The British & Irish Lions laboured to a 21-10 win over the New South Wales Waratahs in Sydney, but the result was overshadowed by coach Andy Farrell’s suggestion that the Allianz Stadium surface had been deliberately watered to hamper his side’s handling. Farrell said he questioned Waratahs attack coach Mike Catt about the slick pitch and “he just laughed,” implying gamesmanship after a week of clear weather. Waratahs coach Dan McKellar dismissed the allegation, while captain Hugh Sinclair noted that the venue had already absorbed heavy rain from a mid-week cyclone. Beyond the dispute, the match exposed the tourists’ shortcomings. The Lions committed 13 handling errors, seven of them unforced, and failed to capitalise on long spells of possession despite two tries from centre Huw Jones and one from scrum-half Alex Mitchell. Farrell called the scrappy display “good learning” with less than a fortnight to refine selections before the three-Test series against Australia, beginning in Brisbane on 19 July. Australia also enter the series searching for fluency after scraping past Fiji 21-18 in Newcastle. Captain Harry Wilson scored the winning try in the 79th minute, prompting coach Joe Schmidt to admit equal measures of “relief and frustration” over squandered first-half chances and two disallowed tries. Schmidt expects fly-half Noah Lolesio, who left the field with whiplash, to recover in time and will name his Lions-series squad on Friday, conceding that the Wallabies remain underdogs.