Warburton frustrated by discipline

British and Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton admitted that his side’s discipline proved costly in their defeat to the Highlanders.

At one point the Lions led 22-13 in the second half after tries from Jonathan Joseph, Tommy Seymour and Warburton himself.

But a late comeback from the Highlanders, capped off by Marty Banks’ late penalty, swung the lead the way of the 2015 Super Rugby champions, with the Highlanders scrum in particular getting on top.

“There was a string of four penalties in that second half, four in a row, where we just gave them way too much territory and momentum and they got points off it eventually. Discipline on Saturday we kept to single figures. I doubt it was today,” Warburton told Sky Sports.

“We said we had to keep it in single figures and for one reason or another it wasn’t. You have to give the Highlanders credit, they forced the pressure to give away penalties.

“It was going to be thrown around a little bit more but we gave away too much possession at the breakdown, second arrival wasn’t there quick enough in the first half. They were pretty hard on the ball so give them credit. We just turned over too much ball on attack.”

Looking for positives, Warburton was pleased to see the Lions finally get some tries after two in their first three matches.

“We scored a couple of tries and when we were direct I thought we looked pretty good,” Warburton added.

“It was a proper game of chess, a tight Test match, but we need to come away from these games with wins. We will review the game in detail and I’m sure there are moments where if we could go back in time we would change them.”

Attentions now turn to Saturday’s game against the Maori All Blacks, when Gatland is expected to play close to his best side ahead of the Test series against New Zealand.

“It is huge. Saturday was great for us but the Maori is going to be the biggest challenge. They have a great squad, lots of All Blacks, and it is going to be a very big game for us.”