Lions/Australia: Lions panicked - Woodward
England manager Clive Woodward does not believe Jonny Wilkinson should be singled out for criticism after the Lions’ 35-14 defeat in the second Test at the hands of Australia.
Wilkinson’s pass was intercepted by Joe Roff, who stormed clear to square the game seconds after the restart and lift the Aussies.
But Woodward said: ‘‘It’s wrong to criticise Wilkinson. He made the wrong play but it’s what happened after that that is disappointing.
‘‘Panic set in and we made a few mistakes very quickly.
‘‘But there should have been more scores in the first half - the score at half time didn’t reflect the Lions’ domination.’’
Woodward does not believe Australia’s crushing second half display will make much difference ahead of next week’s decisive third Test in Sydney.
He added: ‘‘We’ll go into next week’s game 50-50 and I think they’ll be fine.
‘‘The Aussies have shown they can come back from a poor performance and the Lions have got to do exactly the same next week.’’
Scotland coach Ian McGeechan, like Woodward watching the game as a pundit for Sky Sports, said: ‘‘We’ve got to keep it in perspective. They had a very good 40 minutes.
‘‘Primary possession in the second half fell away. The turning point probably was the scrum when Australia came away for Roff’s second try.
‘‘It put Australia away and I thought they played some of their best continuous rugby in the five minutes either side of that.’’
‘‘The momentum can change very quickly and the Lions will be disappointed they lost their discipline.
‘‘They will now have to regroup if they are to win the third Test.’’
Lions captain Martin Johnson said: ‘‘We gave them the momentum at the start of the second half.
‘‘We lost control of the ball - gave the interception try away and then made mistakes. Suddenly they’ve got 15 points and we we’re chasing the game.
‘‘But we should have bounced back from that and we got a little bit more ragged as we chased the game. But they are a good side if you let them play.’’
He believed the tourists should have put more points on the board in the first half - long before Matt Burke’s try completed a personal haul of 25 points for the recalled kicker.
Johnson continued: ‘‘We had a few more clean breaks than them in the first half but the second half was different.
‘‘There’s not a lot to say. We’ve got to have a little look at our performance and do a bit of soul-searching.’’
The Leicester player added: ‘‘Now we’ve got one more game left and it’s the biggest game of our lives.’’
‘‘We didn’t want to go to Sydney with the series on the line but now we’ve got to do it.
‘‘We’ve got to dig deep now and bounce back. We’ve got to regroup.’’
