Lions head coach Andy Farrell was relieved to leave Sydney unscathed but was frustrated with his sides' lack of killer instinct in a drab 21-10 win over the New South Wales Waratahs.
Centre Huw Jones crossed twice in the first half and Alex Mitchell added another try early in the second but with the Lions held scoreless for the final 26 minutes of the contest, coach Andy Farrell will be seeking improvement before the first Test against Australia.
Speaking after the match, Farrell wasn't as impressed as he may have hoped.
"There's a bit of frustration there.
"It's nice to get a win but at this stage we're trying to judge the performance so disappointed enough with ... how we dealt with certain situations."
The Ireland coach was less than impressed with the error-prone performance of his side and suggested the Waratahs might have watered the pitch before the match to make the conditions tougher.
Sydney was hit by a "bomb cyclone" earlier in the week, leading to heavy rain and gale force winds, but Farrell suspected skulduggery from the Waratahs in an attempt to even up the game.
After a conversation with Mike Catt, formerly of Farrell's Ireland coaching ticket and now of the Waratahs’ attack, his suspicions heightened.
"The pitch was very wet and I was asking Mike Catt after the game and he was laughing," head coach Farrell said.
"I mean, that's good tactics from them, isn't it? That the ball's slippy, the breakdown's ferocious enough and the line speed is high octane stuff from them as well," he said.
"We kept on trying to overplay at times, certainly around halfway, and putting ourselves back under pressure and keeping them in the game.
"And that amount of turnover ball is credit to them, obviously, but not good enough from us."
The Waratahs laughed off Farrell's concerns about the pitch, with captain Hugh Sinclair declaring: "See the weather on Tuesday? That sucked."
Waratahs coach Dan McKellar added: "No, no, no. I’d too much to think about to be worried about watering the pitch. Andy was probably sunning himself in Brisbane on Tuesday."
There was some good news post-game from Farrell, reporting a clean bill of health. Northampton star Henry Pollock was a late withdrawal with a calf strain, which meant captain Tadhg Beirne reverted to six, which allowed Scott Cummings to impress from the starting role at lock.
"It was just a bit of an awareness on a calf strain that was tight enough this morning so, knowing what we knew, there was no need to risk him," Farrell told reporters.
The Lions have lost players for the remainder of the tour in their first two matches in Australia, scrumhalf Tomos Williams suffering a hamstring injury and Elliot Daly breaking his arm.
Farrell said his team had come through Saturday's match unscathed.
"That's a good positive at this stage," he said.
However, Farrell said that his recently called-up son Owen is unlikely to be considered for selection for another week, mainly because of jet lag having only arrived into camp on Friday.
