ABOVE: Ben Youngs tries to escape Ed Quirk as the Lions picked up another win on tour
We messed up a few really good chances to score more tries and our handling wasn’t what it should have been.
Ben Youngs
BEN YOUNGS ordered the Lions to sharpen their finishing claws after the tourists won a bruising battle in Brisbane.
The England scrum-half scrambled over for a crucial try to see off the Reds in easily their hardest test of the tour so far.
But
while Warren Gatland’s men stay unbeaten, they also suffered more
casualties with England centre Manu Tuilagi and Irish wing Tommy Bowe
the latest injury victims.
Both players left the field in the first half and Bowe is set to miss the rest of the tour with a broken bone in his hand.
It
adds to head coach Gatland’s worries – he has already seen crocked
props Cian Healy of Ireland (ankle) and Wales’ Gethin Jenkins (calf)
head home.
England’s
Alex Corbisiero and Scotland’s Ryan Grant leave their countries’ tours
to Argentina and South Africa to replace Healy and Jenkins.
And Gatland is set to send out another SOS call to cover for Bowe.
At
least he saw his team overcome a confrontational and fired-up Reds side
to build on their wins over Barbarians and Western Force.
Yet
Youngs admitted there is plenty of room for improvement in the
try-scoring department and said: “We have to improve our finishing.
“We messed up a few really good chances to score more tries and our handling wasn’t what it should have been.
“It
was very physical out there. But that’s good because that’s how it
will be when the Tests come along against the Wallabies.
“We knew it would be tough and they would throw everything at us early on and we had to soak up plenty of early pressure.”
Owen Farrell kicked 17 points and the alert Youngs robbed his opposite No.9 Nick Frisby for the Lions’ only try.
Captain
Sam Warburton, having his first work-out since recovering from injury,
said: “It was good to be out on the field. It was hard graft but we
won.”
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