Jeremy Guscott: Our sixteen years of pain end in 80 minutes
When people look back, the battle up front has been key, particularly the scrum. The Lions had dominance in the first Test and won; game two the Wallabies edged it and they won, and in game three it was ALL Lions.
We may have had a Northern Hemisphere referee in Roman Poite, but for me Alex Corbisiero was just phenomenal throughout and it was fitting that he crashed over for the first try. Along with Richard Hibbard and Adam Jones, the Lions front row just obliterated the Aussie scrum.
And it wasn’t just in the set-piece that we were on top.
Corbisiero, Hibbard, Toby Faletau and Sean O’Brien all brought their powerful ball-carrying to the fore making the hard yards around the fringes and got the Lions on the front foot time and again bashing over the gain-line. Whereas in the previous Tests collisions were pretty evenly matched, the Lions won them all and brought a huge physicality the Wallabies couldn’t handle.
Everybody who came into the side following last week’s defeat justified their picks.
Along with those forwards, Roberts brought the kind of hard running we have missed in the midfield and offered Jonathan Sexton another option.
It was full-throttle right from the get-go. The tempo that the Lions played with was something that we have not seen so far on this tour except for patches against New South Wales three weeks ago. But this was a serious step-up in class of opposition, and like the coaches had been saying in the week, this group had one final performance left in the tank.
All round this was by far their best performance of the tour. To a man, from No.1 to No.23, every person played their role. And as much as with the result and the series victory, I am so pleased they went out and won by playing rugby – with no fear of losing.
Heading into the Test all the talk was about Brian O’Driscoll and had Warren Gatland made the right call by dropping him. Understandably there were a lot of people who would have liked to see him finish his Lions career on the field and not the sidelines – but the all-round display yesterday justified the brave call Gatland felt he had to make.
Anyone in the know who watches a lot of rugby realises how tough that decision was for Gatland. To be the first man to drop O’Driscoll in his 14-year career must have been difficult. But as he said in the week, the reality is his selection was all about picking the best team to get the result regardless of nationality and his picks were completely and utterly justified.
O’Driscoll played in two Tests and had a big influence on this series victory so his CV will still have a Lions series win.
But due to the outcry this week, one player who must have had the weight of expectation on his shoulders, especially from across the Irish sea, was Jonathan Davies.
We all wondered what he was going to do and how he was going to do it. And he had a fantastic game, mixing up the midfield play and also using his left boot superbly to dovetail with Sexton.
I was really pleased for him. If the Lions had lost, a lot of focus would have been on him. But his partnership with the returning Roberts offered the right blend of power and subtlety and the Lions’ backs finally looked dangerous.
I have watched every Lions match from 2001 to 2009 and the Tests are always full of passion and intensity. But the difference with the Lions of 2013 is that they stepped up where those previous three sides failed to do so.
They showed a hell of a lot of character to keep their heads when the Aussies fought back in the second half. These guys knew it was their chance – the only chance for many of them – and they took it in style.
Special mention should go to Leigh Halfpenny – voted man of the series – for the way he responded to last week’s disappointment by coming back and showing the world what a great player he is.
He brings so much more than his kicking at goal. He had a hand in a couple of tries and with the team looking more positive, not afraid to play some rugby, he showed what a danger he is on the counter attack.
When we toured Australia in 1989 we had a party of about 40 people – now it is more like 80. And that is one of the great things about the Lions – it is a huge team effort pulling together players, coaches and backroom staff from the four nations. It’s not just about the team on the field, or the bench, but about the entire touring group.
And boy did they show what it means to be a Lion.
Each and every one of that touring party should be extremely proud of what they have achieved and yesterday all that hard work came together and not a single one had a poor game.
They all got involved and knew the importance a series win was for the future of the Lions.
All through the tour it has been billed as history in the making – for the Aussies 12 years in the making – and for the Lions putting to an end 16 years of hurt.
Now there should be no more talk about the Lions of ’97 – from now on it will be about the Lions of 2013.
