REALITY BITES AS LIONS CRASH
All Blacks show who’s best
THE Lions exited Eden Park defiantly making their case for a series comeback – but after going the same way as every visiting side at Auckland’s rugby graveyard over the past 23 years their chances look bleak.
Warren Gatland’s side provided the moment of the first Test with Sean O’Brien’s try for the ages. But an All Blacks collective that was more powerful in the forward exchanges and finished more clinically ran out deserved winners. Nothing suggests the outcome will be any different in Wellington next weekend.
Rieko Ioane’s two tries in his first Test start took the limelight but it was the All Blacks’ dominance up front in what was supposed to be the Lions’ domain which was the real area of significance.
“You don’t become the best side in the world for as long as we have without a strong tight five and I think we won the battle,” said All Blacks coach Steve Hansen.
“I always find it amusing when everyone tells us they are going to beat us up in the tight five. We’re not just a team that can play flashy rugby, we can play down and dirty rugby too.”
These Lions have built their approach on the rush defence system which had unsettled the Maori, but the All Blacks adapted to it by sending waves of runners, including the outstanding Brodie Retallick, into the tourists’ underbelly off short passes from scrum-half Aaron Smith.
The approach surprised the Lions, who eventually wilted in the second half having been forced to make 175 tackles. They were even steamrollered at one scrum.
“I thought the team executed the plan very well. We felt we could hurt them if we could take away their line speed. We built some real pressure playing off nine. They had to make a lot of tackles and that fatigues you. When you’re fatigued, you make mistakes,” said Hansen.
Some of the mistakes were avoidable. Elliot Daly took responsibility for the overlap which allowed hooker Codey Taylor to cross for a well-taken first-half try after a quickly-taken tap penalty. “We have to be up for it all the time and expecting everything, for the first try I probably fell asleep a little bit,” said Daly.
Liam Williams was at fault for Ioane’s second try, dropping a high ball. But on the flip side the Saracensbound full-back was the catalyst behind O’Brien’s brilliant 36th-minute try which brought Eden Park to its feet. Williams turned Kieran Read to stone in his own 22 before handing off Aaron Cruden and, after a one-two between Jonathan Davies and Daly, O’Brien was on hand to score what Hansen described as one of the best tries he had seen.
“It was on and I had a go and at the end of that move we’d scored in the left-hand corner,” said Williams. “I looked up, I saw a bit of space and I just stuck my head down.”
Substitute scrum-half Rhys Webb also touched down for a consolation try in injury time for the Lions but the All Blacks, for whom Beauden Barrett landed all six of his kicks, reigned supreme.
New Zealand will be without centre Ryan Crotty for the second Test after he pulled a hamstring yesterday and also have concerns over full-back Ben Smith with concussion.
The Lions are likely to promote Maro Itoje to the starting line-up in place of Alun Wyn Jones and may make further changes after sifting through the evidence of Tuesday’s match against the Hurricanes.
The Lions have won a series after losing the first Test only twice in their proud history, and one thing they cannot count on is New Zealand complacency. “The job isn’t done,” warned Hansen. “It’s a three-match series. So many times in sport the winning team gets knocked over the next week. They’re a good team and if we don’t prepare well, we’ll come second in Wellington.”