No need to panic, says Faletau

said on the Kiwi’s show of strength in the pack.

‘You don’t become the No1 side in the world without having a quality tight five.

‘We can play down and dirty rugby too if we have to. Tonight’s Test was always going to be won in the tight five. We’ve got to be extremely proud of what they did. We won that battle, but that doesn’t guarantee that will happen next week.’

It was the Lions who showed the attacking sparkle, scoring one of the great tries of all time in the first half starting with full-back Liam Williams running the ball out of his own 22 and ending with flanker Sean O’Brien crashing over after stunning work from Jonathan Davies and Elliot Daly on the counter-attack.

But the All Blacks were too clinical, cashing in on some mistakes by the tourists who must now win in Wellington on Saturday to keep the series alive.

Head coach Warren Gatland demanded more from his forwards in the second Test.

‘We need to be much more physical next week,’ he said. ‘That was disappointing.

‘The All Blacks haven’t played champagne rugby and thrown the ball all over the place. Their tight five were very good, but we need to be tough on ourselves and honest about our performance. A lot of those mistakes are fixable.’ Only two Lions sides have come back from 1-0 down in a series in 129 years of tours, against Australia in 1899 and 1989, but No8 Taulupe Faletau insists the series is far from over. ‘There’s no need for us to panic,’ said the Welshman (left). ‘We still believe we are capable of winning the next game and getting what we want out of this tour, which is the series win.’