Lions midweekers get blast after Southland fizzer

The midweek Lions will drag their weary bodies into a contact session with the test lineup today after coach Ian McGeechan blasted his second stringers for playing sevens rugby last night.

Soon after fulltime in their forgettable 26-16 win over Southland here last night, the midweek squad were straight on their chartered plane to Christchurch where things get serious.

Vice-captain Ronan O'Gara admitted the team got a halftime "bollocking" from the coaching staff as they led just 10-3 after squandering a wealth of possession with handling errors.

The coach agreed.

"Southland played well, we gave them a few opportunities and we never got away. We tried to play sevens too much and we were too individual once we got the 10 points up," was McGeechan's blunt assessment.

Preparation begins in earnest today for Saturday's first test against the All Blacks, and while most were playing their second match in four days yesterday, they have to lift for one more session.

It will be hard to take for those who were dealt the disappointment of missing the first test side on Sunday, then had to get up for yesterday's frustrating contest when lack of combinations became apparent.

"I've still been impressed with their attitude," McGeechan said.

"We haven't had a lot of preparation, some of them trained twice on Monday and this squad will go back and train (today) in preparation for the test match."

The biggest talking point was Welsh second five-eighth Gavin Henson who scored both the Lions' tries last night.

Surprisingly unwanted for the test side, Henson fronted the media last night and said he still had no idea what he'd done to slip out of test contention.

Aside from one or two shoulder charges which were lucky to go unpenalised by referee Kelvin Deaker, Henson showed enough class to still have people scratching their heads as to his midweek status.

"It's out of my hands now which is frustrating," Henson said.

"Unless there's a loss or an injury I'm not sure if I'll be able to get back in there (test team)."

Otherwise, none of the midweekers showed Woodward he had blundered with his test 22, of which the starting lineup will be named today.

The forwards laid a good platform and worked even better when frontrowers Andy Sheridan and Gordon Bulloch rumbled on in the second half, but the back play was too individual.

O'Gara, who kicked 16 points including four penalties, wasn't shy to throw the ball around but it came unstuck with 18 handling errors.

"We became too individual far too early in the game. Southland got into us, took advantage of a lack of cohesion in our performance and we've made pretty hard work of a performance we'd like to have seen more from," assistant coach Gareth Jenkins said.

The crowd of 19,200 sensed an upset when Southland standout Hale T-Pole levelled the scores at 10-10 just after halftime.

His try came after he chipped ahead, won the resulting lineout then drove over, capping an electric performance after key No 8 Paul Miller departed with a calf injury just before the break.

Southland's backs got the fumbles too later on, and O'Gara's reliable boot kept the home side, who were paying as much as $11 at the TAB, at bay.

Southland co-coach Simon Culhane, who lost to the Lions here in 1993, was far from impressed.

"I'd say that would be a concern for the Lions, the mistakes they made without too much pressure on them," Culhane said.

"They won the game and that's kept momentum going. That's the most important thing for a touring side to maintain their record.

"Some guys did put their hand up, they weren't all bad out there."

- NZPA