By Neal Collins

TCUP. Think Correctly Under Pressure. It's the Sir Clive Woodward mantra which helped bring the World Cup home from Australia in 2003.

It didn't work this time. The British Lions suffered a nightmare opening Test defeat against New Zealand in Christchurch and Sir Clive is a man under huge pressure.

In driving rain and hail, captain Brian O'Driscoll was forced out of the tour with a disocated left shoulder after a minute. Richard Hill was left on crutches with a wounded left knee.

But worse still, Sir Clive's controversial selection backfired completely.

Jonny Wilkinson, woefully out of form after 18 months of injuries, tackled gamely but functioned without magic at centre while Jason Robinson was replaced after a nightmare hour, Shane Byrne suffered the yips and Ben Kay didn't have a clue.

The Grand Slam half-back pairing of Stephen Jones and Dwayne Peel was outmuscled and Gareth Thomas barely got hands on the ball.

How this side could have done with Gavin Henson, Shane Williams or Mark Cueto to weave some magic among the backs, though they would have seen precious little of the ball.

And in the loose, though Neil Back was my man of a very poor match, surely Michael Owen or Martyn Williams would have linked better with the excellent Ryan Jones, who shone after replacing Hill.

This was an abject performance in conditions made for the Lions. They never got the backs moving, constantly kicked into welcoming Kiwi hands and never threatened to score. Awful.

The All Blacks were always in control, never flustered as they represented four million people against the cream of Britain and Ireland, 80 million strong.

The series lasted less than a minute for the captain, O'Driscoll. He was roughed up in the opening flurry from the kick-off and was taken off with a dislocated shoulder.

But the Lions responded, recovering from a wayward Byrne line-out throw to reclaim possession with Peel making an incisive break and Martin Corry charging down the All Blacks clearance. That was as good as it got.

French referee Joel Jutge gave the ABs possession, the first of a series of homer decisions, and missed a clear offside as the Lions were forced back. With the All Blacks showing a five man overlap, Wilkinson produced the vital tackle, leaving Daniel Carter to pop over the first penalty after nine bone-jarring minutes.

Jutge missed a knock-on then sin-binned Paul O'Connell for tackling from an offside position with the All Blacks under the posts. Carter kicked the penalty, 6-0.

Huge tackles from replacement centre Will Greenwood, Josh Lewsey and Robinson were all that stood between the All Blacks and further points.

Hill was next to go down after another huge tackle, the English veteran replaced by Ryan Jones as the pressure took its toll.

The first Kiwi try came from Ali Williams, who stole another wayward Byrne throw just after O'Connell's return from the bin.

Carter missed the conversion but it was no consolation as the All Blacks moved 11-0 up after 25 minutes of dominance.

With Robinson miskicking, Byrne misthrowing and the Lions generally misfiring, Sir Clive's hopes of grinding ball retention were shattered.

A Byrne grubber kick caught Doug Howlett holding on but the Lions didn't get the penalty.

Sour grapes? Probably.

The All Blacks were the better side but Jutge and his officials weren't helping the tourists.

A despairing Thomas tackle kept Sitiveni Sivivatu out as the All Blacks threatened from a ricocheting kick. The Lions were all at sea, kicking badly and losing every line-out to the awesome All Black locks, Williams and Jack.

And with Wilko missing a 42-yard penalty after a rare All Black fumble, even the reliable points weren't coming and at 11-0 down it was a pointless first half for a struggling Lions outfit.

With the All Blacks boasting 77 percent possession, Carter added a third penalty early in the second half to make it 14-0 after a poor restart and another Wilko slice.

With Jutge donating more ball to the All Blacks after a knock on, Aaron Mauger ran clear, Umaga broke and threw a long looping pass for Sitivatu to score the second try. That made it 21-0 but the pass was forward, surely?

The Lions were absolutely clueless. The backs were painfully slow, unable to gain yards even when they were gifted possession. Time and again Robinson and Wilkinson punted the ball into eager All Black hands.

The Lions put their first points on the board after 54 minutes, Wilkinson finally getting a close-range penalty.

And that, at last, led to changes as Steve Thompson, Shane Horgan and Danny Grewcock came on with Byrne, head hung low, finally off with the equally disappointing Robinson and Kay.

Didn't help much though. They've got a week to recover, a week to make real changes to an uninspired gameplan.

A week to take the brave decision. Wilkinson is not good enough, Robinson has lost his fire, new heroes have to emerge.

Or this series is dead and buried.

Thought about a quick call to Martin Johnson, Clive?