I thought Payne was very good with a very aggressive defence in the first half.. I see most comments on different sites saying he was cr@p. The Lions could really do with a guy like Ringrose though especially for the fans to get behind.Fan with smartphone wrote:Payne went down with his calf looking the problem. Could see an Irish player called in there.
Watching on a stream and popping in and out while in work it seemed like the Lions were a lot better then on Saturday. The line out and maul were good and you would hope will only get better it is still very early days. Itoje, Owens, Jack McGrath all put in good shifts from what I saw. Thought the back row were pretty ineffective although Stander stood up in defence with a few gainline stops. The Lions definitely lack some fire power out wide which was no big secret. I thought Halfpenny made his first break since 2009 but it turns out on the replay the guy actually slipped and it wasn't a side step at all aww. He will probably play in the tests because Hogg is a liability without the ball and the Lions probably wont have much of it which is depressing to think about. Rory Best geesh.
If they can make the same improvement again from what they have done between Sat and today then they should be competitive again against the Crusaders who will be another step up but they do lack that thing we can't quantify the x-factor or if we try to put a name on it something in the form of Garry Ringrose or his ilk.