for Van der Merwe to cross the line for his first of three of the night. In the second half it was a short ball in the front of the lineout for a smart try, before Henry Pollock capped off a woeful night for AUNZ as he pounced on a loose ball in the in goal for the final score of the night.
"If there's one big thing [we learnt] tonight is if you give them easy moments, you've got to be switched on always," AUNZ coach Les Kiss said post-match. "They just seem to have a sense of being able to sniff a moment and make you pay for it straight away and they're the tries that, you know, it's the quick line out, the front of the line out in the second half, any loose ball they seem to be first on it.
"You've just got to be able to fight for those little scraps, those moments, but not give easy access into the situations where they can build momentum.
"You have to be switched on always and it's something that they probably missed a little bit in that first game against Argentina, but you can see each game on game they're just ready for every moment just naturally. And when they take those moments, they're bloody clinical, you know, they do finish them off. It's impressive."
Foster also pointed out the precision from the tourists and their ability shorten the defence to exploit the edges with AJ Lam, Marika Koroibete and Jock Campbell caught out on several occasions.
"I think they've still got the basic principles that they've always believed in," Foster said of the attack. "You know, it's a lot of short passing game, a lot of hard lines, hard carries, that's still there but then we saw their execution in the middle of the park to get to width I thought was really sharp today, like in a couple of times we went up to try and shut them down in that space and they were good enough to get the ball away.
"The ability of that actually changes things for them, because they certainly tighten up the defence, but the ability to transfer the ball wide from there is a growing strength for them."
The tourists dominated in every metric. Carry metres, line breaks, possession, and territory as they sharpened their claws for next week's opener in Brisbane, but it was their defence that deserved the plaudits. Six players led the stats list of tackles completed, including Jac Morgan (18), James Ryan (16) and Finn Russell (15), as any crack or bend in the defensive line was quickly restructured stifling any AUNZ attacking raids.
"You know, they're a very good team," Kiss said. "Their defence, it's hard to break down. Simon Easterby has done an incredible job with that defence, with a lot of people coming in over the last four or five weeks.
"Against the Argentinians they were found out a little bit and slowly but surely, they just kept building and building and building and they're a hard team to break down."
Havili was equally as impressed by the Lions defensive structure with the loose trio wreaking havoc on the AUNZ breakdown.
"They're just good at doing these simple things, done well," Havili said of the Lions. "They put a lot of heat on the breakdown, and we got a couple of carries over the gain line and they stopped the ball quite early and it's tough for us to find seams or find weak shoulders.
"They're a quality side and you can see the cohesion that they've had over the last sort of three weeks, they're really building nicely, but we got a couple of opportunities in the 22 that we just weren't good enough to execute."
Pressure will now be on Joe Schmidt to discover a way to dismantle a side that has started to hum with five tour wins in Australia and a growing confidence. According to Foster, discipline will be key for the Wallabies, while the aerial battle is an area Joseph-Akuso Suaalii should look to exploit.
"I think in the Lions series if there's lots of pressure, it comes down to your discipline and so you saw in our team tonight that we were combative, but when we got squeezed on a bit of pressure, we lost our discipline and suddenly we got penalised nine times in that third quarter and you can't do that against a team and just keep allowing them to pressure you and get you into the 22 and the Lions will hurt you if that happens.
"I think it's got to be a real focus for both teams, you know, you can't win when things aren't going your way, you can't give people another shot at you just by giving them an easy penalty.
"I think [the aerial battle] it'll be big [as well], and we actually saw that a little bit tonight too. Even though we were struggling to get real go forward ball, there were a few aerial times that, we still put them under a bit of pressure in that space. They did the same to us.
"I think that'll be a part of it and we weren't able to get enough opportunity to implement what we wanted to, but we were certainly keen to explore a little bit of that, but I'm pretty sure they'll [the Wallabies] be primed on that space."