WHATEVER the Lions may be feeling, with the series against New Zealand lost, they must bite their lip and go into Saturday’s final match believing that they can win. They must not dwell publicly on the players they have lost to injury, or refereeing decisions they believe have gone against them, because that will only provoke more of a backlash from New Zealand.

This is all part of the pressure of touring in the southern hemisphere. First of all, these All Blacks are a good team and they delivered an outstanding display in Wellington on Saturday. It was difficult watching the Lions concede points and there are plenty of reasons why this party has not been successful, many of them to do with issues unrelated to New Zealand. This, though, is not the time for Sir Clive Woodward and his staff to discuss them.

It was the same in Australia in 2001, when, in so many matches outside the international series, you looked at the number of 50-50 decisions that went against the Lions and the loss of key players, Richard Hill and Lawrence Dallaglio among them then as well as now.

What you do not need is something such as the issue surrounding Brian O’Driscoll’s controversial injury; situations such as that should be dealt with far better in a multimillion-pound business, which is what the modern Lions tour is.

But it is important to understand the differences between the teams in this series. Once you get past the criticism of the Lions from many commentators, which is heavily one- sided, the qualities that the All Blacks possess have to be recognised. In the games I have seen, even when the Lions have won, they have often been beaten in the tackle area, in the collisions and the offloads.

New Zealand teams have that ability to retain possession for a long period, the Lions have not. They could not do it against Auckland on Tuesday, even though that seemed to be a match they should have been winning convincingly; they have given the ball away too easily and have not been able to get it back in a hurry.

On Saturday the All Blacks went into the match with a kicking strategy that always put pressure on the Lions defence, as well as their handling ability. The Lions’ kicking did not do that, and nor have they come to terms with New Zealanders at the breakdown, where they are so expert at staying on their feet and challenging for the ball legally.

The Lions have discovered how costly mistakes are when playing New Zealand at home. They made breaks in the first half, they should have put more points on the board when Paul O’Connell came flying into a ruck and was penalised, but minutes later the ball was lost and the All Blacks went the length of the field to score.

Woodward has been criticised for not knowing his best team going into the first international, but there is usually a reason for selection. We can all be wise after the event, but selection works if players perform well and, here, too many people have not done that. Nor is that a surprise. If you think what England’s players have been asked to do in the past three years, for example, it is crazy.

These guys have not stopped. They have toured here in three successive years, they have played a World Cup and they have coped with our long domestic season. World-class players such as Mike Tindall and Phil Vickery had to be left behind, some of the players in the Lions squad arrived with injury baggage from the domestic season and at some stage we are going to have to sit down in our part of the world and decide what to do if we want to give our players the chance to be successful down here.

I had a reminder of what the attitude is like in New Zealand at a function in King Country the other day. Rather than revelling in one of the best All Blacks showings in recent years, they were talking about how they had lost the World Cups of 1999 and 2003. They just do not like losing and that is one of the biggest motivational factors for any New Zealand team, at any time.

People have talked about playing for pride at Eden Park this Saturday. Well, you are always doing that in an international and, however the series stands, a victory against the All Blacks is always cherished. I can think of two wins by the Lions since the 1971 party won the series, in 1977 and 1993, and two by England, in 1973 and 2003; this is a difficult place to come and succeed and the 2005 party have one more chance.