Henry says Lions loss was "reality check"
Tuesday, 19 June 2001 15:35Lions coach Graham Henry said his team's 28-25 loss to Australia A on Tuesday was the "reality check" they needed before playing the world champions. The Lions had racked up 241 points in their opening three games before being outplayed by the Wallabies' second-string.
"We're obviously disappointed, we didn't play well at all," said Henry. "But it might be the reality check we needed to show us what this tour's really all about. If we can learn from this it might help us in the long run."
Although the Lions also fielded a weakened team and outscored the Australians three tries to one, they were second best for most of the game. They were heavily penalised by New Zealand referee Paul Honiss, continually dropped the ball under pressure and struggled to win their own lineout ball.
Several players also suffered injuries with England centre Mike Catt in danger of missing the rest of the tour after aggravating a calf problem. But the positive sign was that they fought back strongly to score two late tries when the game seemed beyond them. The Lions play the first of three tests against Australia on June 30.
"We've got a lot of work to do but we got better as the game went on so there were some positives," Henry said. "The Tuesday team doesn't get much time to work together so we might just have to concentrate on the test team from here on in."
Lions captain David Young said the tourists had a lot of difficulties with the referee's interpretation at the breakdown but said that could not be used an excuse for the defeat. "When we had the ball we came alive but we just didn't have it long enough," he said.
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
