Lions staying upbeat despite Blues defeat
The British and Irish Lions insist they will not “hit the panic button” despite suffering their first defeat of the tour against the Blues — just three days before they face the Crusaders, New Zealand’s top Super Rugby side, who are on a record- breaking run of 14 successive victories.
A dazzling late try by Ihaia West secured a historic 22- 16 victory for the Blues, the weakest of the country’s five Super Rugby teams, at Eden Park.
Warren Gatland’s side delivered a significantly improved display from their subdued 13- 7 victory over the part- time Provincial Barbarians side last Saturday, scoring a try through Ireland No 8 CJ Stander, with Leigh Halfpenny landing three penalties and a conversion.
The Blues, however, outscored the tourists three tries to one, with All Blacks midfielder Sonny Bill Williams — described by Lions halfback Rhys Webb as a “monster” — Ihaia West and Rieko Ioane touching down.
Lions defence coach Andy Farrell was afterwards forced to deliver a stern warning to the players about their concession of 13 penalties. However, Gatland said both the coaches and players would be “hard on themselves” because indiscipline had been a problem in the first two games.
He insisted, though, that he would take positives from the performances and claimed that, given the strength in depth of rugby in New Zealand, he did not think there would be a lot of difference between some of the Super Rugby sides and the All Blacks. Gatland on Thursday made several changes for the game against the Crusaders at AMI Stadium, with Conor Murray, George North, Jonathan Davies and Sean O’Brien all starting for the first time on tour.
Webb, who advanced his claims for a place in the test side with an impressive display against the Blues, insisted the squad would hold their heads high.
“We’re not going to hit the panic button, we’re going to stay positive and look forward to the challenge again on Saturday,” he said. “We knew it was going to be tough coming over here. These teams are pretty special and the strength in depth they’ve got in these teams is amazing.”
As well scoring an opportunist’s try after Stephen Perofeta’s penalty bounced off the upright and Jack Nowell was judged to have knocked the ball back over the Lions’ try line, Williams produced a sumptuous offload for West’s decisive score.
“He’s a monster, isn’t he?” Webb said of Williams. “He got them over the gain line and he’s got that class about him. We know he’s going to be a threat in a couple of weeks’ time, so it was good to play against him. He’s special, he’s an athlete, he’s world class and a big- game player. We need to be on our money to stop him.” aggressive defensive plans and cobra- strikes on counter- attack.
The Lions can assemble a pack to tighten the tourniquet on their rivals with a strong flow of lineout and scrum ball backed up by competitive loose forwards.
They need to find more wallop to that foundation with lineout drives, mauls, pick and go attacks and moves off the back row. Those might be getting sorted on the training track and discussed in the team rooms but they need to get an airing tonight against the sort of pressure the Crusaders can exert.
Getting a result is hitting the crucial category. The Lions have shown little to persuade NZ rugby audiences they have enough quality to take out a test series and that feedback will grow and begin to seep through the Lions unless they win.
Directions will be the domain of Conor Murray and Owen Farrell while there is ample firepower further out through George North, Jonathan Davies and Liam Williams.
That’s conjecture about the Lions as Warren Gatland fulfils his promise to give everyone a start in the opening three games while the Crusaders have marked their calibre as an unstoppable Super Rugby force this season.
Stadium capacities and accommodation have taken the South Island off the test itinerary but there’s no doubt tonight’s match is the fourth international.