Wellington coach not impressed by Lions

Wellington 6 Lions 23

Having gone down to the Maori in Hamilton last Saturday, the tourists got their tour back on track in the wind and rain that swept across the most southerly capital city in the world yesterday.

A try in each half, from Welshmen Gethin Jenkins and Gareth Thomas, both converted by Jonny Wilkinson, who added three penalties on his first start of the tour, was enough to see off a provincial powerhouse who were without four All Blacks in Jerry Collins, Conrad Smith, Rodney So’oialo and Tana Umaga.

Yet, while Wellington coach Plumtree, who in his first coaching job guided Swansea to two Welsh league titles and a Welsh Cup between 1997 and 2001, noted a big improvement in the tourists from Saturday, he was still sceptical about their chances against New Zealand.

“They’re going to have to play a bit more rugby if they want to beat the All Blacks,” Plumtree said.

“They’ve obviously worked on their clean out. They were a bit more accurate and they seem to be working past the ball, which is a good thing. They might have to be wary of leaving their feet at the breakdown, which they were guilty of at times when they’re were numbers down.

“It’s hard to gauge. I think they will be a little bit disappointed with their continuity, they made mistakes when they had real opportunities but the first Test will be good to see and I think it will be an interesting one.”

Plumtree said he had seen a marked improvement in the way the Lions committed numbers to the tackle area but added that now they were in danger of sending too many men in at the breakdown.

“That part of their play was much in focus this last week, as it would be when you’ve been so disappointed with it against the Maoris.

“They’ve obviously put a lot of work in and they were really committed but against the All Blacks you have to play a continuity game if you want to score tries and if you over commit to the breakdown you’re not going to have much left out wide.

“They showed their hand a bit more tonight, driving from their lineouts and kicking more, and committing to the breakdowns is all well and good but you’re not going to get much continuity going if you’re going to send nine or 10 guys into a ruck.

“So it’s going to be a lot about them maybe basing their game on a driving game, winning the ball and kicking for territory but I think they’re going to have to play a bit more rugby if they want to beat the All Blacks.”

Plumtree even said he thought Graham Henry’s side would have put his side to the sword if they had played each other last night.

“If we were playing the All Blacks, they’d have put 60 points on us,” Plumtree said. “With the territory factor and the position factor you’re not going to get away with that against a really good side. The Lions have still got a lot of work to do.”

The constant rainfall and swirling wind were certainly mitigating factors in the Lions’ inability to convert a dominance of territory and possession into points. Wilkinson had slotted home two from three penalties before Wellington hit back with a successful kick from Jimmy Gopperth.

The chances had been there for the Lions and just having created them will be pleasing enough following Saturday’s result when they had spent so much of the Maori game in their own half.

Jenkins’ try gave the Lions a cushion although Gopperth hit another penalty to leave the score 13-6 at the break.

The second half brought another Wilkinson penalty followed by Thomas’ try, chased down from his own kick and despite those being the only scores, plus points will be taken from keeping the home side scoreless for the final 40 minutes.

Wellington scrum-half Piri Weepu had faced the Lions at the weekend and had criticised the tourists for having a soft underbelly.

“We planned for them being more vulnerable around the ruck area but they committed more numbers than they did on Saturday night and they were far more impressive than they were on Saturday night.”

WELLINGTON: S Paku, L Fa’atau, M Nonu, T Tu’ipulotu, R Kinikinilau, J Gopperth, P Weepu (R Flutey, 73); J McDonnell - captain, M Schwalger (L Mahoney, 59), T Fairbrother, L Andrews, R Filipo (J Purdie, 71), K Ormsby, B Herring (K. Thompson, h-t), T Waldrom

BRITISH AND IRISH LIONS: J Lewsey (S Horgan, 68), J Robinson, B O’Driscoll, G Henson (S Jones, 63), G Thomas, J Wilkinson, D Peel (C Cusiter, 72); G Jenkins, S Byrne, J White (M Stevens, 72), B Kay, D Grewcock, S Easterby, N Back, M Corry.