Murphy lays down law at full-back

Taranaki 14 Lions 36

The display was in response to Josh Lewsey's tour de force in game one at the weekend.

In the build-up to yesterday's game at the Yarrow Stadium, Murphy had said he had been delighted by Lewsey's man of the match performance against Bay Of Plenty in Rotorua because it raised the bar for the other Test full-back hopefuls.

The Irishman went a long way to clearing that bar yesterday, matching Lewsey's two-try haul of Saturday, breaking the opposition line, showing quick and safe hands when off-loading and combining well with international team-mate Shane Horgan to set up the latter for his first Lions try.

If there was a flaw it was an indecisiveness under the high ball, but Murphy's zip and dash on the attack was one of the highlights.

"It's what you want, players playing well and challenging," midweek team coach Ian McGeechan said of the Leicester Tiger.

"You know the next team up knows it's got to challenge and perform and it's what makes a successful Lions tour. Every time a new team goes on the field it's challenged because the next group of players want to do as well.

"Geordan saw the chances well and that's what you want from a back three, that they don't rush into the game. They sat back and made some very good decisions from 30 metres away from play. That often makes a significant difference."

Both McGeechan and Murphy had asked supporters not to read too much into the selection of an all-Irish back three, but the benefits of putting Denis Hickie and Horgan in alongside Murphy were all too obvious.

There was no score when Charlie Hodgson kicked upfield in the 10th minute. Horgan picked up and off-loaded in the tackle to Murphy who ran onto the pass at full tilt and steamed over the try line only to be called back for a forward pass.

The Lions trailed 6-7 at half-time thanks to an opportunist try from Hurricanes flanker and All Black trialist Chris Masoe, who pounced on a ball under the posts that acting scrum-half Hodgson failed to protect.

Lions captain Martin Corry restored order with a try in the 50th minute, and fly-half Hodgson kicked the score on to 17-7 with two penalties, before Taranaki lost their former All-Black hooker Robert Hore to the sin bin for failing to roll away from a ruck.

The extra man opened things up for the Lions. A fine move was finished off by Horgan after Murphy had executed a lovely pick-up of a low pass. The Hodgson conversion made it 24-7 and Murphy followed up with two great tries in the final five minutes. The latter try came after an inch-perfect Hodgson cross-field kick was collected by Horgan on the right.

He passed inside to Murphy to seal a hard-earned win - notwithstanding another soft try at the death from replacement full-back Brendon Watt.

It was the only blot on a pleasant evening for defensive coach Mike Ford who saw his system allow only one line break and his players make 143 tackles. "That last try was a sore point but in general we defended well for long periods," Ford said.

"We viewed Taranaki as a better side than Bay Of Plenty so we knew we had our work cut out. Our defensive work, particularly in the first half, kept us in the game.

"We did a lot of work during the week about what Taranaki might do and did a lot on what we call resetting, putting the right defenders in the right position; that worked well tonight.

"I got a bit grumpy at half time with the try we conceded. I just felt it was a soft try but the boys responded, magnificently to what we told them to do second half. It's always great when you defend for long periods and come away with a try. It breaks the other team's hearts. I'm disappointed with the soft try at the end but it gives us something to work on."

McGeechan was more forgiving. "Our defence was outstanding - I didn't realise it (at the time) but I was told there were no penalties against the Lions in the second half, which shows a composure which we can build things on.

"The fact that we scored the try in the second half out of defence shows we can turn from one thing to the other and from the players' point of view it's very important that they are still prepared to play head up.

"The Taranaki pack played well and put us under a lot of pressure in the first half. I was pleased by the way we responded to it.

"We had a lot of competition for the ball at the tackle and I think the pleasing thing for me is that we're not just learning in training, we're learning out on the pitch as well.

"I think the players responded very well to that experience."

McGeechan was also very positive about the half-back partnership of Scotland's Chris Cusiter and England fly-half Charlie Hodgson.

"The two half-backs looked very good. Charlie controlled the game very well, his kicking was superb and they didn't try to do too much, but when it was on I felt the right options were taken. We were patient and more than anything else that's what we needed to be. Charlie had a very big game."

TARANAKI: S Ireland (B Watt, 21), S Tagicakibau (M Harvey, H-T), M Stewart, L Mafi, C Woods, S Young, C Fevre (J King, 69); T Penn (H Mitchell, 72), A Hore (P Mitchell, 76), G Slater, S Breman (J Eaton, 67), P Tito, capt, J Willis, C Masoe, T Soqeta (R Bryant, 67).

BRITISH & IRISH LIONS: G Murphy (Ireland), S Horgan (Ireland), W Greenwood (England), O Smith (England), D Hickie (Ireland), C Hodgson (England), C Cusiter (Scotland - G Cooper (Wales, 80); G Rowntree (England), A Titterrell (England - S Byrne (Ireland, 74), J Hayes (Ireland - G Jenkins (Wales, 50), D O'Callaghan (Ireland), D Grewcock (England), M Corry (England), L Moody (England), M Owen (Wales).

Referee: K Deaker, New Zealand.