Lions coach Farrell accuses Waratahs of watering the field after close win

Andy Farrell has accused the Waratahs of watering the Allianz Stadium surface ahead of facing the British and Irish Lions on Saturday.

The match ended in a close 10-21 win for the Lions, with the Waratahs shocking the visitors with their relentlessness. After being asked in the post-match conference about his side’s performance at the breakdown where Waratahs’ Charlie Gamble dominated, Farrell pointed to potential slippery tactics from NSW.

“For whatever reason, and I actually don’t care, it’s great for us, the pitch was very wet and I was asking Mike Catt (Waratahs assistant coach) after the game and he was laughing,” Farrell said.

“But I mean, that’s good tactics from them, isn’t it? That the ball’s slippy, the breakdown’s ferocious enough and the line speed is high-octane stuff as well from them...I believe that it could be wet on Wednesday (in Canberra against the Brumbies) anyway, so we’ll take that.”

Venues NSW ground staff have been working around the clock to get the Allianz Stadium surface ready after fierce criticism of the SCG surface, which head curator Adam Lewis labelled “over the top”.

Lewis said on Friday that he was confident that the neighbouring Allianz Stadium surface would hold up to the Lions’ visit on Saturday evening.

Lewis also said that grow lamps had been used out and the whole field had been matted to protect it.

Farrell said that watering a pitch was a tactic that was used in rugby and was unsurprised when the team entered the stadium to a pitch that was wet underfoot.

“We’ve seen that done plenty of times, I don’t know whether the pitch needed watering,” Farrell said.

After being reminded that Sydney had experienced extremely heavy rain on Tuesday and asked whether the team was not expecting the field to be wet, Farrell responded that the weather for the rest of the week had been nice.

“We know all that (about Tuesday’s rain) but I’ve been here (in Sydney) for two days as well,” Farrell said. “It’s been glorious, it’s been glorious and the pitch was ok and again, we’re not complaining...we know what’s coming and we’ve got to be ready for anything and be able to adapt.”

Waratahs coach Dan McKellar denied that his side had watered a field that is renowned for its difficulties with its drainage system and is likely to be replaced after the NRL finals.

“Andy (Farrell) was probably sunning himself in Brisbane on Tuesday, but it wasn’t pleasant in Sydney, that’s for sure,” McKellar said.

“I had too much to think about to be worried about water on the pitch.”

Farrell and the Lions will travel to Canberra for Wednesday’s game against the Brumbies with rain forecast for Tuesday.

That’s me done for the night, we’ll wrap the live blog up. Early rise for Sydneysiders to get up to Newcastle for the Wallabies-Fiji Test tomorrow.

We’ll be back blogging that, naturally. Or you can watch on a TV if you have one.

The crowd here at Allianz Stadium was 40,568, which is just short of a sell-out but was a record for rugby at the remodelled venue. And it was the fifth biggest crowd overall.

It was a great night. (Just don’t mention the TMO).

Keep an eye out for Jonathan Drennan’s updated match report tonight, and follow-up interviews from the sheds online tomorrow.

Good night.

Here are the key stats for the night.

The turnover count is one, and so too is the lack of attacking possession and territory.

Sione Tuipulotou also gave credit to the Waratahs for making the game “really messy for us”, and said he expects the Wallabies will take note.

“We weren’t as clinical as we’d like to be but credit goes to them. They made the game ugly for us and hard for us to exit, and got after us at ruck time. Credit to them,” Tuipulotou said.

“Our breakdown wasn’t good enough. I thought Charlie Gamble and Rob Leota and the backrow really made it difficult for us to play our game, because they got after us at breakdown time. That’s something we will have to review because that’s something the Wallabies will look to do. They’ve got some good poachers in their team as well.”

The Waratahs extracted 10 turnovers out of the Lions, and the visitors only managed one.

Tuipulotu said he was stoked to be back in Australia as a Lion.

“It is a little bit of a strange feeling (playing in Australia), getting to play with some of the boys I grew up with, like Rob Leota tonight. But I am really proud to represent the Lions here, and my family can come and watch me. My mum and dad are here tonight.

We have entered the last ten minutes and the Waratahs are still right in this game. They’re trailing by 11 points and are scrapping for everything.

It’s been a gutsy performance from the Waratahs, particularly in the last quarter, when the Lions’ experience factor dials up considerably with their stacked bench.

Barely anyone gave the Waratahs a shot of competing tonight in Sydney, apart from within the walls of their training base in Daceyville. They have competed brilliantly, facing world-class opposition and brutal scrutiny from referee Paul Williams.

After so much hard work, they have too often found themselves on the wrong side of the whistle and are looking exhausted. NSW have given everything tonight and frustrated the Lions, but it’s going to be a long twenty minutes as the fresh Lions roar.