Lions tour: Lions best not good enough - Irishman

Hooker Rory Best gets treatment for an injury during the defeat to the Highlanders which he calls "unacceptable". Photo / File

The British and Irish Lions are facing an inquest just nine days before the first test against New Zealand after their second defeat of the tour, against the Highlanders in Dunedin on Tuesday was labelled "unacceptable" by Ireland captain Rory Best.

A late penalty by Highlanders replacement first-five Marty Banks condemned the Lions to a 23-22 defeat after the tourists had let a 22-13 lead slip in the final quarter just six days after losing to the Blues.

There is a fresh injury concern too for the Lions, with Courtney Lawes now potentially a doubt for the first test after appearing to suffer concussion in the first half following a sickening collision with the Highlanders wing Waisake Naholo as the All Black charged towards the line to score the first try of the game.

Lawes was replaced by Alun Wyn Jones and now must undergo a return-to-play protocol that means he will be unavailable for at least six days - ruling him out of the next two games, against the Maori All Blacks in Rotorua on Saturday and the Chiefs in Hamilton next Tuesday.

Warren Gatland, the Lions head coach, was left frustrated by his side's inability to close Tuesday's game out, highlighting their poor discipline following a rash of penalties in the final 10 minutes and problems at the scrum as areas they must address before the first test against the All Blacks on June 24.

Best, meanwhile, admitted the squad would have to examine why the penalty count was so high and the reasons behind their inability to close out the game after the high of the victory over the Crusaders in Christchurch last Saturday.

"We're really, really disappointed to have lost that game," said Best, who started in the front row alongside Joe Marler and Kyle Sinckler.

"Having said that, at 22-13 we put ourselves in a position to really take a hold of it and that's probably the biggest disappointment alongside losing the game that we let it slip.

"At this level, at any level, but certainly at this level, that's not acceptable. We should have had, we do have, enough class on the pitch to see that game off and, in fact, go on and take a real stranglehold of it. It's disappointing for the whole squad.

"If you look at the two games that we've lost and the penalty count in both and if you look at Saturday [against the Crusaders] we were below 10, I think it was eight or so.

"Look, we know that whatever level you play at, the penalty count realistically you need to be below 10 to have a good chance of winning the game and we didn't get that. We're disappointed again, we're going to have to take a look at why."

While Gatland admitted he was concerned about the scrummaging performance, he raised questions about the interpretation by Australian referee Angus Gardner.

"I looked at the two penalties against Dan Cole and I think the first one is a penalty to us," Gatland said.

"I think their loosehead has gone down and he [Gardner] has seen a different picture. There's no doubt they got some ascendancy in the second scrum penalty and I accept that, but the first one forced an error and it has been our scrum in their 22, and I was disappointed with that call. But look, we've just got to take those on the chin.

"We need to adapt to that and make sure we work really hard over the next couple of weeks to rectify an issue if there is one at scrum time.

"We had eight or nine penalties in that last 10 or 12 minutes. We have to make sure we are better in those moments because that sometimes is the difference between winning and losing games." Telegraph Group Ltd