It wasn’t pretty, but at least the Lions started their 2017 tour with a victory against the NZ Provincial Barbarians – on a day when they could easily have lost.
There’s always a danger of reading too much into the opening joust, especially when the squad had only been on foreign soil for three days before kick-off.
But still, there were key issues to emerge at the Toll Stadium following the 13-7 Lions success...
Barbarians were no mugs
Compared to some of the romps we have seen the Lions enjoy in opening matches on previous tours, this was in many ways a welcome departure.
It was always meant to be the easiest game of the brutal programme given that some of the home players were part-timers.
But the problems the Barbarians caused the Lions just showed the extraordinary depth of quality in the New Zealand game.
These were largely players from the provinces who would have been hoping to impress Super Rugby scouts. Really, there should have been a noticeable gulf in class.
That wasn’t the case though. There was little in the physical contest even though the Lions scrum became more dominant as the match wore on.
On another night the Lions would have scored on some of the occasions they were held up over the line, but it said it all that the Barbarians finished the match on the front foot.
If this was meant to be the tour gimme, it was an indication that all the predictions of a tough six weeks will be borne out and more.
Not a good night’s work from the Lions
First thing’s first, the Lions could not possibly have been 100% given the jet-lag factor. The scheduling of this game was frankly ridiculous.
We’ve known what was coming for some time though, and bleating about it now is futile.
There are those who will seek to brush over this opening performance as largely irrelevant to the rest of the tour. But that simply isn’t the case.
Success in the Test series depends massively on the Lions generating momentum game-by-game in the build-up.
The idea that they can take beatings from Super Rugby sides and then hope to transform it all against the All Blacks is pure fantasy.
Yes this was a victory, but the worry is that the Lions gained little momentum and confidence from the way they performed.
They play the Blues on Wednesday, the weakest of the Super Rugby sides, but that will still involve a huge step up.
The Lions will need to get everything right in the intervening period to be equal to that.
Half-back conundrum
So much depends on the Lions getting the chemistry right between No.9 and No.10. So cross off Greig Laidlaw and Johnny Sexton as a potential Test partnership straight away.
Scotsman Laidlaw, a last minute replacement for Ben Youngs, chose too many wrong options, attempting to dart himself at key times when it wasn’t on.
That didn’t help Sexton at a time when the Irish pivot needs all the help he can muster.
Sexton just doesn’t look himself at the minute and while it would be daft to jump to hasty conclusions, the odds on Owen Farrell being the Test outside-half will already have shortened on the evidence of this first run-out.
Rhys Webb looked lively as a substitute but, probably under instruction, booted a lot of ball away box-kicking.
We’ll see Conor Murray and Dan Biggar in the upcoming games but Gatland will want some clarity to emerge in the shape of razor-sharp form and understanding sooner rather than later.
Warburton worry
Before the match Warren Gatland remarked how it was good to see Sam Warburton, as captain, lead the team out for the first game when in Australia four years ago he missed the first two matches.
Indeed it was, but having not played since early April because of a knee injury Warburton struggled to make any impact on proceedings save for a couple of forceful carries.
The Cardiff Blues man is one hell of a physical specimen, but he looked off the pace aerobically and on this evidence he would struggle to make the Test shake-up.
Gatland will have to use Warburton shrewdly in the coming matches if he wants him at his peak for the first Test.
It would be daft to think he’ll play again on Wednesday, but he looks as though he needs at least two more fullish run-outs before Eden Park on June 25.
I’d have Warburton down to start against the Crusaders next Saturday and the New Zealand Moari seven days later.
Unless he gets through most of those two matches I can’t see him being ready for the world champions.
Siege mentality on the way
Unless the Lions had run riot in their first game they were always going to bear the brunt of opprobrium from the New Zealand media.
And so it proved before they had even merged from the showers at the Toll Stadium.
One Kiwi outlet was already labelling Gatland’s men ‘a disgrace to the jersey’ – and the head coach thinks he gets a rough ride in Wales!
Even the Aussie media were piling in with a batch of sarcastic and sneering remarks about the doom that awaits the Lions in later matches.
Some of the hysteria stretched the bounds of credibility.
The Lions have to decide how they want to react to a Kiwi press that will see destabilising them as part of their job in the next few weeks.
They can either take it all with a pinch of salt or be thin-skinned and develop a siege mentality.
Expect the latter, but the former may be the better way.
