Too big. Too fast. Too strong.
The British and Irish Lions' recipe was simple in the first Test against the Wallabies and they did not need to stray too far from it, such was its effectiveness in their comfortable 27-19 win at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night.
The Lions were completely dominant up front, had wonderful line speed in defence, and gave the Wallabies few opportunities to attack in the first half in Brisbane.
Truth be told, the Lions had this one wrapped up at halftime. While Australia were better in the second half, and started to even the physicality, possession and territory ledger, the 12-point margin at the break always felt like a lofty mountain for the Wallabies to climb.
And Dan Sheehan's try just over a minute after the resumption put the result to bed.
"We started the game unbelievably well as far as that's concerned," Lions coach Andy Farrell said of his side's first-half physicality. "A long with our game control, it settles us in nicely and it allowed us to play the type of rugby we wanted to play.
"We made a few errors on the back of that in the second half, which gave them a little bit of a sniff in the game."
When the Lions had the ball, fly-half Finn Russell pulled the strings of the tourists' attack superbly. Playing behind a pack that bludgeoned Australia into submission in the first 40, the Scotsman put his teammates into space and opened up the Australian defensive line with ease. His pass -- a four-man cut-out -- for Sione Tuipulotu's try, was sublime.
His halves partner Jamison Gibson-Park meanwhile hit his box-kick targets with great accuracy, continually pinning the Wallabies back inside their own 40.
"I thought combination of the two of them together, Jamison and Finn really controlled the game and didn't get bored of doing the right thing," Farrell added. "But when they were able to show the best of themselves, and we know what they've got in the locker as far as their point-of-difference is concerned, every now and again that's the brilliance of the two."
But the tourists' stellar first 50 minutes was built on the back of their forwards. Tadhg Furlong, Tom Curry, Jack Conan, Ellis Genge, Tadhg Beirne and Dan Sheehan were all tireless contributors, setting the platform from which Russell directed traffic. The Wallabies, without star back-rower Rob Valetini, simply had no answer to their opponents' brute physicality. They were whacked hard at the line and then backwards.
That was no more evident than on 18 minutes when, after Tuipulotu's opening score and a Russell penalty, the Wallabies shifted the ball side to side for 12 phases -- and went nowhere.
At halftime the metres carried read 271 to the Lions and 79 for the Wallabies. That told the story of the first half and largely the match, save for some more committed second-half play from the hosts, particularly with the introduction of Angus Bell and Tate McDermott, who added energy off the bench.
While it finished 27-19, this was a far more commanding win for the Lions than that score would suggest. They earlier had seen a first-half try scrubbed off, debatably, after Huw Jones was adjudged to have been tackled before rolling free to score.
While that stung the Lions, Curry's try four minutes before the break added the weight to the halftime deficit that the visitors' play had warranted.
And it was the English openside who produced the play that made the visitors' lead even more impenetrable. From a planned long Wallabies throw, Curry swooped on the loose ball, produced a sensational offload to Russell, who then put Jones into the clear.
While the Scotsman was tackled by the covering Wallabies defence, it didn't take long for the Lions to shift the play short side where Sheehan was never going to be denied in the corner.
While Curry was sensational in attack, the Lions' defensive muscle was typified by Irishman Beirne, who made an incredible 23 tackles and was rewarded with man-of-the-match honours. His countryman Conan wasn't far behind with 16, while the No. 8 also added 63 metres on the attacking side of the ball.
Who knows if those numbers would have held up in the face of Rob Valetini, who was so sorely missed by Australia. The Wallabies had virtually no go-forward in the first 40, the only reason they were in the match at all because of Max Jorgensen's sensational 29th minute try.
From a Jake Gordon box kick, Jorgensen darted through on the chase and while Lions fullback Hugo Keenan appeared to have taken it, the Wallabies winger snatched it from his grasp and beat Russell into the corner for Australia's only moment of first-half joy.
From a better platform in the second half, the Wallabies started to get their game going, with skipper Harry Wilson doing his best to inspire his side -- and a massively subdued local crowd. A couple of bounces of the rugby ball, literally, went against Australia, too, with a looming 50/22 kick from Harry Potter instead rolling dead in the first half, before the winger saw a delightful Wilson grubber dribble left into touch in the second half just when it looked like he would win the race to the ball and the tryline.
Down 24-5, they rumbled away at the Lions' line, drawing a warning for the visitors from referee Ben O'Keeffe for repeated infringements, only to then have a Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii try correctly overturned. The Wallabies centre never released the ball when tackled after running onto an inside pass from McDermott and being dragged over the tryline, with the TMO advising O'Keeffe that there were arms in the tackle from Ben Earl, despite some evidence to the contrary.
That sucked what little hope was left of a comeback for the Australians, with a penalty goal from replacement Marcus Smith taking the visitors that little further in front.
The Wallabies did get upfield once more, again hammering away at the visitors' line on the back of successive penalties, and were eventually rewarded in the shape of a first Test try for replacement Carlo Tizzano. A burrowing effort from McDermott added further respectability to the contest.
But this one was set up in the first half and has surely left Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt with a clear problem to solve next week: They simply must have more power up front.
That will come in the form of Valetini, possibly Will Skelton too, with the forwards duo both set to be fit after suffering calf injuries in the lead-up to the Fiji Test. A start for Angus Bell ahead of veteran James Slipper would also appear to be a smart move.
"Rob's fit, Will Skelton's fit, they both trained really well this morning, but we didn't know if that was going to be close enough to game time or not and so we worked on the premise that we were excited about Nick Champion de Crespigny stepping in," Schmidt said when asked about the availability of Valetini for next week.
"And I think Nick Frost and Jeremy Williams, they served us really well last year, but in terms of lock stocks, they're both young men, they're mid-20s, they've got their best locking days ahead of them. So every time they get an opportunity in a Test arena like this where the pressure is what it is, that's a growth opportunity for them."
Youth and development aside, Schmidt's pack were simply worked in the Suncorp Stadium turf in the first 40 -- and it was always going to be too dark and long a road out of there.
The Lions will meanwhile be reasonably satisfied by their performance, the first-half in particular. While the penalty count finished 11-7 against them, and their scrum was a tad squeaky, they were never under any genuine stress in Brisbane. It has become the happiest of hunting grounds, they have never lost a Test match here.
Sure, the tourists would have loved to have continued their first-half physical dominance for longer in the second stanza, but often a comfortable lead like the one they built in Brisbane can result in those small drops in performance and attitude that affords opposition the time and space they did not have beforehand.
That will disappoint Farrell, but there was far too much to like from his side's first 50 minutes to be kicking stones in the dressing sheds post-match.
Because of that, they are now just 80 minutes from a first series win since their last visit to Australia. While it would not be a central objective of the Lions, they have the chance to pile on even more pain for a long-suffering local rugby public, one that will be hanging on news of Valetini's confirmation on Thursday's teamsheet and some sort of blueprint to cut through a red wall that set up the Lions' 27-19 victory in Brisbane.