Andy Farrell has just 10 days to fix these three glaring emergencies - or Lions series will end in tears

One more tour game to go and then the Lions can head to Brisbane and settle in one place, with a mission to find solutions to three glaring, recurring problems before they confront the Wallabies.

Breakdown, restarts and handling. There are now emergencies in each area. Quick fixes must be found.

Unfortunately for the roaming Lions, it will be difficult to problem-solve effectively until they have some respite in the schedule and that won’t happen yet. First, they will arrive in Adelaide on Thursday and promptly name another line-up for another pre-Test series fixture, against the Australia & New Zealand Invitational XV on Saturday.

Once that potentially dangerous assignment is over, a relocation to Queensland will allow a proper period of reflection and remedial work. Andy Farrell and his assistant coaches have to work out the complex permutations of selection while being mindful of how each choice will impact the primary objective, which can be summed up in four words: look after the ball.

Wednesday's latest victory over gallant provincial opposition highlighted the urgent need for the Lions to stop squandering possession, or risk playing into the hands of the Wallabies.

With the host nation’s head coach, Joe Schmidt, watching from the stand at GIO Stadium, the Brumbies were able to put pressure on their vaunted visitors and threaten an upset, in much the same way the Waratahs had done in Sydney four days earlier before eventually losing 21-10.

It was similarly close against the top-ranked Australian side in Super Rugby because the Lions were again guilty of giving the ball away; 15 times on this occasion. The ruck was once more a trouble hot-spot as the Brumbies won five turnovers to the tourists’ three –replacement flanker Luke Reimer claiming two of them, one more than each of Tom Curry, Tommy Freeman and Maro Itoje managed in response. All too often, Lions’ attacks foundered as the breakdown was plundered.

In the Waratahs game, it had been even more of a mismatch, with the home side’s nine turnovers eclipsing the Lions’ one. The poacher-in-chief during that game, Charlie Gamble, said his team set out to disrupt Andy Farrell’s side with defensive line-speed and by aggressively competing over the ball, after seeing Argentina have success with that approach on the way to a famous 28-24 win over the British and Irish in Dublin.

After this close encounter, head coach Farrell addressed the primary fault which must be repaired in Brisbane, once there are several days of uninterrupted training – a luxury that the tourists haven’t enjoyed while cramming in two games per week.

‘As far as the breakdown is concerned, we knew that was going to be the case,’ he said. ‘Australia have always gone hard at the breakdown and anyone who analyses the way we have been playing, that is what you would do.’

He then hinted at concerns over officiating interpretations, adding: ‘The pressure at the breakdown is no surprise to us. Sometimes it is a mess. We have to make sure we keep asking for clarity as far as that is concerned, because we don’t want the game managed, we just want the game to be as it is. But first things first, we need to look after our own ruck.’

Itoje, the Lions captain and a renowned breakdown operator, also emphasised the need to take control, clean up the mess and deal with the onslaughts which will keep coming their way.

‘We need to be more accurate,’ he said. ‘We need to remove the contest from the referee or the Brumbies or whoever the opposition is. That’s an area of the game that we’ll continue to get better at.’

Asked if he sought any explanations from referee Pierre Brousset, Itoje added: ‘It’s a hotly contested area and I’m sure If you were in the Brumbies camp, they will feel a little bit aggrieved about some of the decisions as well. It’s rugby. The breakdown is one of the big contest areas of our game and it’s an area that I think, because of the way we attack, they’re going for it.’

In last week’s win over the Reds in Brisbane, Wales captain Jac Morgan enhanced his Test selection prospects with a supreme performance which included three turnovers. In this latest game, Curry was the starting openside and there is always an assumption that the person in that position must take primary responsibility for the breakdown battle.

However, speaking before the game, the Sale flanker argued that it is a collective duty to combat the jackal threats in the opposition ranks, saying: ‘Especially around the breakdown, it is not just the back row, it is 1-23.

'We all have to step up our game there. We don’t have enough time to train the physicality or the accuracy, so you just have to be on it. It is more of a mental thing.’

Farrell and his assistants face a dilemma about the right back-row combination to lead a breakdown recovery process. Morgan, Curry and Josh van der Flier are all vying to start in the openside berth, with Ollie Chessum’s fine performance against the Brumbies thrusting him into pole position to be first-choice on the other flank. 

Such a scenario would arm the Lions with another lineout specialist, but targeting the rucks has to be the priority, so Morgan could be right in the hunt.

The Lions must also look after the ball at the restarts and their continuing failure to do so is one of the more baffling elements of this tour to date. This time, Itoje himself suffered a couple of highly unusual aerial lapses.

It was as if the bug first caught – if that is the right word – by Scotland lock Scott Cummings in Perth had partially transferred to the skipper.

The Wallabies have a soaring predator in the shape of cross-code recruit Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and Schmidt will gleefully plan for the rookie sensation to wreak havoc under the high ball, unless the Lions can tighten up their work in a hurry.

As for the handling, the hope must be that it will click with more training time to sharpen up, as it was often sloppy and loose in this game. The Lions scored five tries but should have had several more.

When it all knitted together, they were deadly in flashes – notably for the tries by Marcus Smith and Garry Ringrose either side of half-time – but too often they lacked cohesion and precision.

At fly-half, Finn Russell’s distribution was effortlessly, gloriously sublime. His delayed pass to release Curry in the build-up to Smith’s try was an act of instinctive, trademark class. But outside him, Bundee Aki’s formidable presence as a gainline-busting runner was frequently undermined by his erratic handling.

On this evidence, if the Lions want craft as well as muscle in midfield, Sione Tuipulotu should be chosen with either Ringrose or Huw Jones.