
Rugby
Share
Published 16:59 30 Jun 2025 BST
Updated 16:59 30 Jun 2025 BST

While the Lions were comfortable winners on Saturday, beating the Western Force 54-7, there was a particular element of their game that was not up to scratch.
They struggled hugely with the Australian side's restarts, which gave them field position and put the Lions under massive pressure straight after their scores, and directly led to their only try of the game.
The man who got the most stick for these mishaps was lock Scott Cummings, who failed to gather a handful of kick-offs.
While at least one of these was purely down to poor handling by the Scot, his pod of lifters have to shoulder a portion of the blame.
Writing in The Times, English pundit, Stuart Barnes, called out Tadhg Furlong and Dan Sheehan for their part in the fiasco.
He said: "However McCarthy’s mate, Scott Cummings, in tandem with Tadhg Furlong and Dan Sheehan, was lost in space at every restart. The timing of the Lions restart reception was embarrassing. Twice the Scottish lock missed the ball completely, once he failed to control the catch.
"The Lions didn’t win one of their first six restarts. That is why a team finds itself under territorial pressure when it should have been racking up the points. In a Test series, such profligacy will be more costly than it was in this mismatch.
"Quite why the Lions didn’t change personnel within this particular three-man pod is mystifying. One would hope that Maro Itoje will address the issue. Indeed, one would think the Lions captain would be in control of the kicks in a way that Cummings and his replacement skipper, Sheehan, were not."
Explore more on these topics:
Ex-Leinster star reveals poor form from IRFU which led to Lowe exit
Not great. It has been one of the saddest departures from Irish rugby, James Lowe leaving Leinster at the end of the season to play with Suntory Sungoliath. There had been a lot of speculation as to what specifically went wrong with his contract negotiations, that one of Ireland’s top players could not be kept […]
Rugby
1 week ago
Angry Leinster fans lay blame on club and IRFU for controversial James Lowe exit
A sad day. Earlier today it was confirmed that Leinster winger, James Lowe, will be leaving Irish rugby at the end of his contract this summer. The 33-year-old has been linked with a move to Japanese club, Tokto Suntory Songoliath. It has been reported that Lowe is unhappy with how things ended with Leinster and […]
Rugby
1 week ago
Rugby
English rugby legend accused of lavish lifestyle after bankruptcy
Rugby