Lions take lessons home with them

Conrad Smith easily eludes Geordan Murphy on his way to the tryline. Picture / Brett Phibbs

There was no hanging of heads by Lions players as they headed home on the receiving end of a 3-0 walloping from the All Blacks.

Rather, there was a desire to make sure the lessons are absorbed, pleasure that they had improved as the tour progressed - albeit nowhere near enough to seriously threaten the All Blacks - and effusive praising of their opponents.

Twelve tries to three, 107 points to 40, slice it any which way, it was a pasting, but Josh Lewsey, one of the best Lions over the tour, will watch the Tri-Nations with interest.

"At the moment, judging on this performance and last week, and what they did in the horrendous conditions in the first test, you've got to say they're a fairly smooth unit, and you've got to applaud them for that.

"But I don't think they're unbeatable by any stretch of the imagination. I'm sure Australia won't fear them and South Africa always do well against them.

"So, wait and see, let them enjoy the next couple of weeks because they deserved it."

The Lions knew they'd let themselves down with dreadful defence in the first half at Eden Park on Saturday night.

Geordan Murphy's woeful effort to stop Conrad Smith - and in your dreams if any All Black was running at you, and a tackle had to be made, you'd pray it was the classy but lightweight Wellingtonian - and the otherwise impressive Dwayne Peel's hash of the tryline forcedown which let Ali Williams plunge on the ball, ruined a promising start.

Six-nil up became 14-6 down while Tana Umaga was cooling his heels in the sin bin.

"It was quite frustrating. We gave away soft tries and you can't do that," first five-eighths Stephen Jones said.

"We tried to play, tried to throw the ball round and play with tempo and a bit wider.

"But we were beaten by a better side."

Jones said New Zealand's "ferocious" work at the contact area was the main difference between the teams.

"We found it very difficult. Every contact area was a war zone.

"Their ball presentation was superb, and as soon as it was placed, it was moved away."

Paul O'Connell, one of the disappointments of the tour, reckoned the Lions lacked a star to lead the way.

"We just had no real inspirational player, no standout to feed off. It killed us," the big Irish lock said.

"A lot of us just didn't bring our A games. The All Blacks were good, but we were nowhere near."

All of which is true, but doesn't explain why the Lions were so ordinary for the entire tour.

The Lions' contributing countries will get a chance to show their capabilities at the end of the year, when the All Blacks attempt a Grand Slam.

Wales are rated the most likely to succeed. They lost by a point in Cardiff last year, are coming off winning the Six Nations Championship and are regarded as the team which most closely resemble the All Blacks in playing style and philosophy, much of which was put in place by two of the All Blacks coaches, head selector Graham Henry and Steve Hansen.

"We've still got a lot of work to do. We are a young side, but I do feel we're going in the right direction," Jones, a key to Wales' revival, said.

Lewsey, who suffered from being shunted from fullback to wing on this tour, stuck up for his team-mates.

"In sport you're going to lose games to better teams," he said. "But it's a mark of a man if you can come off and say, fair play, we got beaten, but we can hold our heads high. We did that in the second and third tests."

The All Blacks delivered a lesson in accuracy and direction, he said. We'll see just how well the accumulated lessons have been absorbed in November.

What lies ahead

* August 6: v South Africa, Cape Town

* August 13: v Australia, Sydney

* August 27: v South Africa, Dunedin

* Sept 3: v Australia, Auckland

* Grand Slam

* Nov 5: v Wales, Cardiff

* Nov 12: v Ireland, Dublin

* Nov 19: v England, London

* Nov 26: v Scotland, Edinburgh