Lions suffer first Tour defeat

NZ Maori 19 Lions 13

Brian O’Driscoll grabbed the British and Irish Lions’ only try as Sir Clive Woodward’s men suffered their first defeat of the New Zealand tour.

The Ireland skipper pounced in the 75th minute when the Lions were trailing 19-6 to ignite hope of snatching a dramatic victory but the comeback was derailed by some critical late errors.

O’Driscoll otherwise had a quiet match while his midfield partner Gordon D’Arcy also struggled to make any headway, except on the penalty count after finding himself on the wrong side of referee Steve Walsh’s on more than one occasion.

But Munster lock Paul O’Connell now looks a Test certainty after producing another encouraging performance, showing aggression and commitment in the midst of a disappointing display from his pack.

Pre-match talk centred around the tourists’ juggernaut front row of Andrew Sheridan, Steve Thompson and Julian White – the heaviest in Lions history – but Woodward must have been disappointed by its lack of impact.

Scrum time was expected to provide fireworks and the first after just four minutes did not disappoint, the two front rows having to be separated before Walsh spotted a Maori punch and gave the Lions a penalty.

The niggle continued at the breakdown and the deadlock was not broken until the 14th minute when a thrilling scrum-half break from Matt Dawson ended in a penalty which Stephen Jones nudged between the uprights.

Maori fly-half Dave Hill responded in kind to level the score and they threatened to add to their tally with a try, only to be restricted by some unusually poor handling in the backs.

The Lions were being comprehensively outmuscled at the breakdown and looked rattled, gifting another three points to Hill’s boot, but then settled for a brief period with Jones landing a penalty.

Their problems increased two minutes before half time when Sheridan was sin-binned for an attempted punch on centre Rua Tipoki and the appearance of Maori favourite Carlos Spencer from the bench gave the home side fresh impetus.

Spencer – playing his last game for the Maori before joining Northampton - nearly set up a try with a cheeky kick which was well marshalled by Josh Lewsey before a Luke McAlister penalty gave Matt Te Pou’s men a 9-6 lead.

Full-back Leon McDonald was driven over with Spencer involved in the build-up, although the Lions’ sloppy tackling had a major role to play in the try, and McAlister added the conversion and another penalty.

The Lions finally pounced in the 72nd minute when O’Driscoll ran onto Jones’ flat pass and raced over with the Wales fly-half slotting the extras, but they ran out of time to complete the fightback.