Pumas tame Lions

British and Irish Lions 25 – Argentina 25

It’s funny how you spend all week saying how much you admire these Lions and then, when you go and watch them, you end up wanting them to lose. Of course, I’ll be right behind them when the real deal starts but last night it was difficult to support an outfit that lacked passion and ideas and were outsmarted, outgrunted and outplayed by an under strength Pumas XV that threw everything into the cause. Still, it was a fine atmosphere and an interesting – but not, I feel, historic – occasion and I’m glad I went. The new Lions anthem, screeched by one of those glamorous young opera singers who always seem to pitch up on these occasions, was truly awful. Embarrassing.