Jones gigantic in slaying the Springboks

The British & Irish Lions were too good for the Springboks in the first of three Tests – and inspirational captain Alun Wyn Jones was at the heart of a Lions second half revival to which the hosts had no answer, writes Mark Keohane.

Jones wrote his own Lions history at the Cape Town Stadium. He became the first player in the professional era to play 10 Tests for the Lions, which means he has played in the last 10 Tests on four Lions tours to South Africa (2009), Australia (2013), New Zealand (2017) and South Africa (2021). It is an incredible feat for the Welshman, who has also played more Test matches than any player in the history of the game.

Even more remarkable is that Jones could recover from a dislocated shoulder, just six minutes into the Lions’ pre-tour match against Japan, and be in South Africa three weeks later to captain the tourists to a 22-17 win against the world champion Springboks.

Jones, along with Ireland’s Willie John McBride, who played 17 Tests for the Lions, can claim to be the Lions most revered player.

Jones, who understandably looked short of a gallop in the first 40 minutes, produced a defiant second half performance. His shoulder stood up to the rigours of every Springbok collision and Jones finished the match stronger than he started it.

The Lions physicality in the second half was impressive, the game management outstanding and their conditioning was also appreciably better than the Springboks, which was to be expected.

Lions coach Warren Gatland rolled the dice with a selection that included six English players, four Scots, three Irish and just two Welsh players, but with Jones leading the team out, he was worth an entire pack of Welshmen on his own.

Jones was just brilliant in the way he interacted with the referee, in how he dictated the pace of the restarts after the interaction with the referee and he just had such a big presence throughout the Test match. What his body couldn’t do in the first 40 minutes, his mind more than made up for in how he made sure the referee and the opposition knew he was around.

He then stepped it up in the second half and his leadership shone.

The Lions were fortunate in having several questionable decisions go their way and Hamish Watson would have copped a yellow card on most days for his tip tackle on Willie le Roux. Maro Itoje may have gone the same way when turning over the Boks ball just a few metres from his tryline.

And there was the Willie le Roux on-field try that was overturned by TMO Marius Jonker.

The Boks were good for the first 40 minutes and controlled the match to lead 12-3. The Lions were exceptional in how they managed to turn it around in the second half, with the aerial kicking game of halfbacks Ali Price and Dan Biggar complimented with urgent chasing.

The Boks couldn’t deal with the accuracy of the Lions kicking game and they also couldn’t find any form of 1st phase platform because the Lions refused to kick the ball out. The Boks’ lineout is a strength and the Lions depowered the Boks with a disciplined out of hand kicking game.

There was only two points in it with three minutes to go, which will also encourage Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber and National Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus. The Boks, despite being comprehensively outplayed in the second half, may still have edged it, even if they were second best on Saturday night.

Simon Thomas looks at the four big decisions on the night – and the one BIG one the Lions got away with