Front row club binds together strongly

While we all crank the Outrageo-meter up to about a thousand, the men that count are getting on fine.

The longer this British and Irish Lions’ tour has gone on, the more the rugby has become a subplot. Coaches supping pints, squirrel grips, shoulder charges and disrespectful comments are all the rage instead, as we bystanders seek to build this Lions and All Blacks series up to biblical proportions.

Sometimes it takes a couple of quietly spoken props to put things in perspective.

‘‘There’s no worries off the field. What happens out there kind of stays out there.’’ Joe Moody

‘‘We still spun a bit of chat with our opposites and swapped jerseys,’’ Joe Moody said yesterday, while flanked by fellow loosehead Wyatt Crockett.

‘‘For the most part we’re all good off the park and off the park they’re a good bunch of lads. There’s no worries off the field. What happens out there kind of stays out there.’’

It was Tadgh Furlong’s jumper Moody ended up with when the front rows gathered after the Lions’ 24-21 win at Westpac Stadium. But not before a bit of reflection.

‘‘I soaked up the defeat a bit last night; just embraced that s*** feeling and used that for the week ahead,’’ said Moody.

For Crockett, a veteran of 60 tests, Saturday night marked a rare occurrence. Until then, England 38 New Zealand 21 at Twickenham in 2012 had been the only defeat he’d suffered at test level.

‘‘It’s really disappointing. We put a lot into it and there’s a lot of effort from a big group of people that goes into a test match,’’ Crocket said.

‘‘As Moods says, you take five or 10 minutes in the shed to dwell on it a little bit and then you start thinking about next week. [It’s an] awesome opportunity next week and play the way we want to play and just put in a performance we’re really proud of.’’

Sonny Bill Williams’ 25thminute sending off ended up leaving the forwards, rather than the backs, a man down. With the Lions looking to kick a lot, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen opted to drag flanker Jerome Kaino and replace Williams in the midfield with debutant Ngani Laumape.

That left the pack with an even bigger job to do.

‘‘Everyone’s got to lift and pick up a few extra per cent in everything they do, so you do notice it. At the end of the day I don’t think that was the make or break for the game for us, there was a lot of other stuff we should’ve done better,’’ said Moody.