Lions coach Andy Farrell and captain Maro Itoje said it wasn’t good. Outhalf Fin Smith said it wasn’t good and flanker Tom Curry said the same except Curry managed to retain a sense of perspective.
“We have to be honest. We can’t take it too personally,” said the England player. “This is the thing with this sport and this tour. It comes and goes so quickly. You’ve got to make the most of it. Every meeting and every session. It’s nice being in Dublin when people aren’t booing you.”
If there was any kind of common denominator coming back from the Lions after finishing on the losing side a few sloppy throws and half a dozen aimless, blind passes away from winning the match, it was respecting the ball in the air, on the ground, in possession.
On that topic Curry valiantly fell on his sword.
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The Lions won almost every metric. More territory, clean breaks, defenders beaten, rucks won, mauls won, scrums won, more territory, more possession, more lineouts won and less penalties, five to Argentina’s 12. Still.
“The biggest point is we need to be more clinical with the ball,” said Curry. “The exciting thing is we have got people in the position, people are running, people are there but f**k we can’t score points if we are dropping it and giving it away that easily. That comes first and foremost.”
Perhaps, it was suggested the new system and personalities, the hastily assembled playing patterns, and detail were the Lions undoing.
“Listen. I have been on these things before and you can wait until Monday before you say this stuff. But you can get to the sixth week and still make the same excuse,” said Curry.
“Six weeks is not a long time so we can’t make that excuse the whole way through. We nipped that in the bud straight away. That is not a reason, and we need to take personal responsibility for our own performances and how excited we get on the ball.
“That is the really annoying thing because on the flip side it’s exciting because we do have our hands on the ball and are in great spots. But come on, we need to take personal responsibility when we have it.”
Former England coach Eddie Jones used call Sam Underhill and Curry the Kamikaze kids because of their abrasive style and occasional abandonment of personal safety when going after the ball.
There were signs of that from Curry in Aviva Stadium, who had a strong performance, but still it was a 4am rise on Saturday morning to begin the journey to Australia.
That left plenty of time to ruminate on dented Lions pride and a juggernaut that is still road worthy with time to mend the broken parts before the first Test match.
P***ed off, Curry was asked.
“Yeah, it is an opportunity gone. Look at that set piece at the end, there is a moment gone,” he said. “We let the ball go and that is a moment gone. We’ve got to fully take it on the chin, have tough conversations, but also do as we say. We can’t just keep saying it and not doing it.
“Skillsets under pressure in the big moments, we have got to take responsibility for that. I am speaking a lot about us but credit to Argentina, they came off the line and were very passionate. They definitely won the small moments, and when those things add up, you get that scoreline.”
A lineout at the end where the ball was overthrown, two lineouts in the first half missed, the messaging between Luke Cowan-Dickie and Maro Itoje scrambled, the turnover that led to Argentina scoring a long-range try in the first half and all of the spilled and misdirected passes, left Curry frustrated that the training did not transfer to the match.
“We’re not about throwing the ball out the back,” he said. “Andy’s been hot on you’ve got to see your pass and know someone is there. There were key moments today when that didn’t happen.
“That’s what I’m saying – we can’t say it in training and not do it in a game. That’s just one example that didn’t cross over so we’ve got to make sure we take that forward. We want to be exciting, and give the fans something to get behind, but we’ve got to own those moments and be better.”
A first chance of redemption comes on Saturday against Western Force in Perth Stadium.
