The Lions survived early pressure from the All Blacks to grab a foothold in the Test before an intercept of an Owen Farrell pass allowed the hosts to break.
Julian Savea almost crossed in the corner before Jonathan Davies managed to get him down just in time. His efforts proved to be in vain though as the Barrett brothers combined to set up the easiest of tries for Ngani Laumape.
Had Farrell chosen his pass wiser, the scoreline may have read 7-0 to Warren Gatland’s side rather than the other way around. Lions fans are far from pleased with the Saracens fly-half and have been quick to let their thoughts be known on Twitter.
Owen Farrell's first 12 mins:
-Two missed tackles
-Mad kick through ruck
-Kick out on full
-Throws intercept pass— Gavin Cooney (@gcooney93) July 8, 2017
Owen Farrell has turned into Will Ferrell
— James Corrigan (@jcorrigangolf) July 8, 2017
https://twitter.com/murphyrob/status/883594342488788993
Warburton needs word with Farrell. He's imploding here. About 4 missed tackles, knock on, boot on the full, intercept & high shot there 🦁
— Ricky Harries (@RickyHarries) July 8, 2017
3 errors by Faz so far. Looks a bit panicky
— Tom Coleman (@LeinsterRoyalty) July 8, 2017
https://twitter.com/JDHT21/status/883593903190020096
As the Tweets mention, the intercept was not the only error in Farrell’s first 40 minutes but the Englishman did manage to keep his side in touch with two penalties before Roman Poite called time on the half.
The 25-year-old may have to slot in at out-half for the rest of the game after Johnny Sexton hobbled in at half-time with after suffering a serious knock.
If Gatland’s charges have any hope of turning the deficit around in the second period, the centre needs to significantly up his game.
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