Andy Goode: Aussie comments didn't cover them in glory

The Lions have achieved the main objective in winning a series for just the second time this millennium but a shot at greatness awaits in Sydney.

The second Test in Melbourne was as good as we’ve seen in a Lions series for some time, thanks mainly to the vast improvement in the Wallabies prompted by Will Skelton and Rob Valetini’s return, but the men in red got the job done and the whitewash has always been in their sights.

Not many players become British and Irish Lions, far fewer become winning Lions and almost none can claim to have won a series without losing a Test so the current crop have the chance to truly write their names in the history books this week and it won’t be lost on them.

A clean sweep of three Tests or more has only been done by the Lions three times before, the most recent coming in 1927 in Argentina, so it’s about as rare an achievement as you can get.

Australia proved their worth by forcing the Lions to come from 18 points down, nearly double their previous biggest comeback, but everyone knows this is a long way from the best sides they’ve boasted over the years and the opportunity to win the series 3-0 will have been on the minds of the British and Irish Lions’ players and management from the get-go.

If you factor in the warm-up games too, it’s fair to say this probably hasn’t been a vintage tour in terms of quality or competitiveness but the 29-26 thriller in front of a crowd of 90,307 under the lights at the MCG elevated it multiple notches.

It had everything, from Tom Wright’s worldie of a try to the epic comeback sparked by Tom Curry and Huw Jones’ scores late in the first half and Jac Morgan’s debatable clearout to the grandstand finish from Hugo Keenan that sealed victory.

The aforementioned Skelton and Valetini were nothing short of immense and if they had a full 80 minutes in their tanks, rather than 47 and 40 minutes respectively, it might have been a different story entirely.

Their replacements weren’t able to hit the same heights though and the impact of the likes of Ellis Genge and James Ryan coming off the Lions bench was massive, vindicating some of Andy Farrell’s more contentious selection calls.

Curry’s inclusion in the starting XV was questioned ahead of the first Test but he’s been phenomenal and his tackle on Joseph Suaalii kept the game alive.

A lot of people were calling for James Lowe to be dropped too and he has had a mixed bag on tour but big players come up with big moments and he did exactly that to create a try for Tadhg Beirne.

For what it’s worth, the Morgan clearout that has proved so contentious among Australian fans, coaches and media was absolutely fine and you see hundreds of not dissimilar ones in every single match.

You can see why because of the timing of it and tensions are running high when you’ve just lost a series but the Australian commentators have gone way overboard and I think Joe Schmidt hasn’t covered himself in glory either.

The furore over that shouldn’t take any gloss off the Lions’ triumph, let’s build a statue of Keenan after his personal comeback from missing the end of the season with a calf injury and losing a stone in weight due to illness at the start of the tour to being the series winner.

It was always likely to be the case but the halfback partnership of Jamison Gibson-Park and Finn Russell has been the biggest difference between the two sides, with the former pulling the strings and the latter just so comfortable with his own game and role nowadays.

Russell shook off the maverick tag a long time ago, or he has done to anyone who knows what they’re watching, and he has led his troops around the field in a controlled manner and rarely put a foot wrong while still coming up with moments of inspiration.

His touchfinder late on was particularly special and he brought a calmness too after the Lions were visibly shocked by the Wallabies’ brute force and clinical finishing early on. It’d have been easy to panic but Russell didn’t and those around him followed suit.

It’ll be fascinating to see how Andy Farrell sets his team up for the third Test but I don’t think we’ll see too many changes with a place in the history books on the line.

The last time the Lions had an opportunity to complete a clean sweep in the final Test was back in 1997 and that tour has gone down in folklore even though they obviously came up short in that respect.

Farrell will be talking about legacy and the current crop of Lions have a chance to achieve something truly historic now. Melbourne was magic, Sydney should be special and the third Test is anything but a dead rubber.