Tourists pleased to master 'cheating'

The Lions took a positive view of Otago captain Craig Newby's swipe at their breakdown tactics in their tour win at Carisbrook.

Newby's colourful assessment of the tackled ball area was mixed with a grudging admiration. The Lions, he reckoned, "cheated like buggery, but got away with it, so good luck to them".

The breakdown, or contact area, has been the most hotly debated aspect of rugby on this tour, alongside Lions concerns over refereeing and touch judges.

But there are indications the Lions believe they are coming to grips with how it's done in New Zealand, and how it is policed.

"I think they've been under a lot of pressure, and it might be unfair pressure," Newby added.

"We didn't see it as weakness of theirs going into this game. But they attacked our ball to the letter of the law and got away with it."

Newby said the Lions were adept at slowing down the game at the set piece.

But Lions assistant coaches Gareth Jenkins and Ian McGeechan were clearly pleased with the way the forwards got to grips with the jungle around the contact area on Saturday night.

"We got taught a massive lesson against New Zealand Maori," Welshman Jenkins said.

"We were put in our place about our view of that. We have addressed it since and started to realise you have to play in New Zealand the way New Zealand do at the breakdown."

McGeechan, an old warhorse who has played and coached in New Zealand as many times as he has fingers, has seen it all before.

His response to Newby's comments was that "in New Zealand parlance that means we're now competitive at the breakdown".

The next challenge for the Lions, and the All Blacks, will be working out how Frenchman Joel Jutge will rule in this Saturday night's first test in Christchurch.

The other two tests will be controlled by Australian Andrew Cole and South African Jonathan Kaplan.