Nowell suffers second defeat

By Mark Stevens
13/6/17

Jack Nowell endured more misery with the British and Irish Lions as they suffered their second defeat of the tour, going down 23-22 to the Highlanders in Dunedin.

The Exeter Chiefs and England back, making his second appearance in the famous red jersey, again featured for the whole 80 minutes at the Forsyth Barr Stadium, but was again on the losing side for the tourists.

Late penalty misses from replacements Owen Farrell and Elliot Daly proved costly for Warran Gatland's side as Marty Banks late score proved the match-winner for the hosts.

It was a second loss in four games for Gatland's side, who had trailed in the first to Waisake Naholo's try, before Jonathan Joseph replied with a converted score.

After the break, tries from returning captain Sam Warburton and Tommy Seymour looked to have put the Lions in control, before the hosts responded.

Liam Coltman drove over for the Highlanders and Lima Sopoaga added his second penalty after the break.

Farrell then dragged a Lions penalty wide before Marty Banks landed what proved the decisive kick in Dunedin.

Post-match, Gatland admitted his side would have to resolve their scrummaging issues, after this latest setback against Super Rugby opposition.

The Lions pack conceded a couple of crucial penalties towards the end of the game and Kiwi coach Gatland said Australian Angus Gardner refereed the game differently to how France's Mathieu Raynal handled the Lions' win over the Crusaders.

"Maybe we can get all the Frenchmen in charge of the games," Gatland joked.  "We've gone from single figures [penalties conceded] on Saturday to double figures. That really hurt us. We have to make sure we are better in those moments because that's the difference between sometimes winning and losing games."

The Lions led 22-13 in the second half before conceding 10 unanswered points to lose for the second time on tour.

"We've all got to learn from the interpretations of the referee at scrum time," Gatland said. "I looked at those two penalties against Dan Cole, and I think the first one is a penalty to us.

"There is no doubt they got some ascendancy in the second scrum penalty, and they have got on top of us. We need to adapt to that and make sure we work really hard over the next couple of weeks to rectify an issue - if there is - at scrum time."

The Lions next face the Maori All Blacks in Rotorua on Saturday, with Gatland likely to pick a similar team to the one that impressively beat the Crusaders.