Eden Park BREAKDOWN

Poor kicking a Black mark

THE old adage is defence wins championships but kickers are also high on the list of requirements and Beauden Barrett’s poor percentage off the tee is now a serious All Black weakness. Six from six in week one, he was 70 per cent in week two (seven from 10) and yesterday worse again, 50 percent (two from four), his early penalty miss a shocker.

Time for some wise heads

IT was a bad night for concussion protocols. How Alun-Wyn Jones was allowed back on after his HIA defied belief, the lock clattered in the head by both the yellow-carded Jerome Kaino and Samuel Whitelock. There was also the situation where Kieran Read wasn’t forced off for a first-half check. Player safety was compromised and it must stop.

Sloppy Kiwis a rare sight

IT’S rare to see the All Blacks so sloppy retaining the ball in general play, but their concession of 21 turnovers in this third Test meant they could never shake off the Lions, who coughed up on 17 occasions. What will hurt New Zealand most is the number of times possession went astray in the opposition 22, which was very out of character.

Lions the better behaved

THE Lions were at pains in the buildup to insist that they had to curtail the number of penalties they were conceding or else face defeat. They had given up 24 infringements in the previous two matches to the All Blacks’ 15, but they finally got the desired improved behaviour here at Eden Park, the penalty count reading five-nine (and a sin-binning) in their favour.

Farrells have a topic to tackle

THE Lions finished with an 82 per cent tackle success rate (77/94), something that cost in the opening half where they conceded the game’s only two tries. It wasn’t massively worse than the All Blacks’ 86 per cent (84/94), but it should be a topic of conversation in the Farrell household, defence coach Andy seeing son Owen miss five of his tackles.