Fancy footwork has Lions baffled

New Zealand 48 British & Irish Lions 18: Footwork, footwork, footwork. And strength in contact, the ability to offload, pace and the vision and expression to play what they see in front of them. The All Blacks are producing a different breed of player to the four home countries; nay, the whole of New Zealand is judging by its provincial teams. This was a seismic match to bookmark a seismic tour. Gerry Thornley reports from Wellington

It came as no surprise that the All Blacks bossed the one-on-one collisions. Ample warning had come in the provincial games.

Much is made of their physical conditioning and their pace in enabling them to do this, but much of it comes from an aspect to their individual play that's just as striking; the footwork.

That's where their mastery of one-on-ones, or even one-on-twos and threes, started.

In the face of this footwork, the Lions missed 25 tackles to the All Blacks' eight. The Lions plugged the gaps as best they could with scrambling defence.

But it meant that the All Blacks were continually on the front foot, getting quick ball, giving go-forward ball to the masterful Daniel Carter and co.

With the Lions exploding into the game, it was seething, raw-knuckle stuff, led by the red-shirted majority in the so-called Biscuit Tin. The sound of Tana Umaga's name being drowned out doesn't belong in a rugby stadium, much less the haka being drowned out in a chorus of boos. But, like their team, that emotional aggression could only last for so long. The class and composure was all Tana's and his team.

In fact, they can all seemingly step off either foot, even their locks Chris Jack and Ali Williams. By contrast, you watched Paul O'Connell and Donncha O'Callaghan out of parochial interest and like so many Irish or British forwards especially, they run in straight lines, directly into contact, a la Martin Johnson. O'Connell, who'll rue his flying leap through the air, to his credit cranked up the aggro as the night wore on.

But in this and so many other ways the game has moved on and Clive Woodward's opening hand having been shown up as a busted flush, Wellington was inevitably the 2005 Lions' Waterloo.

Most probably it wouldn't have mattered what team or tactics Woodward had adopted, even if Lawrence Dallaglio and Brian O'Driscoll hadn't been rendered hors de combat. But this team didn't deserve to be on the receiving end of the biggest margin ever conceded by a Lions selection.

No, last week's did, and what unfolded at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Saturday night was, in many ways, confirmation that the first Test in Christchurch would have been a 40 or 50 pointer on a dry night against an ill-conceived Lions selection. Instead the All Blacks sharpened their cutting edge and calmly, brilliantly sought retribution for the perceived ills of Alastair Campbell, Woodward and co.

Another brilliant Umaga performance was borne out of clearly channelled anger, Richie McCaw was his awesome self, the snappy, sniping Byron Kelleher more than warranted his call-up and then there was Dan the Man.

Nine out of 10 kicks at goal might suggest even Carter isn't the perfect 10 yet but this was pretty much a flawless package. Only once, in the record 1983 defeat to the All Blacks by 38-3, have the Lions ever conceded more to a team than his own individual 33-point haul.

And it could have been more.

Not only did he score two tries, the first with an eye-of-the-needle little grubber along the touchline and adroit touchdown, the second when simply straightening through after the good work had been done, on two subsequent occasions, he was denied tries by Simon Easterby and Shane Williams when coming within a foot or two of the line and hence, given he could have nailed conversions from the corner flag blindfolded by that stage, a ridiculous 40-point haul.

Carter also made the run and try-scoring offload for Tana Umaga's nerve-settling, opening try (at which point you just knew there would only be one winner) and it was a gather from Umaga's chip when Williams, of all people, denied him, which was the preamble to McCaw's try.

For sheer effort, the Lions had little to reproach themselves for, most of all Gareth Thomas in leading from the front. Lewis Moody and Easterby worked their socks off. Steve Thompson more than vindicated his selection. You could even say the ever-brave Jonny Wilkinson, now utterly eclipsed by Carter, did too.

But new combinations were always going to struggle when the pressure was cranked up and some selections were proven to be flawed, notably the defensively frail Shane Williams (who missed tackles in three of the five tries) and Jason Robinson.

Then there was Gavin Henson. Either the game passed him by, or he went hiding, for one would almost have to try to be as anonymous as he was.

Contrary to his own claims that he never gets nervous, he appeared to be over-awed by the occasion.

He's also developed a seriously flawed habit of tackling without his arms and despite a fine covering tackle to deny Rico Gear, was bouncing off Carter before the latter also stepped inside the flailing Shane Williams.

Gradually, as the match wore on, the Lions had to start defending individually as they had the previous week, but whereas a greasy ball was slower through All Blacks hands and enabled Lions' players to rush up and smother the danger, this time they couldn't quite get there.

Aaron Mauger's transfer for Rico Gear to find the touchline hugging Siviteni Sivivatu for the All Blacks' second try, and Mealamu's offload when Easterby rushed up on him for Carter's second try illustrated this.

The Lions' back play, by comparison, was all heart but also "sterile", as JPR Williams damningly described it on New Zealand television.

Tactically, you wondered why they opted for long restarts in the second half, and once the first kick to the corner didn't yield a lineout drive they were chasing their losses with over half an hour to go.

But these were incidentals in the greater scheme of things.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 2 mins: Thomas try, Wilkinson con 0-7; 9: Carter pen 3-7; 17: Carter pen 6-7; 18: Umaga try, Carter con 13-7; 27: Wilkinson pen 13-10; 28: Carter pen 16-10; 31: Wilkinson pen 16-13; 34: Sivivatu try 21-13; (half-time 21-13); 42: Carter pen 24-13; 44: Carter try and con 31-13; 60: Carter pen 34-13; 66: Easterby try 34-18; 70: Carter try and con 41-18; 77: McCaw try, Carter con 48-18.

NEW ZEALAND: M Muliaina (Auckland); R Gear (Nelson Bays), T Umaga (Wellington, captain), A Mauger (Canterbury), S Sivivatu (Waikato); D Carter (Canterbury), B Kelleher (Waikato); T Woodcock (North Harbour), K Mealamu (Auckland), G Somerville (Canterbury), C Jack (Canterbury), A Williams (Auckland), J Collins (Wellington), R McCaw (Canterbury), R So'oialo (Wellington). Replacements: L MacDonald (Canterbury) for Mauger (39 mins), S Lauaki (Waikato) for Collins, J Marshall (Canterbury) for Kelleher (both 66 mins), D Witcombe (Auckland) for Mealamu (71 mins), J Gibbes (Waikato) for Williams (74 mins), M Nonu (Wellington) for Sivivatu (75 mins).

LIONS: J Lewsey (England); J Robinson (England), G Thomas (Wales, capt), G Henson (Wales), S Williams (Wales); J Wilkinson (England), D Peel (Wales); G Jenkins (Wales), S Thompson (England), J White (England), P O'Connell (Ireland), D O'Callaghan (Ireland), S Easterby (Ireland), L Moody (England), R Jones (Wales). Replacements: G Rowntree (England) for White (55 mins) and for Jenkins (61 mins), S Jones (Clermont Auvergne, Wales) for Wilkinson (61 mins), S Horgan (Ireland) for Henson (71 mins), M Corry (England) for O'Callaghan (73 mins), S Byrne (Ireland) for Thompson (78 mins). Not used: M Williams (Wales), M Dawson (England).

Referee: Andrew Cole (Australia).