British and Irish Lions vs Highlanders: Five things we learned as Lions slip to second tour defeat in New Zealand

Five things we learned: Sam Warburton ready to lead Lions in first Test, scrum debate reveals serious problems, gulf in teams revealed and referee rotation needed

Sam Warburton scored a try for the Lions and looks ready to start the first Test against the All Blacks (Getty)

Gulf in teams proves clear despite Gatland’s claim

The side that faced the Crusaders at the weekend resembled a Test side, whereas this one against the Highlanders very much looked like a midweek side that should expect to face the Chiefs and Hurricanes in the coming weeks.

Despite Warren Gatland’s claim after the match that there is no gulf between the sides, the results do not lie. Eight of this starting line-up also featured in the defeat by the Blues last week, and the fact that they have now shipped five tries in those two games shows that something is not right with their ability to cope with the southern hemisphere attacking tactics.

Gatland has been determined to keep a string squad harmony by insisting there is no difference yet between the sides that he selects, but that claim is starting to wear thin and the two performances against the Blues and Hurricanes speak for themselves.

Lions unable to find balance between attack and defence

On Saturday, the Lions rode out a tough victory by basing their game on a dominant defence. This time around, the tourists tried to take the game to the Highlanders through their attack, and it nearly worked.

The outscored the Highlanders three tries to two and had it not been for two missed penalties and a failed conversion, the Lions would have been rolling on to Rotorua with another victory in the bag. As it was, they are yet to work out how to find the right balance in attack and defence while keeping their discipline, and they are starting to run out of time to discover it before meeting the All Blacks.

Warburton looks ready to go against All Blacks

Sam Warburton admitted this week that if he is not ready to go against the All Blacks next weekend, he will prevent Warren Gatland from having a selection headache on his hands by admitting he should not be in the starting line-up. Based on this performance, Gatland and Warburton will have no such decision to make.

The Lions may have lost, but it was not down to Warburton. The flanker secured two turnovers, one in a ruck and another by ripping the ball from a driving maul, and he was aware enough to take the ball from the base of the ruck and split the stretched defence to score his side’s third try.

They may not have been able to hold on for victory, but at least Warburton looks ready to go to face the All Blacks.

Referee combinations trigger questions

The fact that Angus Gardner, Mathieu Raynal and Pascal Gauzere have shared refereeing responsibilities on this tour so far leaves a lot to be desired, given that they spend most of their time patting each over on the back over their radio communications, made available to those watching on TV as well as in the stadium.

Australian Gardner is unsurprisingly vocal given that he has a much more natural grasp of the English language than his French colleagues, and this has been prominent even when he has been the assistant referee during the games against the Blues and Crusaders. However, this in turn means that Gauzere and Raynal are failing to report offences in a similar vein when it’s their turn on the sidelines.

Angus Gardner's refereeing of the match left a lot to be desired (Getty)

During the Highlanders defeat, Raynal was twice heard to half-heartedly call for a penalty against the home side. Gardner either did not hear him or – less likely – chose to ignore him, and play continued with the Lions losing the ball on both occasions. Given there have been plenty of questions about the standard of refereeing already on this tour, would it not make sense to regularly rotate referees in and out of the series? It highlights an obvious lack of elite officials from outside Britain, Ireland and New Zealand.

Scrum battle will rage on but problems remain

Can anyone grasp what’s really going on in the scrum during this series? The Lions were penalised twice on their own scrum, once when Gatland claims they actually should have won the penalty and another when they were folded in half for the second time in three days.

The Lions appear to have problems in the scrum that they are yet to solve (Getty)

No matter how the set-pieces are being refereed – be it northern hemisphere or southern hemisphere style – the Lions have issues here. Too often they are experiencing a lapse in concentration or a moment of weakness and getting folded over, and given they are yet to face the strongest pack on the tour in the form of the All Blacks, that must be a big worry for forwards’ coach Graham Rowntree.