Loss of O'Driscoll leaves Lions lost

There has been so much talk about the Lions game plan, much of it misguided, that the test was supposed to provide few surprises.

What nobody planned, or wished for, was the sight of inspirational skipper Brian O'Driscoll leaving Jade Stadium on the back of a golf buggy with barely a minute up on the clock.

It proved in the end to be a shattering blow. Not only did the tourists lose their leader, they also lost a lot of potential creativity in the backline.

The folly of having Will Greenwood on the bench was ruthlessly exposed. When the Lions were chasing the game late, instead of holding it as they were planning, they had no inspiration of the sort Gavin Henson might have been able to provide.

But at first the loss of the Irishman gelled the Lions who had the better of the initial exchanges.

Tony Woodcock was penalised for bringing down the scrum in kickable territory and Dwayne Peel might look back in regret at his decision to tap and go.

The Lions dominance lasted until the nervous energy dissipated, which wasn't long.

A blindside break from within their 22m - Dan Carter, Justin Marshall and Aaron Mauger instrumental - saw the All Blacks create what looked like an inevitable five-pointer. From phase ball, Carter threw an ordinary pass with a four-on-two overlap and had to settle for three points from a penalty instead.

The Lions then went through a horrible period, playing as if they had all come to New Zealand on separate flights and hooked up an hour before the game.

Paul O'Connell was sin-binned under the posts for entering a ruck on the New Zealand side. Carter kicked three more but there was some merit in the All Blacks claims for a penalty try.

They could have had another after just 15, but Marshall spilled a Carter offload with the line beckoning.

This was a match that defied the conventions: the All Blacks were kicking cleverly, the Lions sloppily; Leon MacDonald was dangerous from broken play at the back, Jason Robinson hopeless; the All Blacks set-phase was sound, the Lions all over the shop.

It was from another botched lineout that the first try of the series was scored. Ali Williams couldn't believe his luck when he was thrown the ball by Shane Byrne and kept his head to crawl over in the 25th minute.

That was the end of the first-half scoring as the Lions scraped and clawed their way towards, but never quite achieving, parity.

After the break, just when you expected increased urgency from the tourists, they folded.

First Carter kicked a penalty and then, in the 47th minute, Sitiveni Sivivatu ended the match as a contest. Mauger bumped off a weak Stephen Jones tackle and put Tana Umaga in the clear. He threw a fantastic long pass to the flying Fijian who scored close enough to the posts to make Carter's conversion simple.

Jonny Wilkinson finally got the Lions on the board but with close to three-quarters of the match gone, taking the three points was just another in a list of baffling decisions.

Also baffling by now were the All Blacks who seemed to view Sivivatu's try as the signal to stop adhering to the basics which had served them so well up to that point. It was as if they were inviting the Lions back into a contest they had no right to be part of.

With the clock showing 67 minutes, Marshall took his final bow at Jade Stadium, replaced by Byron Kelleher. He left safe in the knowledge this one was in the bag.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY