Two games in to their tour and the Lions look vulnerable rather than indomitable. Robin Davey says the tourists need to quickly get to the pace of New Zealand rugby, otherwise there will be more misery this weekend.
The British and Irish Lions suffered a severe setback with their 22-16 defeat at the hands of Auckland Blues and the bad news is it’s going to get worse, much worse, starting on Saturday.
For they make their first visit to New Zealand’s South Island where they take on the best Super Rugby side of them all, the Crusaders, formerly known as Canterbury Crusaders.
They are comfortably sitting on top of the Super Rugby table with a 100% record having won all 14 games this season, putting them seven points ahead of their nearest rivals Lions (not the tourists!). And they are a massive 30 points in front of third place Brumbies.
They’re the most successful team in Super Rugby history with seven titles making them the world’s finest non-international rugby team.
That illustrates the size of the task facing the Lions on Saturday in the city of Christchurch which is the largest on the South Island and where the devastating earthquake of 2011 took place, killing 185 people.
The city is still recovering from that disaster and is still being rebuilt. It’s also where the Lions have to start doing some rebuilding of their own after the disappointing start they have made to their tour.
The opener against New Zealand Barbarians was expected to be a gentle warm-up against a team made up almost entirely of part-timers who, like the Lions, had spent little time together beforehand.
But the tourists stuttered to a narrow, unimpressive victory sparking widespread criticism from a hostile home media, while the Lions management put it down largely to jet lag after they arrived only three days earlier.
There could be no such excuse, however, for the defeat at the hands of the Blues. It was all-change for the Lions, a completely new starting XV, but again it wasn’t against the strongest opposition, the Blues being the lowest ranked of the country’s five Super teams.
The Lions got off to a decent start this time, but failed to capitalise, lost the lead, and though they regained it were undone by a brilliant late try by centre Ihaia West after a dazzling run.
There in a flash lay the difference between the sides, the Blues operating with a flair, a speed of movement the Lions could only dream about. They kicked far too much, possessed little threat and stumbled from one set piece to another.
There they were successful, scrum and line-out operating well, but that is way below what’s required to win in New Zealand, even against the lesser teams.
And with the Crusaders to come on Saturday the prospects are far from encouraging. All Blacks coach Steve Hansen must be quietly licking his lips at the prospect of taking on these Lions, not just of winning the Test series but of achieving a whitewash, based on the evidence we’ve seen so far.
Yet views of the performance against the Blues vary considerably, men of the calibre of Jamie Roberts and Tom Shanklin claiming on social media that it’s still early days and the object is to win the Test series.
Fans and notable critics like Peter Jackson are far less charitable, however, pointing to a depressing lack of cutting edge and with Warren Gatland and Rob Howley in charge accusing the Lions of adopting a similarly dull approach to Wales, lacking incisiveness and try-scoring ability.
Indeed, in the two matches played so far the Lions backs have managed to score a paltry single try, a pretty damning statistic.
And so on to Christchurch and that daunting task awaiting them in the shape of the Crusaders. The final few players who have yet to feature for the Lions on tour – like George North – will make their bow.
But if it’s anything like the opening two matches the outcome could well be another defeat. Then, the flak really will begin to fly and the best place to watch could well be from behind the sofa.