The New Zealand press does not expect to see too many of Warren Gatland's midweek Lions team breaking into the Test side after their 23-22 loss to the Highlanders in Dunedin today.
The local media weren't quite as caustic as they'd been following the narrow victory over the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians in the opening game. On that occasion, epithets like "pathetic" and "incompetent" were lobbed in the direction of the tourists.
Still the verdict was harsh after the Lions' second loss of the tour.
New Zealand Herald columnist and former All Black prop forward Richard Loe was once more highly critical, suggesting the Lions were "either lazy or cynical" in their play.
He attributed the Highlanders victory to "better fitness and skill."
"I'll give the Lions the opportunity to make this selection themselves, but the loss to the Highlanders showed the tourists are either lazy or cynical in a couple of facets," he wrote.
"The hosts got away from the tackled ball as soon as possible, whereas you often spied red shirts lying in the back of the ruck or rolling the wrong way to kill the ball.
"The Lions also regularly creep up offside on defence - they call it "line speed".
"They are not trusting their pace or agility, and a couple of cases justified a yellow card rather than a penalty."
Mark Reason of Stuff.co.nz believes that today's loss will have clarified for coach Warren Gatland who should make the 23-man Test squad and who should be consigned to the midweek side.
And he contends that few, if any, of those who featured today should graduate to The Test team.
"This match seems to have established who will be eating dirt for the rest of the tour. The Lions fumbled and missed tackles throughout the first half and at times were shambolic. Even their line speed paled with the side that beat the Crusaders," he wrote.
"The challenge for the dirt trackers now is to stay on tour mentally. That is a desperately hard thing to do and can make or break a tour. New Zealand is an unforgiving place for the disillusioned and the lonely.
"They must treat their remaining two games against the Chiefs and the Canes as a chance to level the midweek series.
Gregor Paul of the New Zealand Herald said that the Lions unearthed only problems in Dunedin. He argued that the Lions lost because their scrum was demolished.
"It (Lions scrum) got humped. Properly, seriously crushed. It was like an old banger at the scrapyard meeting the big heavy bit of machinery that leaves the car capable of fitting into a matchbox.
"In the end it was the scrum where the game swung. The Highlanders managed to win a few penalties on the back of their power there, kick and lineout drive."
Like Reason, he noted their improved efforts in attack and acknowledged that they ran in three tries, more than they'd managed in the three previous games combined. But he argued that the frailties of the Lions team became all too apparent in the final quarter when the pressure came on.
"The last 30 minutes, however, they fell apart. They failed to nail the big moments. Their skills under pressure were poor.
"They didn't deal with the high ball or the Highlanders kicking game. They didn't make the passes stick. They didn't keep their discipline. They didn't look like they really believed in themselves and they slithered out the game - like a snake that realises the prey it has targeted is just too big to be taken.
