Woodward orders Lions to roar

Sir Clive Woodward has ordered the wounded Lions to toughen up their act and save their £9million tour of New Zealand from lurching into rugby's costliest failure.

Just 24 hours after a shocking 19-13 defeat by the New Zealand Maori, the head coach said: 'We are getting out-hit, so something has got to happen. We have to up the ante in training and we need to stop making excuses.

We got out-muscled, if we are brutally honest. That's something we'll have to put right.' Ireland lock Paul O'Connell echoed those comments, saying: 'They were a bit more aggressive than us all over the pitch. I don't think that will happen again.'

Only the previous week Woodward had intervened because of concerns over the defensive drills.

According to coach Mike Ford, one session was 'so bruising that Clive told us to tone it down'. Jonny Wilkinson and Ireland hooker Shane Byrne needed treatment and did not feature in the Maori match.

Skipper Brian O'Driscoll will have five other international captains at his disposal when the Lions face Wellington on Wednesday. Martin Corry, Jason Robinson, Gareth Thomas, Wilkinson and Neil Back are all expected to confirm their readiness for the Test series.

All Blacks' forwards coach Steve Hansen said: 'It shows they are beatable, which they keep telling us they're not. They'll put a brave face on it but it will hurt.'

A Lions technical team member was ordered to leave the New Zealand-Fiji match after filming All Black players. 'We got about six minutes on tape before we were told to stop,'Woodward said. Injury-jinxed Simon Taylor, Scotland's No 8, yesterday became the fourth Lions player to withdraw from the tour.