WHAT WENT WRONG? THE FULL DEBRIEF AS LIONS LOSE TO BLUES
RHYS WEBB insists the Lions won’t be pressing the panic button, nor making excuses, as they look to put their tour back on track against the bang-in-form Crusaders this weekend.
Warren Gatland’s side followed their unimpressive opening tour win over the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians with a disappointing 22-16 loss to the Blues at Eden Park yesterday.
Things don’t get any easier this weekend as the Lions meet Super Rugby table-toppers the Crusaders, who boast a 100 per cent 14 out of 14 winning record this season.
In contrast, the Blues are the lowest-ranked of the five Kiwi franchises, with just seven victories in their Super14 games.
However, they were still able to put the Lions to the sword, although Gatland’s men are adamant they can right the wrongs in time for the clash with the Crusaders and, more importantly, the looming three-Test showdown with Steve Hansen’s world champions.
Gatland stated his team shot themselves in the foot by giving away far too many penalties and his verdict was backed up by Welsh scrumhalf Webb.
He said: “We’re disappointed with the loss, although obviously there was an improvement from the game last week. It was just discipline and the bounce of the ball. Our lack of discipline was a big factor.
“You can’t afford to be giving these teams, or New Zealand, a lot of penalties because they will punish us. It’s a big area throughout the squad that we need to put right.
“They are easy fixes, not too much to worry about.
“We learn from this and have to move on pretty quickly. We felt it was one that got away.”
He continued: “We’re not going to hit the panic button.
“We’re going to stay positive and look forward to the challenge again on Saturday.
“We knew coming over here it was going to be tough. These teams are pretty special and the strength in depth they’ve got is amazing. “Credit the Blues on the win, but we’re not going to drop our heads. We’ll review the game, learn from it and move on.
“We didn’t really perform that well last Saturday, but we’re not going to chuck in these excuses with jet lag and stuff like that. We’re a professional unit.
“We knew it was going to be tough over here and that’s what you play rugby for.
“We want to try and maintain momentum going forward, but you’ve got to learn as well. We’ve taken a bit of a hit from the Blues game, but we played some good rugby at times and should be positive and look to get back to winning ways on Saturday.”