Warren Gatland questions travel arrangements after worrying Lions performance

Gatland insists the Lions must prize winning Saturday’s tour opener against the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians over claiming a statement triumph.

“As a Kiwi, if you’re critical of New Zealand, how isolated we are, you get absolutely smashed, so you keep your mouth shut”.

A lack of cohesion was expected and evident to an even greater degree than we may have foreseen with the unforced error count being altogether too high for a team with as many top class players in it. “The ideal scenario would’ve been to have a week in New Zealand before the first game”.

“The nice thing is that players are going to get an opportunity to face the haka on more than one occasion”.

And Thrush is also predicting a demanding time for the Lions away from their All Blacks mission, with five New Zealand Super Rugby sides – Blues, Crusaders, Highlanders, Chiefs and Hurricanes – all on the pre-Test series agenda.

“I am backing the All Blacks to do the job”, Thrush said.

“The opponents, their players grow two inches, grow an extra arm and an extra leg, they are suddenly able to cover more metres, they get faster – because they have an opportunity they know they may never get again”.

The Harlequins prop boasted some of the softest hands on display as the Lions struggled to get into the rhythm of flowing phase play.

“We are still recovering from the travel”, Gatland said.

Gatland did, however, admit the Lions management will still gauge future selection decisions on what unfolded against the Barbarians.

The 31-year-old, who was withdrawn eight minutes into the second half in favour of Owen Farrell, endured a hard night and is far from certain of starting the test against New Zealand with Gatland seeming determined to play Farrell at 10.

“How could a team stacked with nothing but internationals for so long look so leaden footed, so lacking in confidence they took kicks at goal instead of looking for tries from a lineout, so lacking in co-ordination and attacking ideas?”

And while the Lions’ performance was underwhelming, Gatland rejected the notion that he was relieved to hear the final whistle.

Opinions are understandably divided on who will win the series, with retired worldwide referee Jonathan Kaplan also recently giving his views about how the match officials should do their job and commenting on how players in New Zealand have their own way of making it tough on the referees.

“We know how tough the next few weeks are going to be and, as I said, getting that game under our belt today is going to hold us in good stead going forward”.

“It’s a common theme in rugby throughout New Zealand and probably the biggest galvanising factor for us as a group – to back each other up, look out for your mate”.