John Drake: All Blacks relished the foul conditions

The opening test of the series was a sobering experience for all concerned - both teams, management, supporters and media.

The weather conditions were unbelievable.

Before the match it was thought that the weather could be a leveller and might suit the Lions, not by playing to their supposed forward strength but slowing the pace of the game the All Blacks wanted to play.

As we saw, the All Blacks relished the conditions and used them to deadly effect by either driving low and hard in the forwards or outsmarting the Lions tactically with a clever mix of kicking and counter-attacking, particularly targeting Jason Robinson, who seemed to be unsure whether he was playing fullback, wing or left right out.

In fact for me it was only the courage and defensive skills of Gareth Thomas that helped cover the fullback's frailties.

The Lions' management have conceded the better team won on the night. Not much to debate about that.

The blame was put down to the lineout, with sound reason. Before the match I believed the set piece would decide the winner.

There is an old saying that if you scrum well you ruck well and so it goes with the lineout. Frankly I have never seen one team get cleaned out so comprehensively at lineout than the Lions were on Saturday night - and this includes second and third division NPC outfits.

What went wrong?

Well that's for management to ponder, but apart from the obvious things like timing between thrower and jumper we must heap praise on the All Blacks, who were more aggressive, accurate, ruthless and streetwise than the other mob.

They attacked every throw, got into the Lions' lineout space and had enough individual confidence in each other to know they only had to worry about doing their own jobs.

Statistically the Lions won clean, usable ball from less than 50 per cent of their own throws, enough to make winning a game nearly impossible. But for Sir Clive Woodward there was more bad news.

They were out-passioned, out-skilled and out-thought all over the park.

In the first five minutes they came close with a charged-down kick, but that apart they never looked like crossing the All Blacks' line.

The All Blacks looked likely several times. The plan of playing Jonny Wilkinson at No 12 didn't achieve much. I suspect the All Blacks saw this as an area to exploit.

Sitiveni Sivivatu's try came from an initial Aaron Mauger bust past Stephen Jones and Wilkinson.

The reliance on the England old guard was ruthlessly shown to be flawed. I wonder where Woodward and the selectors will go now.

With only 12 days left, four matches and a number of rusty players and combinations, the options don't look too abundant.

What of the All Blacks? For me, Ali Williams was player of the match with a number of steals at lineout, sound defence, accurate attack and 80 minutes of concentration. This took pressure off Chris Jack.

Keven Mealamu was not far behind and his accuracy at lineout and aggression were a constant source of concern for the Lions.

In the backs, my standouts were Tana Umaga and Leon MacDonald. Both showed leadership and great skill in defence and attack.

All the others played well - whether it was Justin Marshall clearing difficult ball or Doug Howlett chasing bad kicks from those inside and making them look good.

It was only the shocking conditions and some fantastic scrambling defence that saved the Lions from a worse hiding.

If the All Blacks can keep their feet on the ground and the weather is kind, then the Lions may not be so lucky in the days ahead.

I feel obliged to mention the injury to Brian O'Driscoll. My first impression was that it looked bad for O'Driscoll and, it must be said, for Umaga and Mealamu.

TV camera footage was not conclusive enough for the citing commissioner from South Africa.

The facts for me were these: The injury occurred well after the ball had cleared where O'Driscoll was situated - in fact Richie McCaw was running with the ball about five or so metres away from O'Driscoll.

Both Umaga and Mealamu were involved in contact with O'Driscoll and maybe they believed he still had the ball. Or maybe they were attempting to untangle themselves from the last maul.

We now know that the Lions and O'Driscoll are less than happy with what they believe occurred.

Umaga was asked at the aftermatch press conference about the injury and deferred comment.

Maybe the All Blacks captain and management need to make a definitive statement as to how they saw things happen to defuse any further bad feeling.

The injury is a tragedy for the individual and the prospects of the Lions tour but it should not cloud the magnificent All Blacks victory.

It must be put to bed one way or another with the same professionalism as shown by the All Blacks on Saturday night.