Testing times for tourists

Southland 16 Lions 26

Henson was the centre of attention following his surprise selection for this match, effectively ruling him out of this Saturday’s first Test squad, if Woodward is to be taken at his word.

This was meant to be the performance that told Woodward he had made mistakes in omitting these players for the Test shake-up. For many of the disappointed, though, it failed to work out that way.

“We worked too quickly at getting scores,” said midweek coach Ian McGeechan, who added that at times his players had forgotten the team ethic and had converted to individual and sevens-style rugby. “We allowed Southland a lot of easy possession,” he added while fellow coach Mike Ford said the defensive work had taken a dip from previous games.

The Lions had looked to be cruising inside the first 15 minutes, 10-0 up thanks to an O’Gara penalty and his conversion of Henson’s 13th minute try. The Welsh centre had made no secret of his disappointment at being omitted from the Test squad and delivered an unambiguous message to the selectors when he collected an O’Gara pass crashed over the line.

Inside of cranking up another gear, however, the Lions got sloppy, getting penalised at the breakdown twice in two minutes. The second time was in front of the Lions posts, allowing Southland to get points on the board through Richard Apanui’s penalty.

The inconsistency continued for the Lions - there was some clever play: O’Gara’s cross-field kick caught on the run by Denis Hickie, a neat step inside from Mark Cueto on the other wing to take out two defenders, and a lineout steal from Donncha O’Callaghan. But then came the down side, an O’Gara pass too low for Henson, a poor line-out throw from Andy Titterell which was snaffled by Southland and more missed passes than a boozy night out in Tenerife.

The Lions were fortunate that Southland were just as bad and nor were the home side helped by the loss to injury of their No.8, the former non-Test All Black Paul Miller, a factor that helped the first half peter out in a sorry mess at 10-3 to the tourists.

McGeechan said: “We never got away, we probably tried to play sevens too much and were too individual once we got 10 points up. We didn’t clear ball quickly and then it becomes a mess at the breakdowns.”

O’Gara, was one who can be happy with his performance in the most part but he admitted it had been a frustrating experience.

“For the first 10 minutes it was easy and I felt we were on for a good night. It was probably the best conditions we’ve had in New Zealand but we kind of lost our shape and took the foot off the pedal, thinking things were there for the taking. Southland made it difficult for us and it probably didn’t help that we turned the ball over too many times.

“We got a bit of a bollocking at half-time and we deserved it.”

The start of the second half continued in similar fashion and led to Southland getting back on terms on 49 minutes. Another wayward pass to Henson on halfway bounced off his shins and the home side capitalised. They worked the ball down to the corner and from a lineout produced a shove over the line which put T-Pole in for the try. Apanui converted and it was all square.

The introduction of Tom Shanklin at inside centre amid a flurry of substitutions on 50 minutes at least provided the first fluid move from the Lions since the opening quarter hour. The Welshman cut in from touch and headed for the posts, before laying off to Henson who found a hole and flicked it back to Shanklin and then on to Geordan Murphy, but his final pass towards Cueto was cut out brilliantly by flanker Hale T-Pole.

There was better again when O’Gara kicked for the corner at a Southland offside, Moody collecting the line-out, parted to replacement scrum-half Chris Cusiter who made to go down the blindside before switching back and sending the ball through O’Gara to feed Henson. The Welshman made the most of his chance, crashing the defensive line to score under the posts. O’Gara converted to put the Lions 17-10 ahead.

The Munster fly-half, enjoying a much more solid goal-kicking game than against Bay Of Plenty, outscored his rival Apanui by three penalties to two to close out the game but it was a far from encouraging team performance.

McGeechan blamed tiredness in his squad with many having played against Otago last Saturday.

“I have to say I’ve been impressed by their attitude and work towards tonight’s game. We haven’t had a lot of preparation because we’d only just got back from Dunedin from Saturday’s game but it was important that some of them trained almost twice on Monday and they’ll training again on Wednesday to help preparation for the Test match. It’s been a big ask of them which they’ve responded to very well.”

BRITISH & IRISH LIONS: G Murphy (G D’Arcy, 76), M Cueto, G Henson, O Smith (T Shanklin, 50), D Hickie, R O’Gara, G Cooper (C Cusiter, 50); M Stevens (A Sheridan, h-t), A Titterell (G Bulloch, 50), J Hayes, S Shaw, D O’Callaghan, L Moody, M Williams, M Owen, capt (S Easterby, 65).

SOUTHLAND: J Wilson, M Harrison, B Milne (P Te Whare, 59), F Muliaina, W Lotawa, R Apanui, J Cowan; C Dermody, J Rutledge, A Dempsey (R Logan, 76), H Macdonald, D Quate, H Tamariki (D Hall, 54), H T-Pole, P Miller (J Wright, 39).

Referee: Kelvin Deaker, New Zealand.