THE LIONS SUFFERED their first defeat of the 2017 tour this morning as the Blues recorded a famous victory over the tourists in Auckland. Our match report from Eden Park is here, and below we take a look at five talking points from the game.
Pressure mounts on Lions and Gatland
Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
It’s probably stretching it to say this morning’s defeat has derailed the tour, but just two games in and Warren Gatland’s side are coming under increasing pressure.
Granted it was a much improved performance from the one against the Provincial Barbarians but this was a defeat which exposed the weaknesses and raises further questions about the Lions’ credentials heading into the Test series.
There were improvements in defence for the tourists and their set piece was a particular strength on the night but, once again, there was so little imagination and spark in attack and they only had CJ Stander’s try from a rolling maul to show for it.
In the build up to the game, Rob Howley spoke about ‘rugby chaos’ and the unstructured pattern of play which develops when you’re playing in the southern hemisphere and certainly the Lions experienced that first hand at Eden Park.
The Blues were so clinical as their expansive offloading game caused the Lions huge problems and the gaps exposed by the likes of Rieko Ioana is a real concern for Gatland and his coaching staff.
The Lions simply couldn’t live with the Blues, and it was no surprise that the match-winning try was of sensational quality, with the offloading outstanding and the finish from Ihaia West even better.
The inquest into this defeat will be a painful one for the Lions, particularly when they really should have closed victory out after getting themselves in front having trailed for most of the second half.
Advertisement
You can look at various reasons why the tourists lost this game, but the main contributing factor was the lack of discipline as they conceded 13 penalties, two free kicks and had Liam Williams sent to the bin.
After the game, captain on the night Ken Owens admitted they put themselves under too much pressure.
“We gave a lot of unforced penalties and a couple of free kicks in the first half,” he told Sky Sports.
“We put ourselves under pressure with back-to-back errors, and our contact area in first and second phase… we turned too much ball over.”
The brilliance of SBW
Photosport / Peter Meecham/INPHO
Photosport / Peter Meecham/INPHO / Peter Meecham/INPHO
With Steve Hansen in attendance ahead of his squad announcement for the Test series tomorrow, it was inevitable that Sonny Bill Williams would produce a big performance.
On a historic night for the Blues, their big players delivered and SBW was very much central to that as he put in a serious defensive shift as well as causing damage with the ball in hand.
Twice in the opening minutes the centre forced turnovers as he made eight tackles in all to subdue the threat Henshaw and Payne possessed in midfield.
But it was that explosive break, and sublime offload, which was the standout moment as SBW displayed all his characteristics — pace, power and a scarcely believable skillset — to set up the match-winning try.
Searching for positives
Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
There were some fine individual performances from the Lions and the improvement in the set piece gives grounds for optimism going forward.
Gatland’s side dominated the scrum and enjoyed supremacy for large parts at the line out as the forwards put in a solid display — but behind the scrum is where the problems lie.
Before the tour, captain Sam Warburton said his side would target an average of four tries per game but they’ve scored just two in their opening two outings and there will need to be a vast shift in approach and a huge improvement in execution if that’s to happen.
Jared Payne had one correctly chalked off in the first half but the tourists rarely threatened the Blues’ line after the restart and 11 of their 16 points came from the boot of Leigh Halfpenny.
Afterwards, Gatland was keen to accentuate the positives.
“I think it was a big improvement from Saturday,” the head coach said.
“It was a close game. Probably what hurt us was the amount of penalties we gave away, so that’s an area we need to look at. It cost us momentum in the game.
“It felt like there were lots of positives about today, some of our set piece stuff was good. We need to make sure we control that area of the game in terms of the number of penalties we’ve given away in the first games.
“It’s an area from a coaching point of view, and a players point of view, we’ll hopefully address over the next few days and be really strong on that.”
The first two games have left huge room for improvement and certainly the Lions will need to find another gear ahead of Saturday’s clash with the Crusaders, who are top of the Super Rugby table. They’ve already entered must-win territory.
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
Lions get their own taste of 'rugby chaos' and more talking points from Auckland
THE LIONS SUFFERED their first defeat of the 2017 tour this morning as the Blues recorded a famous victory over the tourists in Auckland. Our match report from Eden Park is here, and below we take a look at five talking points from the game.
Pressure mounts on Lions and Gatland
It’s probably stretching it to say this morning’s defeat has derailed the tour, but just two games in and Warren Gatland’s side are coming under increasing pressure.
Granted it was a much improved performance from the one against the Provincial Barbarians but this was a defeat which exposed the weaknesses and raises further questions about the Lions’ credentials heading into the Test series.
There were improvements in defence for the tourists and their set piece was a particular strength on the night but, once again, there was so little imagination and spark in attack and they only had CJ Stander’s try from a rolling maul to show for it.
In the build up to the game, Rob Howley spoke about ‘rugby chaos’ and the unstructured pattern of play which develops when you’re playing in the southern hemisphere and certainly the Lions experienced that first hand at Eden Park.
The Blues were so clinical as their expansive offloading game caused the Lions huge problems and the gaps exposed by the likes of Rieko Ioana is a real concern for Gatland and his coaching staff.
The Lions simply couldn’t live with the Blues, and it was no surprise that the match-winning try was of sensational quality, with the offloading outstanding and the finish from Ihaia West even better.
Lions pay for indiscipline
The inquest into this defeat will be a painful one for the Lions, particularly when they really should have closed victory out after getting themselves in front having trailed for most of the second half.
You can look at various reasons why the tourists lost this game, but the main contributing factor was the lack of discipline as they conceded 13 penalties, two free kicks and had Liam Williams sent to the bin.
After the game, captain on the night Ken Owens admitted they put themselves under too much pressure.
“We gave a lot of unforced penalties and a couple of free kicks in the first half,” he told Sky Sports.
“We put ourselves under pressure with back-to-back errors, and our contact area in first and second phase… we turned too much ball over.”
The brilliance of SBW
With Steve Hansen in attendance ahead of his squad announcement for the Test series tomorrow, it was inevitable that Sonny Bill Williams would produce a big performance.
On a historic night for the Blues, their big players delivered and SBW was very much central to that as he put in a serious defensive shift as well as causing damage with the ball in hand.
Twice in the opening minutes the centre forced turnovers as he made eight tackles in all to subdue the threat Henshaw and Payne possessed in midfield.
But it was that explosive break, and sublime offload, which was the standout moment as SBW displayed all his characteristics — pace, power and a scarcely believable skillset — to set up the match-winning try.
Searching for positives
There were some fine individual performances from the Lions and the improvement in the set piece gives grounds for optimism going forward.
Gatland’s side dominated the scrum and enjoyed supremacy for large parts at the line out as the forwards put in a solid display — but behind the scrum is where the problems lie.
Before the tour, captain Sam Warburton said his side would target an average of four tries per game but they’ve scored just two in their opening two outings and there will need to be a vast shift in approach and a huge improvement in execution if that’s to happen.
Jared Payne had one correctly chalked off in the first half but the tourists rarely threatened the Blues’ line after the restart and 11 of their 16 points came from the boot of Leigh Halfpenny.
Afterwards, Gatland was keen to accentuate the positives.
“I think it was a big improvement from Saturday,” the head coach said.
“It was a close game. Probably what hurt us was the amount of penalties we gave away, so that’s an area we need to look at. It cost us momentum in the game.
“It’s an area from a coaching point of view, and a players point of view, we’ll hopefully address over the next few days and be really strong on that.”
The first two games have left huge room for improvement and certainly the Lions will need to find another gear ahead of Saturday’s clash with the Crusaders, who are top of the Super Rugby table. They’ve already entered must-win territory.
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
How we rated the Lions as Gatland’s men slipped to first defeat of 2017 tour
Pressure mounts on Gatland’s Lions as brilliant Blues win in style
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
2017 lions 2017 Lions Tour Analysis Talking Points The Lions