British and Irish Lions head coach Sir Clive Woodward rued his side's poor play at the lineout as the opening Test in Christchurch ended in a 21-3 defeat to New Zealand.

The match got off to the worst possible start for the tourists as captain and midfield star Brian O'Driscoll was stretchered off with a dislocated shoulder after 90 seconds while they also lost Richard Hill to injury later in the match.

A try apiece from Ali Williams and Sitiveni Sivivatu and three penalties from Dan Carter saw the All Blacks to victory, with Jonny Wilkinson's three-pointer the Lions' sole reply.

Woodward insists there are positives he can take from the match but was worried by the All Blacks' domination of the lineout.

He told Sky Sports: "It has been a bad night for us. I picked a lineout team and as it turned out they dominated that part of the game.

"Defensively we were fantastic and then to give a soft try away from a lineout was very disappointing."

Woodward added: "Clearly if we can't win ball at lineout time we will struggle over here. But credit to New Zealand, they did very well in the conditions.

"I'm disappointed by the amount of ball we got but I stand by my selections. We got the lineout wrong and they did well, it's as simple as that.

"We had the O'Driscoll injury and also lost Tom Shanklin in training but we've got to be very, very strong, regroup overnight and move on quickly now."

Asked whether he would now turn to players he knows less well after relying on some old heads in Christchurch, he told Sky Sports: "I knew all 45 players.

"I've got to rethink things for next week, if I've made some errors I've got to own up to it, but I need to watch the tape back first.

"We got one or two tough calls early on but you can't go too overboard at this stage but without the ball you can't beat these guys."

Asked whether it was now impossible for his side to win both the remaining Test matches and claim a series victory, England's World Cup-winning coach said: "Nothing is impossible. When I saw conditions I thought it would be a good night and I'm disappointed how the lineout has gone."

Stand-in skipper Martin Corry added on Sky Sports: "We were very poor, what more can you say? You've got to give credit to New Zealand but we stuffed up, we had a bad day at the office. It's all very well saying what we're going to do, we have to go out there and do it.

"We're not looking to make excuses but we can look over our shoulder at what might have been. It was a cruel blow to lose Brian but we can't sit back and feel sorry for ourselves.

"We spilt far too much ball. It was tough out there with the wet weather but it was tough for both sides.

"This is a huge blow but we've got to take it on the chin. We have now got to stand up and be counted. We know the standard we need and we fell below it."

Wales flanker Ryan Jones said although the Lions were down after the defeat the feeling in the camp was that they could turn it around in the second Test next week.

"The boys are extremely disappointed. By nature we are competitive people and it [the dressing room] is not a happy place at the moment," he said.

"We were outplayed and the better team won. They deserved to win and they did. Next week is a different game.

"The conditions were pretty terrible but they adapted better than we did. We have got some world-class players but at the moment things aren't clicking."

New Zealand lock Chris Jack put in a commanding performance and was deservedly named man of the match and afterwards revealed the All Blacks' tactical game had been key.

"It was a physical game and we were lucky to hang onto the ball but we are pretty proud of our performances," he told Sky Sports.

"They didn't get too much time to attack and they were under pressure - which is how we played it, we played a pressure game.

"We tried to take their strengths away from them and lineout was one of the strengths we worked on in the week."

All Blacks coach Graham Henry was delighted with his team's performance, especially from the forwards.

"We could have scored a number of times but we didn't. To catch and pass in those conditions was not easy," he said.

"I was delighted with the tight five. They dominated at the lineout and had parity at the scrum. We thought that was where the contest would be.

"One of the big plusses from the Test match was our lineouts, which have improved.

"There was some good skill there. Tana Umaga's pass to Sitiveni Sivivatu for that final try was quite outstanding."

When asked whether he thought the Lions would be able to lift themselves for the second Test next week Henry told Sky Sports: "They haven't got a choice.

"They will be up there next week. They are good rugby players with a lot of pride."