Finn Russell's unnerving confession about first Test win over Wallabies

Lions flyhalf Finn Russell produced a big opening first half to the series opener as the British & Irish Lions won 27-19 over the Wallabies to go up 1-0 in the series.

The Scottish playmaker was in vintage touch early, replicating his famous Calcutta Cup pass for a try assist for midfielder Sione Tuipulotu.

That try put the Lions up 10-0 early as the onslaught continued from the visitors, building a 24-5 lead early in the second half.

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Points Flow Chart

British & Irish Lions win +8

Time in lead

0

Mins in lead

80

0%

% Of Game In Lead

100%

69%

Possession Last 10 min

31%

7

Points Last 10 min

3

But Russell confessed in his post-match interview that the Lions barely opened the playbook in the first Test, sending a warning to the Wallabies that they haven’t yet seen much from the visitors.

“I think we only ran one lineout play tonight,” he told Sky Sports UK.

“We ran obviously a few exit lineouts, but we probably pushed them high enough up the pitch. Just with the ball being a bit greasy tonight with [Tom] Lynagh at the back, we thought we’d put him under pressure with the high ball.

“So we pushed the exits higher up the pitch. We ran one lineout play where Huw Jones broke through and almost scored, but that was disallowed.

“So that was the only set-piece we ran tonight. It’s good that we haven’t really got our set-piece going tonight, we haven’t shown much going into next week.

“But it’s always a shame we didn’t get a chance to run some of the plays because like I said the one we ran with Huw Jones, that could’ve been a try easy enough.”

Russell’s confession that they only ran ‘one play’ shows the Lions have a lot more to throw at the Wallabies who need answers in Melbourne to force a series decider.

The No.10 admitted that the Lions “pushed things” too much in the second half which led to the Wallabies getting back into the contest.

“I think the second half we lost the territory battle, which we had won in the first half,” Russell said.

“And through that we probably forced a lot of things. There’s a lot of offloads that went to the deck or not gone to hand in the second half, and discipline wasn’t good enough second half either.”