RUGBY LIONS TOUR 2009:GRAHAM ROWNTREE, the Lions forwards coach, was still hurting yesterday from the mauling, at times literally, his pack took from the Springboks in the first Test. But he was also full of fighting talk, and vowed that the same embarrassments would not be heaped upon them at Loftus Versfeld next Saturday, reports GERRY THORNLEYfrom Cape Town

“We had a very good honesty session with the players on Monday and I showed them the replay of the driving maul try, which was the most embarrassing moment in the game,” said Rowntree.

“That simply can’t happen again – we have to fix that this week. It was a technical issue and it was something that came back to bite us on the backside again after we hadn’t handled it very well in the opening game.

“We have to be better technically and have a better collective spirit when we are defending the driving maul. We will handle it much better this weekend.”

Several times Rowntree also reiterated his post-game view of last Sunday morning that the replacements rectified the problems in the scrum, namely the arrival of Adam Jones and Matthew Rees in the 45th and 50th minutes.

It’s perhaps instructive to remind ourselves that the only other change occurred in the 67th minute, when Martyn Williams came on for David Wallace. Thus the Lions think tank may well take the view that once their scrum problems were resolved, everything else about their game fell into place save, at times, for their finishing: although their defensive maul was never really tested again, thankfully.

In that scenario, few other changes are required except maybe to sharpen their cutting edge by replacing Ugo Monye.

It is clear from Tuesday’s selection – not least in Lee Mears and Phil Vickery being used as replacements against the Emerging Springboks – that the frontrow changes of last Saturday will thus apply from the start. Rowntree spoke enthusiastically about Andrew Sheridan being fit for consideration, while Phil Vickery’s efforts on Tuesday feel like a redemptive cameo.

Alun-Wyn Jones did not appear to perform especially prominently in that first Test, and there is a case for beefing up the secondrow with more grunt and grind in, say, Donncha O’Callaghan or Simon Shaw, now that Nathan Hines has been banned for a week.

When O’Callaghan was initially signalled toward the sidelines before the hour mark it looked good for him, less so when he was promptly sent back on.

It looked like the Wasps/Welsh management were keen for Shaw to have some game time. They know what they get with the 35-year-old, with his contributions to mauls and scrums, and he even threw in a rare lineout steal at the front. Rowntree spoke of improvement in this area on Tuesday and that he couldn’t rule out changes in all three rows of the pack.

However, the options are not especially bountiful in the backrow once the management decided not to fly out reinforcements such as the versatile Denis Leamy, after Ryan Jones’ 24-hour stopover.

Basically, the only alternatives to the first Test trio was the backrow which started on Tuesday, and of those only Martyn Williams looks a viable alternative.

However, it wouldn’t seem to make a huge amount of sense to ask the 33-year-old to follow up his endgame exertions in Durban and full 80 minutes in Tuesday’s conditions with a starting game against the Springboks at altitude next Saturday.

Those conditions weren’t especially helpful for either of the outhalf contenders or those in the back three. Many theories abounded as to why James Hook replaced Ronan O’Gara within five minutes of the second half kicking off. Most likely it was planned, which suggests they wanted to give Hook some game time after being sidelined early on with concussion in the game against the Southern Kings.

That, in turn, hints that they’re considering Hook for the bench, which, considering he can also cover inside centre and fullback, as well as possessing a longer kicking range, has many believing he will be promoted to the bench at O’Gara’s expense.

If so, that would be harsh on the Munster man. Defensively, he could have been more convincing against the Emerging Springboks, but he led the team well, moved the ball sharply and put in a couple of lovely kicks. It was noticeable that their territory game suffered in his absence.

Hook is the more versatile and more unpredictable, but he mixed the good with the bad in his return, and mentally O’Gara remains the strongest of the three outhalves, especially in a tight finish.

With memories of his truly brilliant, try-scoring efforts against Bryan Habana and co 12 months ago, it’s clear too that the strongly Welsh-influenced coaching ticket would have loved Shane Williams to score a couple of morale-boosting tries. Alas, while part of the excellent and brave back three under the high ball on Tuesday, last year’s World Player of the Year didn’t rediscover his magical touch.

Yesterday, Shaun Edwards spoke enthusiastically about Williams’ efforts on tour, and highlighted his “low error count”. But the wing wizard was brought for his X factor, not a low error count.

Luke Fitzgerald didn’t have too many chances to shine in attack on Tuesday evening, and put in one poor kick, but defended very well and continues to look the best of the three left-wings out here.

The situation is complicated by the concerns over fullback Lee Byrne’s foot strain, and rumour has it that Byrne is a real doubt. Rob Kearney performed much better when he came on, although whether Ian McGeechan and his Welsh assistants would be of a mind to demote Byrne as a result is perhaps unlikely.

It could well be that Kearney will be considered for the left wing. After all, he has played 12 of his 23 starts for Leinster and Ireland this season on the left wing, although he hasn’t been looked at once there on tour.

So, the second Test line-up could look like this: Kearney; Bowe, O’Driscoll, Roberts, Fitzgerald; S Jones, Phillips; Jenkins, Rees, A Jones, A-W Jones, O’Connell, Croft, Wallace, Heaslip. Replacements: Ford, Sheridan, Shaw, M Williams, Ellis, O’Gara, Monye.