LONG READ Mick Cleary: 'The Lions need some serious honesty about what's required to win a Test match'

The cold of Canberra can freeze the sturdiest of bones but it will be the fierce chill of Andy Farrell’s critical gaze that threatens to send a shiver through the touring party as they approach crunch time in Australia’s capital city.

Such was the disappointing vibe that emanated from their slipshod, half-cock showing against the Waratahs in Sydney it is legitimate to ask whether the squad needs a Jim Telfer kick-up-the-backside session before their outing against the Brumbies, the last of the Lions provincial opposition on the tour. Scotland’s no-nonsense coach gave the 1997 tourists both barrels ahead of their opening Test against the Springboks, injecting much-needed bite and focus for what lay imminently ahead. It did the trick.

Simplistic? Maybe. And out of step with the modern way which is more nuanced. However, the feeling persists these Lions are sleep-walking into the series – pretty in parts but lacking a killer edge, a ruthlessness that is the first and last hallmarks of a champion side. The Springboks seem always to have it, that animal-like urge to smash the opposition in every phase and in every part of the field. It’s personal with them. This is my land sort of thing. These Lions have yet to roar in that regard.

The Lions, of course, have an ever-changing cast so handling issues will invariably persist, in-game understanding, accuracy here and there. But that clock is ticking too fast for comfort. Of more concern than on-field relationships is the impression the Lions’ roar is muted.

Hence the Telfer reference. Hence the decision to call up Owen Farrell to the touring party, the arch aggressor when it comes to delivering standards in training. There can be no other explanation for his inclusion as Farrell jnr has so little form as a player to be included on merit as a fly-half or inside centre. A Lions tour is a one-shot expedition. There is no development to consider, no point in nurturing future talent. Owen’s locker is stuffed to overflowing with hard-bitten knowhow, just what the Lions need. It doesn’t matter how it has come about. The Lions have to throw everything at it. Owen is worth a punt. In fact, the call-up looks ever more logical after the limp display in Sydney.

It is the timing of the Lions’ underwhelming performance that is most worrying.

As for the Test 23, Andy Farrell has to indicate audition time is pretty much over. There is a strong case for sending out his preferred XV against the Brumbies to deliver a statement performance 10 days out from the first match against the Wallabies. Alternatively, Farrell could opt to slot into a Saturday-Saturday rhythm and hold back his big boys for the Anzac game in Adelaide. Both theories hold ground.

It is the timing of the Lions’ underwhelming performance that is most worrying. At this juncture you would expect the handling errors (14 against the Reds in midweek, 15 here) to have reduced and for there also to be real devil at the breakdown. A few players may only just be getting their Lions spurs but the rump of the squad has been together now for the best part of a month. The Lions’ red zone efficiency against the Tahs was abject. You’d expect better from a Barbarians team just coming together. Perhaps the Lions need to copy the Baa-Baas and have a few days on the beer as well.

This sense of anxious scramble, of earnest endeavour being undermined by straining too hard to make an impression, is why Farrell needs to get his preferred XV out there as soon as possible. After all, he has not just been running the rule over these players for a few weeks. He will have been filling his notebook since the start of the Six Nations. That is why he has to make his call. Bundee Aki, for example, may have just a little bit more to offer than his rival for the no.12 shirt, Sione Tuipulotu, but the benefit of a long-standing understanding was there to be seen in the exquisite timing of the Lions’ first try from Huw Jones – touch, calmness, precision, the try had it all. Jones, for sure, cemented his place with another try and an all-round sense of assuredness in his play.

There were others parts of the Lions’ game that stood up to scrutiny, the set-piece in particular where a late call to arms for Scott Cummings enabled the second-row to make full amends for his earlier meandering form. His oomph and energy, his ceaseless drive, are exactly what the Lions need across the board. Maro Itoje and Joe McCarthy remain, though, the leaders in the lock forward clubhouse.

Have the Lions enough time to raise the bar? In theory, yes. But there needs to be some serious honesty among the players as to what is required. Bonding and brotherhood is all very well as the group takes shape but now is the time for that identity to be revealed in the only place that really matters, not in the team room but out on the pitch. If it needs Owen Farrell to help bring that about on the training paddock then so be it.

It was a frustrating evening in Sydney, the annoyance factor compounded ten-fold by the constant and unwarranted intervention of the TMO as well as by the screeching nincompoop on the in-stadium PA system. It was bad enough to hear such an aural assault on TV. It must have been GBH on the eardrums at the ground itself.

The Lions do have not have unlimited time in which to remedy matters as they have another spate of travel with which to contend. The big personalities need to take charge, to rev up the internal dynamic so when the Lions take the field again at the Suncorp for the first clash with Australia they are in no doubt about what it takes to win a Test match.

Tom Curry may have one more shot at grabbing the seven shirt but Jac Morgan and Josh van der Flier remain ahead of him in the pecking order.

There is no room for the sort of errors that have pock-marked the tour – simple knock-ons or missed one-on-one tackles such as Hugo Keenan’s when Darby Lancaster went for the try line. Keenan may still be off-colour from his illness but there is no slack to be cut at this stage.

Alex Mitchell was a livewire at scrum-half, a boon to the Lions even if he is destined to understudy Jamison Gibson-Park. Fin Smith was a curate’s egg. Even that ho-hum level was above that of Marcus Smith when he came on. The back three has taken shape, partly by default, with Kinghorn, Tommy Freeman and James Lowe in the box seats.

The back-row to contest the breakdown remains a conundrum. There is no doubt the Lions have to have a big man at six, a bruiser such as Ollie Chessum or the more agile Tadhg Beirne who led the team against the Waratahs but has struggled to make the sort of impact we expect from him.

Ben Earl caught the eye at eight albeit he himself did not have the perception to spot a huge overlap outside him when making an upfield break. Jack Conan lends more physicality. Tom Curry may have one more shot at grabbing the seven shirt but Jac Morgan and Josh van der Flier remain ahead of him in the pecking order.

It is time for the Lions to circle those wagons, not because the critical clamour from outside is unfair but simply to find their own mojo. They need to be more direct, more physical, more unforgiving in all they do. The Wallabies, despite their own failings against Fiji, are sleeping easy. It is the Lions who need a wake-up call.