Lions exposed as stunning All Blacks show the gulf in class
It was a forlorn scene as the Lions traipsed round the field, acknowledging the thousands of red-clad supporters who had retained the faith in saluting their heroes no matter the damning evidence of the Eden Park scoreboard.
The fans, soaked by the sluicing rain but not subdued, clung to the romance of the experience. The players themselves, crestfallen and chastened, knew better. This was not a fairy tale but a recurring nightmare.
You compete, you contest, but you are simply blown away by the clinical execution of the opposition.
It was not that the Lions were inept. It was that the outcome had a sense of inevitability about it. This was a lap of deep reflection for the Lions. The honour belonged to the All Blacks.
The Lions had been given a masterclass. They had created several decent opportunities but failed to get across the line, notwithstanding the Liam Williams-inspired rabbit-out-of-the-hat touchdown by Sean O’Brien in the 36th minute nor the late effort from Rhys Webb. O’Brien’s try was the exception on the night, a lone example of boldness getting its reward through poise at the crunch moment allied to good support play. It was a rage against the dying of the light, but darkness still fell on the Lions.
The Lions will rue their rashness, converting just one from four giltedged opportunities (excepting Webb’s effort). The All Blacks, meanwhile, hit a perfect return on their sorties towards the try-line, rookie wing Rieko Ioane getting two tries, hooker Codie Taylor the other. This was Ioane’s first start while Taylor is not normally first choice. Such riches. Such prowess. Scary.
Throughout the tour, the Lions’ Achilles heel has been their finishing. They have created but they have not converted their chances. The All Blacks are the most potent side in the world in the danger zone, an area that extends the length of the pitch as far as they are concerned, while the Lions have left tries out on the pitch right throughout the tour. The All Blacks, by contrast, delivered, the men in black with the cold-eyed ability of the assassin. One shot is all they need.
There were other frailties in the Lions’ game. Their discipline was wayward, their error-count under duress too high and their concentration levels variable. Elliot Daly was caught napping out wide on the left for Taylor’s straightforward try from Aaron Smith’s eagle-eyed tap penalty. “I was in no man’s land,” was Daly’s apology to his team-mates at half-time.
But there are deeper concerns than mere lapses in focus. In the macho posturing that attends such north versus south battles, it is often claimed that European teams have the whip hand when it comes to forward play. If there was one match that proved that such a theory was bunkum it was this one at Eden Park.
The All Black front five (if firstchoice hooker Dane Coles is fit) stands on a par with any of recent times. The second-row combination of Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick is without equal. Retallick was a colossus on the night, challenging, relentless and ever-present.
The Lions were bested and beasted at the breakdown. They were also sucker-punched in and around the narrow confines of the base of the scrum, where the All Blacks drove hard and often off Aaron Smith. It was a ploy to negate the aggressive line speed of the Lions in defence. And it worked to a tee. You might argue that the All Blacks were right on the edge of legality in the way they smashed forward. And you would be right.
To suggest that referee Jaco Peyper was lenient is to miss the essence of this elevated level of competition. You push the parameters and you make it happen for you. The All Blacks did that in Dublin in November after their defeat by Ireland in Chicago. Pressure does not cripple them, it energises them.
They sure as hell did not want to be associated with “negative history”, as former All Black wing John Kirwan terms it, the first All Black side to lose at Eden Park in 23 years.
They had some big performers on the night. Sam Cane put in a shift that was reminiscent of the man before him in the No7 shirt, Richie McCaw, while scrum-half Aaron Smith, that quicksil- ver, ever-alert figure, was the perfect man to set New Zealand’s game plan into motion, his tap penalty in the 17th minute leading to the Taylor try.
There is no more aware No9 in the world, popping passes, finding close support, helping set the Lions back on their heels. The vaunted aggressive defence was put in its box.
And then there was Kieran Read. The All Black No8 has become just the sort of go-to leader that his predecessor McCaw was: selfless, rugged and wholly committed despite the fact that he had not played for seven weeks with a broken thumb. It looked as if he had never been away. Read’s flick up to Aaron Smith at a dominant All Black scrum in the 55th minute sent his team on their way to the try-line again, Ioane diving in at the corner. Slick, unfussy, devastatingly effective.
The Lions did have their upbeat periods. They ought to have made better use of a first-minute upfield bust by Jonathan Davies, a portent of things to come. They also began the second-half at a rattle, but again they were unable to seal the deal on two more promising situations, not just failing to get across the line, but also getting turned over and losing possession.
The Williams coup de theatre will be seared in many a memory bank, the full-back taking a tricky inside ball from Anthony Watson and going for broke. Past one defender, past two, and on and on up the field. Davies was in support, the centre feeding Daly who leaned in and then out, then back infield, and just as Davies was gangtackled, there was O’Brien in support to score.
It was a length-of-the-field sequence, in the style of the immortal 1973 Barbarians.
Williams, though, was to show the flip side of his game with a blooper under the high ball in the 69th minute, Ioane profiting as he streaked clear. Webb, who had come on for Conor Murray, got a poacher’s try on the final whistle. It was scant consolation. The Lions had been well beaten.
Scores 3-0 Barrett pen; 8-0 Taylor try; 10-0 Barrett con; 10-3 Farrell, pen; 13-3 Barrett, pen; 13-8 O’Brien, try; 18-8 Ioane, try; 20-8 Barrett, con; 23-8 Barrett, pen; 28-8 Ioane, try; 30-8 Barrett, con; 30-13 Webb, try; 30-15 Farrell, con. Referee Jaco Peyper (S Africa)