By Bob Howitt

Well, that's got the breakdowns sorted out. Now there's just the passing, catching, kicking and Jonny Wilkinson to worry about!

Brian O'Driscoll said after the performance against Wellington on Wednesday evening he believed his British and Irish Lions were back on track following the derailment in Hamilton.

Well, I'm sorry to tell you, Brian, that's only a siding your team reassembled on. It certainly wasn't the main trunk line to Christchurch where the Test series kicks off in 10 days time.

With a welter of possession, the Lions scored two tries and 23 points. Wellington coach John Plumtree, who previously worked with Swansea, reckons if his team had been playing the All Blacks, the final score would have been 50 or 60 points.

Ian McGeechan, the midweek mentor, could take encouragement from his forwards' efforts in the scrums and lineouts and in the contentious breakdown zone that was such a cause of anxiety against New Zealand Maori.

But the Lions backs were terrible. Drawn from England, Wales and Ireland, they operated as though they'd just flown in from London, Cardiff and Dublin and been introduced to each other in the dressing room.

Accuracy was absent as pass after pass went astray and tryscoring opportunity after tryscoring opportunity went begging. The so-called tactical kicking wasn't much better.

O'Driscoll said his team was only one pass away from three or four more tries. Well, that may not have mattered against Wellington, but at Test time such mistakes could prove catastrophic.

Jonny Wilkinson's reappearance was much heralded, but on the ground where he gave a performance of divine quality against the All Blacks two years back, he was mediocre in the extreme.

He threw a couple of shocking passes, his kicking was often wayward and he even missed a couple of close-range penalty kicks, a rare sight indeed.

He, at least, has the excuse of playing precious little rugby over the past 12 months, and was understandably rusty.

So rusty, though, that if the Lions management want him up to speed for the first test on Saturday week they're going to have to give him another 80 minutes of action against either Otago or Southland.

The Lions were so desperate to reassert themselves after the demoralising defeat in Hamilton, they were drop-kicking for goal within 40 seconds of the kick-off. Wilkinson had the first go and Gavin Henson tried another one five minutes.

You would never see the All Blacks wasting quality second-phase ball in and around the opposition 22 trying for three-pointers when there were players lined up outside thirsting for action.

It took three Welshmen to hoist the Lions out of mediocrity - prop Gethin Jenkins, who had a massive game, scrum-half Dwayne Peel, whose electrifying spurt clean through the Wellington lineout brought the first try, and winger Gareth Thomas, who had demonstrated his exceptional attacking qualities long before he scored the closing try.

The fourth Welshman in the side, Gavin Henson, had his moments also, but you could never describe his combination with Wilkinson as fluid.

The veteran open-side flanker Neil Back helped the Lions secure valuable turnover ball, something that seldom happened in Hamilton. Mind you, his tight five were always rumbling forward against Wellington and that was the major difference.

Wellington aren't renowned for their forward grunt. They rely on backline stars like Tana Umaga and Conrad Smith and loose forwards like Jerry Collins and Rodney So'oialo to create tryscoring opportunities from broken play.

Without that quartet, they were always going to battle against the Lions.

The Lions road show now moves south to play Otago in Dunedin where conditions have been icy all week. Wednesday's maximum temperature was 5 deg C after a big overnight frost.

Like Wellington, Otago could struggle up front. But they're always enterprising and will give everything a go. Here's hoping the weather improves and the game is more entertaining than Wednesday night's error-ridden encounter