Warren Gatland admitted there is plenty of leg room for improvement as a jet-lagged and far from jet-heeled British and Irish Lions began their New Zealand tour with a scrappy 13-7 victory over the Provincial Barbarians.
The Lions coach saw his pedestrian side on the back foot for much of the game and hanging on for victory at the end in Whangarei.
Winger Anthony Watson’s 52nd minute try gave Lions the slim advantage they needed after Barbarians captain Sam Anderson-Heather scored the only try for the side selected from New Zealand’s semi-professional ranks.
Johnny Sexton slotted a first-half penalty, Greig Laidlaw then stepped up when Sexton went down injured to add a second, and replacement fly-half Owen Farrell converted Watson’s try.
Gatland confessed it was not impressive, but promised: “There are things for us to be pleased with and things to work on as well.
“It’s not the easiest place in the world to come but we have started off the tour with a win and there will be better to come.
“We have a lot of things to work on. We created some chances and there was good energy coming from guys off the bench.
“Stuart Hogg did some good things in attack, but he’s probably disappointed with that pass. He knows he’s better than that.
“It was a very tough match and we have learned a lot. We have learned how motivated the teams are going to be up against us out here.
“This game tested us. We have got to be more clinical. We were held up over the line four times.
“Some positives, but things for us to work on as well.
“The players are going to be quite disappointed that they didn’t finish off those chances, but we will get better from that.
“We arrived on Wednesday and we are still recovering from the travel and the guys haven’t got into regular sleep patterns.
“For us the most important thing was the result.
“We know we have to be better at finishing the chances we created.
“Ross Moriarty and Kyle Sinckler have both picked up back spasms, but the doctor is confident they will be fine.
“The plan is everyone gets a start in the first three games. I thought Owen Farrell was good, I thought Justin Tipuric was really good. Farrell has been one of the outstanding performers in northern hemisphere rugby over the last 18 months.
“We would have prefered to have had a week in UK with the full squad and a week in New Zealand before the first game. Perhaps the schedulers need to look at that for future tours.”
Fly-half Bryn Gatland, the son of Lions coach Warren, converted Anderson-Heather’s try and showed he would be more than capable of playing at a higher level should the Auckland Blues need him on Wednesday against the tourists.
Gatland added: “It was special. I thought he played pretty well. He caused us a few problems, especially with his kicking game.
“It was a special day for us as a family. I thought he played pretty well.”
