Queensland

Nathan Collins scored 22 points as England came through a testing final warm-up for the Wheelchair Rugby League Ashes to beat Queensland 72-60 on the Sunshine Coast.

Leeds Rhinos pivot Collins scored two tries and landed seven goals as Tom Coyd’s side had to come back from an early 12-6 deficit against competitive hosts.

Wheels of Steel winner Joe Coyd scored three of England’s 13 tries, and added a goal, as they followed up their 86-10 win over New South Wales in last Friday’s tour opener.

Mason Billington and Luis Domingos both scored twice, with one try each for Rob Hawkins, tour captain Lewis King, Seb Bechara and Finlay O’Neill. Wayne Boardman added a goal to the tally.

For Halifax Panthers youngster O’Neill it was a first international try, and he was watched by his father and grandmother, who have travelled from Yorkshire for the tour’s early stages.

Queensland included several players who are set to feature for Australia against England later this week, including Zac Schumacher, who scored five of their tries, and Bayley McKenna, who converted all nine of his goal attempts.

Dan Anstey and Adam Tannock scored twice for the hosts and Pete Arbuckle once, with their other goal coming from Jack Kruger.

England face a two-Test series against Australia on the Gold Coast, with the first match on Thursday and the second on Sunday.

Like last weekend in Perth, the Lions toiled in the early exchanges, the Reds setting about them with a vengeance, the outstanding centre Hunter Paisami leading the charge.

The Lions grew into the game and completely bossed from late in the first half, but they had their issues before the floodgates opened.

The tourists were wasteful, failing to find their range and dropping ball left, right and centre.

There was the old chestnut of a botched restart reception; there were forced passes and hesitant defence. It wasn’t great. They knocked on eight times to the Reds’ one in the opening 40 minutes, some of them with the hosts struggling to hold them out.

First blood went to the Reds, a bust through the Lions midfield by Paisami giving them field position, some heavy carries taking them deeper still. When the line beckoned, Toomaga-Allen lunged and scored.

Harry McLaughlin-Phillips banged over the extras and the Suncorp rocked to the sound of Reds on the march.

The Lions responded when Daly put Freeman over and Russell tied it up with the conversion, but it was not a cue for the Lions to take control.

Rather, it was the precursor for another Reds try, sparked by Porter getting done on the floor. Paisami was involved again before Kalani Thomas’ grubber kick for Josh Flook down the left.

Van der Merwe hesitated in dealing with the bouncing ball and Flook stole in – 12-7 to the Reds.

The imperfections, and perhaps desperation, in the Lions game was clear with a couple of missed opportunities, but they eventually started to make stuff stick.

Porter drove over after a close-range tap penalty from his Leinster and Ireland front-row pal Ronan Kelleher. Russell converted.

Next, Van der Merwe finished off a terrific move in the corner with the help of Ollie Chessum and Jack Conan. Russell launched the conversion from somewhere close to Caxton Street. A pearler.

At the break, the Lions led 21-12. Could have been better, could have been worse.

It improved early in the new half when smart work from Jamison Gibson-Park drew the heat and then slipped an inside pass for Itoje to crash over.

Russell, who could have kicked them over with his eyes closed, did it again – 28-12 Lions. Getting there.

Farrell made big changes at that point, replacing his front-row and his half-backs.

Not many fireworks from the Russell-Gibson-Park axis but more than enough to get excited about.

The rest is a sea of red. Morgan, doing his mightiest to make a statement, which he did, went over from an Alex Mitchell pass. The Lions were now playing with an intensity that the Reds could not deal with.

Freeman got a second, with Morgan heavily involved at the start of that play, then Jones gathered a daft chip ahead from Tim Ryan and ran more than half the length of pitch to score.

A final try came in the last breath, Ringrose scampering over to bring up the half-century.

It was a pleasing night’s work for the Lions, but the sight of Daly in pain in the aftermath was a troubling one.

Like last weekend with Tomos Williams, the Lions are sweating on a medical call.

In a stadium that has in its day danced to the tune of many different teams from many different sports – the Kangaroos and the Jillaroos, the Reds and the Roar, the Matildas, the Broncos and the Dolphins – it’s the Lions that will fill the place on Wednesday in Brisbane.

Formerly the site of a burial ground and then Lang Park sports stadium, named after a particularly fiery Presbyterian minister from Greenock in Renfrewshire, the Suncorp stands on some interesting terrain in the inner city.

When people say there’s an elephant in the room in this place they’re literally talking about an elephant. Carley, a circus animal, was a beloved performer on this land in the 1950s, so much so that they buried her here after the poor thing performed her last trick for the entertainment of the masses.

The Queensland Reds – coached by Les Kiss who for six years was an assistant with Ireland and for another three was the director of rugby with Ulster – will be looking to do a different kind of burial.

Much of the preamble to the Lions’ second game on Australian soil has, unsurprisingly, centred around the half-back partnership of Scotland’s Finn Russell and Ireland’s Jamison Gibson-Park, two players that serve as a constant reminder that rugby, though a playground for big beasts, can still be artistic and beautiful.

Their combination is one that will have people shifting forward in their seats with quickening pulses. Rugby is forever in danger of eating itself with its inexorable march towards grunt and aggression, but these two remind you of why you might have fallen in love with rugby in the first place.

Not many have ever had their rugby heart stolen by a one-dimensional big banger. But Russell and Gibson-Park and their potential to thrill? That’s different.

They’ve never played together, but Wednesday is the night it happens and if it’s all right then we’re going to be seeing a whole lot more of it in the Saturdays to come.

They’re very different people – Russell gregarious and charismatic, Gibson-Park quiet and laidback – but they’re one and the same when it comes to how the game should be played: fast and furious, off the cuff and adventurous.

Scrum-halves are supposed to be loud and bossy, but Gibson-Park isn’t either of those things. His Lions and Ireland coach Andy Farrell calls him horizontal, such is his unflappable personality.

His speed of thought is electrifying, his accuracy when firing passes that are so on the money that they can eliminate two and three defenders in an instant is unerring.

His quick taps bamboozle defences, his support lines mess with their heads, his ability to scan a field and know in an instant where the space is is a large part of the reason why Ireland have been so consistent over so many years. He’s a totem of that team – tiny but towering at the same time.

It’s said that there is only one Antoine Dupont, but that’s not really true. There’s one and three-quarters and the three-quarters is Gibson-Park. At his best, he’s very much in the same conversation as the great Frenchman.

And now we get to see him play with Russell, the great conductor at 10, a figure of growing authority on the back of a confidence-boosting and trophy-laden season with Bath.

The double threat is what Lions’ fans have wanted to see. Normally a coach wouldn’t necessarily play his first-choice 10 on Saturday and Wednesday, but Farrell is making an exception in Brisbane because he, as much as anybody else, is mustard keen to see how these two will gel. Why wait? Just crack on.

They’ve had a few training sessions but no game time together. Will the lack of familiarity get in the way or will it be chemistry from minute one? Intriguing.