Coaches put through emotional wringer

We’ve come with a mentality of the next game is the most important one and that’s tomorrow night.

Steve Hansen spoke yesterday after his team’s first test victory over the Lions about being sore just watching it, and he was probably only half joking.

He, with the rest of his management group, would have felt mentally and emotionally, if not physically, spent after the effort put in during the week to prepare their men for the battle ahead, and it was a battle.

The test was easily the most significant at Eden Park since the 2011 World Cup, and the match itself, with the early injuries to Ryan Crotty and Ben Smith, and the brilliant try finished by Sean O’Brien that brought the Lions back to near-even terms, would have put them through an emotional wringer.

Spare a thought, then, for Warren Gatland and his assistants. They went through the same emotions and mental strain — and their team lost.

How hard it must be for Gatland and company to pick themselves up after such a crushing defeat, not only for the second test at Westpac Stadium on Saturday, but for tonight’s final midweek match of the tour against the Hurricanes, one which must feel all but irrelevant now.

The Lions’ coaches would have put everything into their preparations last week because, realistically, they had to win it to have any chance of winning the series. They may feel the Cake Tin will prove more hospitable next Saturday — at least it’s not fortress Eden Park — but the reality may be very different.

The players will know they gave it a good shot against the All Blacks, one that might have beaten any other international team, but that they came up well short. Mentally, it’s a

Steve Borthwick, Lions’ assistant coach

bitter blow they may not recover from and, given the strength of the Hurricanes’ backline, they could end their tour with three losses in 12 days.

Gatland will come under increasing scrutiny this week by the media wanting to see if he doubles down on his suggestions the All Blacks deliberately set out to hurt Lions halfback Conor Murray, so he as much as anyone needs a win over the Hurricanes to change the message.

There will be scrutiny on Hansen, too, but, again he is coming from a position of strength because his team won.

He told Radio Sport host Martin Devlin when questioned about Gatland’s claims over targeting of Murray: “It’s predictable coming from Gatland — two weeks ago we cheated in the scrums, last week it was blocking, now we’re saying this.

“It’s really, really disappointing to hear what he’s implying, that we are intentionally going out to injure somebody. That is not the case, we’ve never been like that, and as a New Zealander I expect him to know the New Zealand psyche. It’s not about intentionally trying to hurt anyone, it’s about playing hard and fair.”

One man not taking any notice of what is said off the pitch is Lions assistant coach Steve Borthwick, a former England lock.

“We want to get a win,” he said of the Hurricanes match. “We’ve come with a mentality of the next game is the most important one and that’s tomorrow night. The players are eager and ready to go, and have prepared well for it. We know it’s a sellout out against a really strong side and it’s a great challenge. We need to improve and everyone is involved in that process.

‘‘We need to get better — that’s players and coaches and everyone around this team who has an input into this team and everybody does.

“Clearly we lost too many contacts [in the first test]. That happened and we ended up on the wrong side of the scoreboard, we know that needs to be addressed.’’

Borthwick wouldn’t get into whether the ABs tried to hurt Murray.