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Lions captain Brian O’Driscoll admitted his side can come back from the disappointment of slipping to their first tour defeat – with the first Test against the All-Blacks only two weeks away.

Lions captain Brian O’Driscoll admitted his side can come back from the disappointment of slipping to their first tour defeat – with the first Test against the All-Blacks only two weeks away.

– Post-Match Reaction (NZ Maori 19 Lions 13) –

Lions captain Brian O’Driscoll: “We’re very disappointed. Sitting in the dressing room and looking back we feel that we weren’t worthy of winning the game.

“They had all the possession and it’s difficult to score from you own half,” he told Sky Sports.

“We didn’t play any of the rugby in their third. The majority of their rugby was played in our half. You can’t play rugby in those areas and expect to win.

Looking ahead to the next two weeks on tour, O’Driscoll said: “We’ve got to stay really tight and there’s going to be all sorts of comments in the press and the Wednesday side (who face Wellington) have to stand up and show what we’re really worth.

“Two weeks is a long time when you’re on tour and, like I said the Wednesday boys have a challenge to get us back on a roll.

“It’s not the end of the world in that it’s better losing now than in two weeks.”

Lions vice-captain Paul O’Connell: “The Maori put more players into the ruck than we did and there are different refereeing interpretations at the ruck, but they were more aggressive than us at the breakdown, they were more aggressive than us all over the pitch.

“Their aggression and their work at the breakdown was sharper than ours. That is a big lesson for us, a big wake-up call.

“There are lessons to be learned at the breakdown, line-out and scrum. There were a lot of good things in the line-out, but a lot of bad things as well,” the lock claimed.

“It is not like it was anything small for us today but we were beaten in a lot of areas – the line-out, the breakdown and overall aggression. I don’t think that will happen again on this tour.”