Plenty to be happy about for Lions

With one monster-sized exception, the Lions will look back on the opening match of their New Zealand tour as having far more ticks than crosses.

They ran in six tries, made a roaring start, had to withstand a decent dose of hurry-up from Bay of Plenty, before putting their heads down and winning going away in the final quarter.

It was a belting good entertainment for the crowd and provided the right tone for the start of the trip.

So, plenty to be happy about, plenty to work on and the bonus of having the tour off to the ideal start in terms of public reaction at Rotorua's International Stadium.

The one cloud, large, black and foreboding, came from Lawrence Dallaglio's tour-ending injury. It was a gut-wrencher for both player and coach, Sir Clive Woodward having had his No 8 mentally pencilled in as a key component in the trip for nigh on a year.

But when he searched around for positives, he found a few. And none bigger than the little man at the back, fullback Josh Lewsey, who proved he will be an important figure in the weeks ahead with a scintillating display.

Lewsey bagged the first two tries of the tour, scooting across near the left corner as the Lions rattled on a 17-point surge in the first 13 minutes.

He was solid under the high ball, always threatened with the ball in hand and tackled as ever with certainty. Put your money on Lewsey being one of Woodward's bankers on this trip.

The 28-year-old former Army officer has plenty of steel about him. Not every English player who came here on the Tour from Hell in 1998 lasted much longer.

Then again, Jonny Wilkinson, Matt Dawson, Danny Grewcock and Graham Rowntree are still trucking on seven years and a mountain of rucks later.

Clearly Lewsey has a generous dose of the right stuff about him. But he mixed plenty of common sense with a smattering of emotion on Saturday night as he talked of receiving his first Lions jersey from Welsh assistant coach Gareth Jenkins, who handed them out before the game.

Lewsey called it a "choke in the throat moment" and spoke of his resolve to do more than pay "lip service" to the jersey.

"The first time I pulled the Lions jersey on was one of the proudest moments of my life."

And compared with winning his first England jersey? "Getting picked for the Lions is a higher accolade."

"It's about fronting up in this part of the world. By and large most of us did that today but on a technical level we let ourselves down at times," he said.

If England could twin two essential elements, they would really be in business, he added.

"You've got to have a bit of passion, a bit of emotion, but you've also got to have a cold head and execute accurately.

"We didn't do that today but if we can marry up the two we've got a very good side."

The post-match analysis on Saturday night was primarily about what went right.

So when Woodward and his management staff sit down to tick off the positives what else will bring a quiet smile of satisfaction?

Six tries is good value in anyone's marking system; Irish lock Paul O'Connell had a huge presence and picked up Dallaglio's pack leader's mantle without missing a beat; Ben Kay, Richard Hill and Martin Corry put themselves about effectively; openside flanker Martyn Williams was busy and efficient; halfback Dwayne Peel, the odd hashed kick aside, showed he'll be a lively operator; and captain Brian O'Driscoll made some damaging runs.

Front row men Andrew Sheridan and Steve Thompson bulked up the scrum when they came on for the final quarter, although that coincided with Simms Davison and Aleki Lutui heading for the sideline, and they had been key elements in a yeoman pack effort.

And the dodgy bits? There should be concern that the scrum, until that point, had been fairly comfortably held by the Bay; tackles were missed and in that second quarter when Bay of Plenty got a welter of possession and began cutting holes through the Lions' midfield with some dazzling sleight of hand and clever angled running, things got confused and ragged.

Ronan O'Gara directed the Lions smartly with his boot in the second half, but that couldn't disguise some ordinary moments and average goalkicking.

"It was a good baptism of fire for 20 minutes and a good lesson of what does happen in New Zealand if you don't control the football," said assistant coach Eddie O'Sullivan. "Not that we didn't know; we've just got to work harder at it, that's all."

As for the hosts, considering a lack of leadup and with the main objective, the NPC, still a couple of months away, it was a decent night out. They were shut out by bigger, more-experienced opponents in the second half, but they'd had moments to savour.

"It was a very good first hitout for us," coach Vern Cotter said. "Once we settled into it, got our hands on the ball, we played with intensity at the breakdown and found space. It was nice to come back from that [0-17] and it shows there's a lot of spirit in the side."

Fullback Adrian Cashmore, mindful that the Lions are still finding their feet, hinted that there's much to do, suggesting they "would have struggled a bit" against the All Blacks.

True, but then they don't need to worry about that for another couple of weeks.