Lions check in at panic station

Lions replacement player Ollie Smith avoids the tackle of Otago's Hayden Pedersen during last night's match in Dunedin. Picture / Fotopress

Otago 19 Lions 30 

Sir Clive Woodward's planning has been so meticulous for this tour, you have to wonder whether he has pre-destined the exact course of every provincial game.

If he hasn't, it is more than a little spooky that every match so far has followed the same lines, where the Lions bumble their way through 60 minutes and then finally break clear in the last quarter.

If, as everyone is so convinced, these Lions do have an A-game, they should do us all a massive favour and bring it out.

Everyone accepts that Otago are an NPC side - there is no need for the Lions to feel obliged to make the same claim.

With almost 50 players in their party, you would think they'd have enough quality to put away a team that couldn't even make last year's NPC semifinals. Well, they don't. Not once have these Lions cut loose and again they never looked remotely capable of doing so last night.

They only secured the game when No 8 Ryan Jones crashed off Charlie Hodgson's shoulder late in the final quarter.

To be fair, though, last night wasn't so crucial in the bigger scheme of things. For the Lions it was about giving the selectors a final chance to make judgment calls on fringe contenders.

Sir Clive was desperately hoping for Gordon D'Arcy to make an irresistible case for test selection. The little Irish second-five was all silky skills in the 2004 Six Nations. He missed this season's international programme, though, and now looks as classy as laddered tights.

Outside D'Arcy was Will Greenwood, who also missed most of 2005 with injury. He probably should've missed out on this tour, too.

In his prime Greenwood was all clever angles and snazzy offloads. Last night he looked like a player who had been selected on former glories. His try at the end of the first half was the result of a crazy defensive lapse by Glen Horton, rather than any miraculous discovery of ability on Greenwood's part.

Horton and wing Matt Saunders had meaningful looks at each other, then meaningful looks at Charlie Hodgson's cross kick, but neither could get under it. Greenwood pounced on the loose ball and then Neil Brew pounced on Greenwood to give him an unsolicited cuddle.

Brew was probably keen to show Greenwood some love, as earlier Dennis Hickie had given the Otago centre a power-cuddle. Brew brushed it off and had to resist Hodgson's amorous advances before offloading to the supporting Danny Lee.

Otago deserved the try and it illustrated one of the key differences between the two sides.

Neither set of forwards was really able to get the domination they were after. The Lions scrummed like a side that had been hitting a machine all week rather than flesh and bones.

They are clearly panicky when it comes to making the initial hit and don't seem to have their timing right on the engagement. There's no denying, though, that when they get the timing right, they have the power to fulfil the destructive brief with which they have been charged.

The scrum was a steadier platform than the lineout, where hooker Gordon Bulloch had his problems hitting his jumpers and jumpers were frequently guilty of slapping the ball not even vaguely in the vicinity of halfback Chris Cusiter.

This wasn't where the Lions were really being hurt, though. Their real pain was felt in the midfield, in and around the tackled ball.

Too often Otago first-five Nick Evans broke the gain line by motoring outside Hodgson. Neither Greenwood nor D'Arcy (or Ollie Smith when he came off the bench) had the necessary defensive line speed to prevent Evans getting there. And neither Greenwood nor D'Arcy had the strength to bury Seilala Mapasua and Neil Brew (Jason Shoemark when he came off the bench) before they built up momentum.

It was a crucial part of the game as Brew and Mapasua gave their forwards a target all night. When target men get over the advantage line and stay on their feet for a few crucial seconds to let the support arrive, it makes rugby a simple business.

Presumably Sir Clive will have noted how effective a straight-running second-five can be. And presumably Sir Clive and his cronies will come back to the idea of giving Tom Shanklin the No 12 shirt.

There was an irony that Jones scored the clinching try, as he was lucky not to get 10 minutes in the bin in the first half when he caught Nick Evans high. Some time in solitary confinement to assess his tackling and hair strategies, wouldn't have been such a bad thing.

Otago 19 (D. Lee tries; N. Evans con, 4 pens.

Lions 30 (W. Greenwood, R. Jones, S. Williams tries, C. Hodgson 3 cons, 3 pens). 

- HERALD ON SUNDAY