Warren Gatland lamented the Lions’ missed opportunity, having been in control of the game before “we shot ourselves in the foot” with what he said were costly turnovers and a raft of penalties in the final quarter.
However, he also disputed some of the officials' interpretations, not least the first of two scrum penalties against Dan Cole which Gatland, most likely along with many others, felt should have been awarded against the Highlanders replacement loose-head Aki Seiuli for driving across and under Cole. There was an argument that the same was true of the second one, which led to Marty Banks kicking the match-winning penalty.
Of some consolation was that Rhys Webb merely suffered "a bruised glute" according to Gatland, "and should be fine", while Courtney Lawes will "go through the Return to Play protocols".
“I think the boys are disappointed,” said Gatland. “We put ourselves in a position at 22-13 to control that game and win it. The unfortunate thing is we probably shot ourselves in the foot, haven’t we, with some turnovers and some penalties towards the end of the game and have allowed them the opportunity to sneak it from us.
“We are disappointed but there were some big moments, some key moments we need to work on and improve and make sure that we are better next time that we take the field. The big lesson about New Zealand sides is they keep playing for 80 minutes and they keep going for the full 80 minutes and that’s probably the big learning some of the players got from tonight.”
There are very, very fine margins and the fine margins are that we miss a penalty that Owen (Farrell) would normally kick every day and at the other end Marty Banks kicks a penalty
Regarding the impact of the Lions bench, which like the performance was a mixed bag, Gatland said: “Yeah, I think we made the changes that we wanted to make. We had gone into half-time a little bit disappointed with our control. We felt that we played a bit too much between the 10s in the first half and going in at 10-10 was a reasonable return. Then we have come out after half-time and we are pretty happy with that and reasonably comfortable. It was disappointing for us to give that away at the end.
“We had defended well on our own goal-line and cleared it away and then unfortunately we have given away a soft penalty at a lineout which has allowed them to put pressure under us again. There are very, very fine margins and the fine margins are that we miss a penalty that Owen (Farrell) would normally kick every day and at the other end Marty Banks kicks a penalty and that is the difference between losing by a point and winning by a couple.”
We scored a couple of nice tries and probably missed a couple
The penalty count was 12-7 against the Lions and no sooner had Dan Cole entered the match as a replacement than the TMO, Ian Smith from Australia, was advising referee Angus Gardner to watch out for Cole's "long bind".
“I looked at the two penalties against Dan Cole and I think the first one is a penalty to us,” said Gatland. “I think their loosehead has gone down and he (the ref) has seen a different picture. There’s no doubt they got some ascendancy in the second scrum penalty and I accept that, but the first one forced an error and it’s been our scrum in their 22, and I was disappointed with that call. But look, we’ve just got to take those on the chin.
"The same with the TMO who has made that call on whether there was obstruction or not," he added in reference to Robbie Henshaw's complaints to Gardner that he had been obstructed from tackling Waisake Naholo by the Highlanders lock Alex Ainley.
"We scored a couple of nice tries and probably missed a couple," admitted Gatland. "I thought (with) the TMO it was a debate about whether Tommy Seymour scored or got to the line, and Rhys Webb as well. You have got to accept those decisions and we felt if the Crusaders felt that they were on the wrong side of a few decisions on Saturday, we felt a little bit the same tonight.
"Robbie Henshaw is adamant that he would have got Naholo in some way and felt he was obstructed and that has resulted in seven points, but that is rugby and you have to take it on the chin and move on."
In the heel of the hunt, this marked a second midweek defeat, as against two Saturday wins, and Gatland was asked if there was a gulf developing between the two teams.
“No, I think it was tough on these guys in that there has been a quick turnaround for them in terms of having Wednesday and then travelling Thursday so they haven’t had a lot of time together.
“So there hasn’t been a lot of training time for that group with the guys, whereas the (team that played) Crusaders have had a bit of time together. The thing is every team’s different about the way that they play and I thought we probably learned a little bit tonight in terms of how I thought our kicking game was excellent on Saturday and then the Highlanders’ kicking strategy stressed us a little bit.
“Some of our guys are normally excellent in the air, we didn’t retain possession or we would give possession back and they seemed to have a lot more success from their kicking strategy than we did tonight. So we need to look at that and we need to change things up and get better and improve from that experience.
“From a game point of view it is another big step up for us and another big learning opportunity. As I said, it is about building for a couple of weeks and that first Test match and so we will have got a lot from tonight as well.”
We have known all along that this is the best rugby nation in the world
Indeed, in again maintaining that the staple diet of testing games against New Zealand's Super Rugby sides is preferable to the itinerary of the last two Lions tours, Gatland said: "The challenge about coming to New Zealand is that we have known all along that this is the best rugby nation in the world. We feel that every week we're going to be up against it. I was talking to Stuart Barnes after the game and I was saying we had a tough game four years ago in Queensland against the Reds and it was kind of like that tonight.
“It was high tempo and high paced. Then we went to the next game against Queensland Country.
“The thing about coming here and the schedule that we have is that it just at you hard with every single match. That’s the ideal preparation. It’s how we’re going to learn from those experiences and building to play against the All Blacks.”
“Sometimes with New Zealand teams, our message to the players is about staying alive and abut every moment. You can switch off for a fraction of a second and if you do switch off they take advantage of that.
“It’s about every moment of every minute and we’ve just been caught on one or two occasions. I think the players will learn from that experience and it’s great for us that we’re playing against the quality of sides that we’re up against because that’s what prepares you for the next challenge and the next challenge for us is the Maori on Saturday.”
There were plusses, amongst them scoring three tries, and one of them was by Sam Warburton, who grew into the game in the second-half.
“I’m feeling a bit better for a second game,” said Warburton, who said the match turned on “a string of four penalties and when you’re giving away field position, 40, 50 yards every time it hurts you. So I think, if you had to look back, I wouldn’t blame it on one instance but there was a string of too many penalties that we gave away.
“You’ve got to give credit to the Highlanders, they forced them out of us, but you can look back at a lot of them and say they were avoidable. So that was probably what hurt us most. When we had territory, I think it was a scrum penalty and it went back to a lineout, we were offside, and they just snowballed in a few penalties and that hurts a bit too much.”
