Lions Tour 2017: Lions flex muscles but still lack sharpness

Lions and Maori All Blacks battle it out in a maul. Photo / Brett Phibbs

British & Irish Lions 32 NZ Maori 10

The British and Irish Lions have finally flexed their muscles on this tour. Their finishing ability remains very much in doubt and inferior to the All Blacks, but they have something else, or at least their top side does - the capacity to strangle the life out of good teams with their pack.

This was probably an above-par win over a New Zealand Maori team which was very good, at least on paper.

Colin Cooper's men are likely to be disappointed with their performance, but they so very rarely on the front foot it made stringing phases together all but impossible. It's difficult to remember them winning a single possession in the Lions' 22m area in the second half.

Will this muscle-bound, high-kick, pressure style be enough to subdue the All Blacks, who put on a shock and awe display in terms of finishing power against Manu Samoa?

Perhaps, but again, the Lions probably need something more - maybe that little bit extra that coach Warren Gatland says he and his team are holding back.

The men in black tonight, captained by hooker Ash Dixon, who with his back-up Hika Elliot, led the Maori on a stirring pre-match haka - patu and all - stayed with the visitors in the first half and showed some brilliance in conjuring a try for Liam Messam through George North's mistake.

But their chances were all but gone once the Lions scored a penalty try through their scrum while halfback Tawera Kerr-Barlow was in the sinbin for a high tackle, and if Maro Itoje's converted try to make it 29-10 didn't seal it, a driving lineout maul which went almost 30m did.

Mentally that would have been difficult to recover from, and there was worse to come. It was all a bit Crusaders-like for the Maori, who wanted to play with tempo and width - effectively anti-Lions - against a very powerful opposition, but who were dealt a bad hand with the weather and compounded it with regular mistakes.

There were a few positives. Midfielder Charlie Ngatai, who has played very little rugby this year, showed pace, and just as impressively, strength in the tackle, and can't be too far from the All Blacks' mix.

Loose forward Messam showed speed too, and wing Nehe Milner-Skudder completed another step towards a return to the international rugby.

The visitors will be happy with the win after limply conceding victory against the Highlanders in Dunedin. It was just what they needed as they prepare to receive their reinforcements, and in No8 Toby Faletau, and centre Jonathan Davies they have genuinely dangerous ball runners.

One of their main issues, however, remains their inability to finish nailed-on opportunities. Davies cut through the defence in the first half and got metres from the line only for the chance to slip away in the drizzle.

It's not the only time this tour such opportunities have been butchered and it's difficult to see the All Blacks, who put 12 tries past Manu Samoa, being so wasteful next Saturday.