England blow away Kiwis in the wind
Ryan tells Lions to stay positive
from JULIE STOTT in Hamilton
RYAN HALL has warned Great Britain of the danger of dwelling on disappointment.
The Lions suffered defeat to Tonga in the opening Test of their four-match tour Down Under.
Winger Hall says it is vital they move on quickly ahead of Saturday’s showdown with New Zealand in Auckland.
The 31-year-old has been capped 38 times by England and knows how opening defeats can eat away at a squad.
He said: “I’ve experienced opening wins and defeats and it’s important that we get our mentality right.
“It is human nature that if you get a disappointment, then you are obviously going to get some negative emotions.
“But if we mope around this week, it will compound itself and it will be twice as bad next weekend. That is the challenge we have got now. It is important that we get buoyant as soon as we can and attack the Kiwis.”
Great Britain created few attacking chances, apart from the move that resulted in John Bateman grabbing a late consolation try.
Tonga, playing under the banner Tonga Invitational XIII because of political in-fighting in the country, scored twice in the first half to take control. But Hall (inset above), who plays for Sydney
JONNY BAIRSTOW put a string of dropped catches down to the wind as England made light work of a New Zealand XI.
The Yorkshireman’s 78 not out from 45 balls delivered a six-wicket win with 11 balls to spare in the Twenty20 warm-up clash in Lincoln.
But England had earlier been rusty in the field.
Newcomer Saqib
Mahmood shelled two straightforward catches at long leg, off the bowling of Pat Brown.
Anton Devcich (62) and Anaru Kitchen (50 not out) lifted the hosts to 172 for four but Bairstow anchored England’s pursuit in his first innings since being dropped from the Test side.
He was unfazed by England’s fielding display, insisting any
Roosters in the NRL, insists the Lions can roar again this week.
He said: “There were some parts we are encouraged by, such as our defence which remained unpenetrated apart from those two tries from kicks.
“If you look at it in that bubble, it was pretty good. But our game management needs to improve.
“There were too many times we were carrying the ball out from our goal line, which suggests we were making it a bit too easy for them to make too many kinks can be ironed out before the start of the T20 series against the Kiwis, which gets under way in Christchurch on Friday.
Speaking about the dropped catches, he said: “That’s a minor negative in what has been a very positive game.
“Just picking up on those catches, one of them dropped short, one of them goes into the yards. We were also on their line a lot but when you do not come up with points, it can put pressure back on ourselves.
“Everyone expects to score, because we are down there for so long, and if we don’t people get frustrated and try to do things differently, instead of sticking to the things we have practised.”
Boss Wayne Bennett is expected to hand a Lions debut to Jake Connor following a tour-ending injury to Oliver Gildart. wind, the others down wind. It’s not just as easy to say, ‘We dropped sitters.’”
Fast bowlers Mahmood and Brown were in England colours for the first time, as was Somerset opener Tom Banton.
Brown leaked 39 runs from his four overs while Mahmood’s last two deliveries were both dispatched beyond the ropes to spoil his figures as he finished with nought for 35.
Banton, meanwhile, launched his second ball for six before being dismissed lbw for 11.
Bairstow added: “This will not be the perfect performance from them.
“There’s bound to be nerves and there is bound to be bits that they want to improve.”