John Drake: True grit vs experience delivers gem

So often our expectations of a great event evaporate on the night. Well, not this Lions tour opener.

Everyone played their part, from administrators, public, players and supporters to produce an outstanding start to the trip.

Let's begin with Bay of Plenty. They came into the match well underdone in terms of match practice, a novice No 10, a forward pack with no internationals and minimal Super 12 experience and a backline which was supposed to lack speed and have defensive deficiencies. But the Steamers showed organisation and a sound game plan which after the initial tidal wave of brilliance from the Lions worked well.

Murray Williams showed enough in 80 minutes to say he might be the buy of the season.

The pack, with a wee bit of Super 12 experience and real grit from some like Nili Latu and Colin Bourke, who had done nothing with the Chiefs and Highlanders respectively, showed they could compete against a pack which boosted 481 international caps.

Something must be right with our provincial and Super 12 system. The backline, marshalled extremely well by Kevin Senio, showed initiative and managed to cover most of the Lions' tricks and gave a bit back - not bad considering they had Adrian Cashmore's two test caps against 344 caps for the Lions.

So the Bay can be well pleased and all looks well for the NPC and future professional contracts.

The Lions started as if it were a training exercise. The Steamers looked like startled possums on a country road with a Lions truck, lights on full, heading their way. Maybe they started too well and lost concentration, maybe the loss of Lawrence Dallaglio affected the concentration. But after the perfect start the Lions spent 30 minutes bumbling in attack and looking fragile in defence.

I think the style of play used by the Lions is reminiscent of the Dutch soccer team of the 1970s - "total football" which, briefly, requires all players to be multi-skilled and interchangeable.

I sense this Lions team are attempting this concept. It can be brilliantly effective but it can come unstuck, particularly if the ball is turned over at the ruck/maul exposing a line of forwards to defend against tricky backs with space. That is something the Bay managed for a while.

The good bits for the Lions were their ability to change tactics, tighten up the leaking defence and squeeze the Bay both mentally and physically at the set piece and breakdown. Frankly, I think they may have got more out of the night than if they had crushed the Steamers by 40 points.

I also doubt we will see the same lateral movement of the ball at test time. The great thing about a tour is that we will see the Lions evolve a style which suits their personnel and the opposition.

Their coaching staff are smart and they have the resources to adapt to problems encountered. The one area of concern will be the ruck/maul interpretation.

Sir Clive Woodward and co would not be drawn into too much comment about their concerns of this and referee Paul Honiss' interpretations. Privately, I think it will be at the top of their "look at this" list. They were exposed by Latu, Wayne Ormond and Bourke. Add Honiss to the list. To succeed here this area must be a priority.

Despite the Steamers' fightback, I never thought the Lions would lose.

Dallaglio will be a huge loss on and off the field, but this Lions team showed enough to suggest the test series will be a challenge.

They will get belted again in the provinces but this may help the overall preparation for the tests, which in the end is all that counts.

Lastly, this was a fine pointer to how well this country could organise a rugby World Cup in 2011. Early days, sure, but the passion, organisation and professionalism at Rotorua helped 33,000 people have a ball at the ground and hundreds of thousands of TV viewers around the world maybe think that little New Zealand can do the business with such events. Sure, we have some infrastructure concerns, but how about looking at the things we are good at as well?