Disappointed O'Connell rues injuries
Paul O'Connell will have to try and lift his players
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Saturday, 27, Jun 2009 08:47
British and Irish Lions skipper Paul O'Connell felt a series of injuries cost his team victory in the second Test match against South Africa.
The Lions looked on course to level the three match series as they led 19-8 deep into the second-half, but then lost Jamie Roberts, Adam Jones, Gethin Jenkins and most importantly, star player Brian O'Driscoll to injury.
South Africa took advantage of the Lions' woes and came back into the game with tries from Bryan Habana and Jaque Fourie. In the end it was one of the Lions replacements, Ronan O'Gara who conceded the last minute penalty which Morne Steyn converted to give the Boks a 2-0 series win.
"It's very disappointing," O'Connell told Sky Sports. "We had a lot of injuries and that definitely told. When Brian O'Driscoll went off, he's a lynchpin of the team, and it was tough but we just didn't play enough in the second half.
"When we played in the first half we were all over them and we just didn't play in the second half. I thought we'd done enough to get the draw and keep the series alive.
"Guys are so proud to play for the Lions and they want to win for the Lions, it's just very disappointing the way it panned out."
O'Connell will now have to try and lift his players for the third Test in Johannesburg next week with the Lions only having pride left to play for.