What a disaster! The Lions were outclassed in all areas of the game and never looked like a team that could beat the awesome All Blacks. Losing O' Driscoll to a dislocated shoulder in the first minute was a massive blow, one which the Lions never really recovered from. Aside from the first 10 minutes, there was no creativity in the Lion's back line.
The kicking game wasn't great, with both Jones and Wilkinson failing to find touch on numerous occasions. Couple this with Shane Bryne's inability to hit his lineout jumpers and disaster was the inevitable result. The most positive Lion's performance came from the welsh flanker Ryan Jones who made a huge impact when he replaced the injured Richard Hill (not a moment too soon either).
Henson has to play at inside centre for the next test, his playmaking creativity and ability to offload in the tackle were seriously missed. If Shanklin is fit, he is the only real option for outside centre now that O'Dricoll is out (Greenwood was awful, and shouldn't even have been on the tour let alone the starting XV). Robinson was poor and needs to be replaced by someone with a little more flare. Shane Williams is the obvious choice given his past form against the New Zealanders (check him out for yourself here), Geordan Murphy would also be a good choice.
With regards to the forwards, sorting out the lineouts must be the key priority. It would seem that Grewcock and Thompson are more reliable than Byrne and O'Connell. Ryan Jones should start along with Simon Easterby as neither Back nor Hill made a significant contribution.
Whatever happens, Woodward has to face up to the fact that he made a disasterous mistake in choosing experience over form. He needs to stop forcing a style of rugby on a team that needs to be free to express itself in a way that we all know it can.
My suggested XV for the next test would be as follows
Forwards
Jenkins, Thompson, White, O'Connell, Grewcock, Easterby, Jones, Correy.
Backs
Peel/Dawson, Jones/Wilkinson, Williams, Henson, Shanklin, Thomas, Lewsey.
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