Richard Loe: Lions ruined by old-fashioned rugby

Lions hooker Captain Ken Owens reacts to a try call. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The Lions are playing old-fashioned rugby and didn't seem willing to chance their arm in the loss to the Blues.

To the tourists' credit, their intensity had picked up from the first match against the Barbarians, but it bewilders me why they are not dominating at lineout or, for the most part, scrum time.

Take that final throw-in when a converted try would have won them the game. Panic seemed to strike. What the hell happened? Hooker Rory Best is the Irish captain and that ball was theirs for the taking before putting the drive on . . . but they didn't do it.

The only flair they added after the Whangarei match was instead of taking early penalties, they kicked for touch and tried to advance from a lineout. Compare that to the Blues. If they didn't try something, like the offloads from Steven Luatua and Sonny Bill Williams to set up Ihaia West's try, they wouldn't have won.

It was the best all-round game Sonny Bill has played in a long time and potentially all season. Luatua and captain James Parsons also stepped up.

If the Blues had played with that sort of intensity in Super Rugby, they'd be several points up the ladder. If the Lions want to win the test series they must play their first XV this weekend in what will be the equivalent of a fourth test against the Crusaders. They must start getting a few combinations going before a week in the South Island, because things will not get easier from here. Unless they chance their arm and prove their dominance at scrum and lineout time, I give them a chance against the Crusaders, but only because they're on the field.

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We hear so much about how good the Lions players are in Northern Hemisphere competitions.

They've got good individuals in the ranks, like locks Courtney Lawes and Maro Itoje, who don't look as good as when they play for England.

They are yet to be fluent passing off the base of the scrum, which is where they lose a lot of advantage.

They have still made the right call by building a tough itinerary.

Now the players need to earn their keep.