Lions vow not to panic as Gatland takes ‘positives’
Farrell warning to squad over lack of discipline Coach says All Blacks will not be tougher test
The British and Irish Lions insist they will not “hit the panic button” despite suffering their first defeat of the tour against the Auckland Blues yesterday – just three days before they face the Crusaders, New Zealand’s top Super Rugby side, who are on a record-breaking run of 14 successive victories.
A dazzling late try by Ihaia West sealed a 22-16 triumph for the Blues, the weakest of the country’s five Super Rugby teams, at Eden Park.
Warren Gatland’s side delivered a significantly improved display from their subdued 13-7 victory over the part-time Provincial Barbarians side last Saturday, scoring a try through Ireland No 8 C J Stander, with Leigh Halfpenny landing three penalties and a conversion.
The Blues, however, outscored the tourists three tries to one, with All Blacks centre Sonny Bill Williams, described by Lions scrumhalf Rhys Webb as a “monster”, Rieko Ioane and the replacement West touching down.
Lions defence coach Andy Farrell was afterwards forced to deliver a stern warning to the players about their concession of 13 penalties. However, Gatland said both the coaches and players would be “hard on themselves” because indiscipline had been a problem in the opening game, too.
He insisted, though, that he would take a lot of positives from the performances and claimed that, given the strength in depth of rugby in New Zealand, he did not think there would be a lot of difference between some of the Super Rugby sides and the All Blacks.
Gatland is poised to make at least 11 changes for the game against the Crusaders at AMI Stadium in Christchurch following his commitment to give every member of his 41-man squad a start in the first three games.
Jared Payne and Dan Biggar are the only two injury concerns. The Ireland centre came off with a calf injury while Biggar failed a headinjury assessment. Both are expected to be fit for next week.
Webb, who advanced his claims for a place in the Test side with an impressive display, insisted the squad would travel to Christchurch with their heads held high.
“We’re not going to hit the panic button, we’re going to stay positive and look forward to the challenge again on Saturday,” said Webb. “We knew it was going to be tough coming over here. These teams are pretty special and the strength in depth they’ve got is amazing.
“There’s no sense of panic. We’re disappointed but we’ll keep our heads up. We’ll review the game tomorrow and learn from it and move on pretty quick. But we’re not going to drop our heads.”
Williams will today be named in the All Blacks squad for the threetest series. As well scoring an opportunist’s try yesterday after Stephen Perofeta’s penalty bounced off the upright and Jack Nowell was judged to have knocked the ball back over the Lions’ try line, Williams produced a sumptuous offload for West’s decisive score, which the replacement himself converted.
“He’s a monster, isn’t he?” said Webb of Williams. “He got them over the gain line and he’s got that class about him. We know he’s going to be a threat in a couple of weeks’ time, so it was good to play against him now. He’s special, he’s an athlete, he’s world class and a big-game player. We need to be on our money to stop him.”
Gatland said it was important that his side also eradicated several set-piece errors, which included a crooked throw by Wales hooker Ken Owens and an overthrow from his replacement Rory Best, which spoiled the Lions’ final hope of rescuing the game through a lastminute attacking line-out.
“It was a step up on Saturday,” Gatland added. “There are a few areas from the set-piece that we need to tidy up. The scrum was excellent and we kept putting them under pressure and generally the line-out was good on our ball.
“I was pretty happy with the setpiece. We put ourselves in a position to win the game and you can take a lot of positives from that. The Crusaders is going to be another tough encounter, but we will have been together a bit longer, I expect to see an improvement again.
“There is so much strength in depth in this country, I don’t think there will be a lot of difference between some of the Super Rugby sides and the All Blacks. These guys have been together for six months. The All Blacks have come together cold.”