Big tests the tourists will have to pass in Wellington
After the Lions’ 30-15 defeat in Saturday’s first Test, Gavin Mairs looks at five issues they must address
Nullifying the threat of the All Blacks’ scrum-half
The All Blacks managed to neutralise the British and Irish Lions’ hopes of putting their opponents under pressure with a ferocious line speed by playing the ball close to the fringes of the breakdown and sending a number of runners and decoy runners off scrum-half Aaron Smith. It forced the Lions defence to become flat-footed and let the All Blacks get their offloading game going and thrust beyond the gain line.
“It was our ability to play off nine and hurt them by getting in behind them and taking away what they wanted to do with us,” said All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen of the key factor in his side’s victory. “We built the pressure, and time after time. That fatigues you, and fatigue makes you make mistakes.”
Jack Nowell, one of the Lions’ most potent exponents of such a game plan, admitted that preventing their opponents from wreaking similar damage in Wellington was critical. “You could see what they were doing,” said Nowell. “We obviously back our line speed and defence, and they took that option away from us by keeping it quite tight. I think we have to stop them on the gain line and stop them from offloading.
“We have to be ready for it.”
Be streetwise, ruthless and take your chances
Codie Taylor’s try will have made for X-rated viewing for the Lions. It is simply unacceptable at this level to switch off when your opponents have a kickable penalty, but that is what the tourists did.
It takes just a second for the ever-scanning eyes of Aaron Smith and Beauden Barrett to realise what is on, but some of the Lions forwards were caught turning away from the ball, and Elliot Daly admitted he had been caught asleep when the ball was quickly spun wide, with Taylor’s pick-up from a difficult pass worthy of a try alone.
Yet the Lions must also find a way of combating the All Blacks’ cunning, too. In the build-up to Rieko Ioane’s first try, flanker Sam Cane can be seen holding Sean O’brien back as the ball is flicked away by Kieran Read. With O’brien out of the game, the try was on. In contrast, for all the breathtaking counter-attacks launched by the Lions, they never managed to put the All Blacks under scoreboard pressure, after failing to convert three try-scoring opportunities.
The fact the Lions made 11 incursions into the All Black 22 and scored points on just three of them makes for grim reading – especially when Steve Hansen’s side kept the scoreboard ticking over on six of the eight occasions they were deep in Lions territory.
Winning the collisions, in the front five especially
“As a Kiwi,” said Warren Gatland, “I understand what the mindset
[of the All Blacks] is. It’s to stop the strength of the opposition. They went out there to stop our line speed, our driven line-out, and at some stage to have a crack at our scrum, and they did all those things and were very physical at the breakdown.”
Gatland was most critical of his forwards’ inability to win enough of the collisions. Expect changes for Saturday, with Maro Itoje set to start along with the return of Sam Warburton at six.
Courtney Lawes and Iain Henderson are also pushing hard for a place in the squad. A key concern was the All Blacks’ ability to sack the Lions’ driving maul. “We’ve had a look at it and we just need to ask the referee, in terms of sacking. It is not illegal, but there are times when they’re sacking and other players are also joining,” added Gatland.
“I need to ask, ‘Is that a maul or do eight players still continue to sack it while other players are joined to the maul as well?’ There were a number of incidents like that, so they’ve done a good job in terms of negating that aspect of our game, and we need to look at that or potentially play the way that we play.”
Discipline, discipline, discipline
It has been a common theme on this tour. The Lions, when the chips are down, have conceded too many penalties, and at critical moments in matches. Against the All Blacks, it is a fatal flaw. The Lions conceded only 11 penalties on Saturday, but the analysis of when and where they were penalised had a major influence on allowing the All Blacks to take the game away from the tourists.
“We’ve given away a few soft penalties and they’ve been costly,” said Gatland. “In the games here, when the discipline has been good and we’ve given away less than 10 penalties in the game it’s been reflected in the performance. You put yourself under pressure by giving away soft penalties.”
Dominate more at scrum time
The Lions hoped that their scrum would be a key attacking weapon, but it is an area in which the All Blacks went after the Lions, with one defining shunt culminating in a try for Ioane, thanks to a brilliant
‘You put yourself under pressure by giving away soft penalties’
flick of the ball off the ground by Read. The All Blacks caught the Lions pack by surprise for a few fatal seconds by keeping the ball in the scrum instead of playing off quick ball.
“I wasn’t surprised, because the All Blacks are an unbelievable forward pack,” said Lions prop Joe Marler. “But that’s what you get when you’ve got two world-class packs who are going hell for leather at each other at scrum time. On that occasion we lost out and it cost us dearly, but the boys will work on that and we’ll try to fix that this week.”