Jones Steps Up as Ringrose Sidelined in Lions' Epic Win

Big games call for big moments, and the Lions had two of those late in the first half of Saturday's epic second Test win against Australia at the MCG.

There were just under 32 minutes played when Finn Russell restarted the game after Tom Wright’s try, which put the Wallabies 23-5 ahead.

Five and a half minutes later it was 23-17 after tries for Tom Curry and Huw Jones turned an 18-point game into a six-pointer, and flipped all of the momentum towards the Lions.

In particular, Jones’ try completely changed the complexion of the Test, and altered the massaging from Joe Schmidt and Andy Farrell heading into the half time break.

\"I don't think we ever stopped believing, even at half-time,\" Jones said.

\"Even if we'd been further down, we still had that belief that we'd go on and win it.

\"They'd gone 18 points ahead. It was big of us to fight back and score those two tries before half time.

\"You know they're bringing line speed on the line, so a bit of footwork and you can try and beat someone, and I didn't have far to go.

\"The bench that came on added so much energy. There were a few scrum penalties, the halfbacks had us playing in the right areas.

\"It was just down to good rugby and Hugo finishing at the end.\"

It capped off a week of highs and lows for Jones, who had initially been dropped after the first Test in Brisbane.

Farrell had originally selected Garry Ringrose to start at outside centre, with Jones set to drop out of the matchday 23, before the Ireland international reported symptoms of concussion that ruled him out of the game, and saw Jones come back in to partner Bundee Aki.

\"Pretty mental,\" was how the Glasgow Warriors centre described his week.

\"It's obviously the initial disappointment of not being in the squad on the Tuesday, just internally. I had a chat with Faz Andy Farrell, I was gutted.

\"Garry Ringrose holds his son Freddie after Saturday's win in Melbourne

\"I got over that and was ready to get behind the boys. And then on Thursday we trained and Garry, to be fair to him, said his head just wasn't right.

\"I think he may have got a knock in the session went to the doctor. That's brave.\"

And while Jones ultimately benefitted from Ringrose’s misfortune, he says he was \"gutted\" for the Leinster and Ireland centre.

\"It was at the end of training, I had no idea that he was struggling, but like people have said, it's just a game,\" he said.

\"Your head's very important, you only get one brain and all that.

\"If he's felt the need to say that he was struggling, then fair play to him. I just hope that he gets over it very quickly.

\"I went and chatted to him afterwards and he was emotional.

\"I was gutted for him, because he deserved to play and I know he would have been unbelievable today.

\"That's rugby, that's sport sometimes. So I got a nod after that session.

\"I was ready to step in and luckily I'd run some of the plays on Tuesday, so I was ready to go and got the job done.\"

The Lions squad are set to return to training on Tuesday after being given two days off to enjoy the celebrations of a series win with a game to spare.

And out-half Finn Russell insists those celebrations will be put on ice until after the third Test on Saturday, as the Lions look to complete a first 3-0 sweep over the Wallabies since 1904.

\"Everyone here has been gunning for this for their whole career. To get to the Lions is one thing and then to get a series win is another,\" Russell said.

\"This is my third tour and I’ve not won one so it’s special to get this, bringing four nations together to be a family for five, six weeks.

\"So to get the series is amazing, but the job’s still not done yet. We need to go and try and finish it off.

\"Even though we’ve got the series, we want to finish on a high. Everyone wants to play in that game.\"

Follow a live blog of Australia v British and Irish Lions in the third Test on Saturday from 11am on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.