IT’S OFTEN SAID defeat can be more instructive than victory, and CJ Stander believes the Lions will learn from the mistakes which cost them in the defeat to Auckland Blues earlier today.
Warren Gatland’s side slipped to a 22-16 loss to the Super Rugby outfit at Eden Park as they were made to pay for their inaccuracies and indiscipline but Stander says the setback will make them stronger.
Having regained the lead through Leigh Halfpenny’s boot, the tourists were cut apart by a sensational Blues try which was finished off by replacement out-half Ihaia West.
Speaking afterwards, Stander, who marked his Lions debut with a try, said they let themselves down in defending that particular move.
“We knew when we made mistakes they are going to punish us,” the Munster number eight said.
“Sometimes when teams score a try like that you just say well done, great try, you can’t really stop it. We knew it was going to come. We let ourselves down a bit there. We gave them an easy out to get to that opportunity to get that try. It’s something we can learn and fix.
“Sometimes you need to get a punch to the face and take a step back and say look we need to improve on this and move on. You always need to take the positive out of it. It’s not ideal.
“It’s not what we prepared for but look, as I said, sometimes you get a knock in the face and you need to take a step back and come back stronger.”
The result will have dampened what was an otherwise fine debut for Stander, who not only scored the Lions’ only try of the game but topped the tackle and carry charts after a typically combative performance.
On his own display, Stander said there are ‘work ons’ for him to take into the next game, citing the penalty he conceded for a high tackle just before the interval which led to Sonny Bill Williams’ try.
“There are work ons,” he continued. “That penalty just before half-time. It could have stopped scoring. There are small things you need to improve in your own game. I won’t I am happy. There is a lot of improvements week in week out. I was just happy to get out there and just enjoy the game.
“There was a lot of heads down but everyone knows we can improve on this and move forward on this and always say we can’t go back there.
“Everyone would be a bit better if they just talk about it on the bus and just get back into the hotel and watch the game tomorrow and see what we did wrong, see what we did well. We need to see what we did well and improve on it.”
The Lions now head to Christchurch where they’ll face Super Rugby leaders Crusaders. It doesn’t get any easier.
“There is almost two squads working at the moment,” Stander added. “They boys have got a bit of training in and they know almost what they are going to do at the weekend. Losing this puts more pressure on and we need to improve on today.”
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