Andy Farrell fires up British and Irish Lions for ‘biggest game of our lives’ against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in second Test

The Lions have won just a single series since the turn of the Millennium and that was back in 2013 against Australia, the same foes they are tasked with vanquishing this time around.

“If you can’t get up for what’s coming, we’re all in the wrong place,” said Lions coach Farrell. “To me, this is the biggest game of our lives, every one of us.”

The tourists were 19 points clear of their hosts at one stage in the first Test, but a late Australia fightback dampened what could have been an emphatic scoreline.

But Farrell was wary of complacency setting in, perhaps recalling that the Lions went down 16-15 in the second Test in Melbourne 12 years ago.

In response to whether there was any room for improvement, Farrell said: “Plenty, yes. There will have to be plenty to get to the point where a win’s on the cards because we know that Australia are going to be… can you put a percentage on it? It’s going to be a lot.”

And maybe the head coach was also responding to a less-than-perfect performance in their final warm-up game on Tuesday evening.

Farrell compared his side’s performance to “an exhibition match” in the aftermath.

“We started to play the game a little bit like an exhibition match, and it was never going to be like that,” said Farrell.

“We weren’t earning the right to play. There’s an allure of space that we thought was there and it wasn’t there. We kept playing out the back and big wide passes and getting hit behind the gain-line and making it tough for ourselves.”

Second row Joe McCarthy looks set to be one of those to miss the match, along with Mack Hansen, who is still recovering from a foot injury.