McCaw who?

Safe to say the result of the first test wasn't to plan for Warren Gatland. New Zealand scored double the points of the travelling Lions and realistically never looked flustered by the Brits. However, for all the pre-match talk of Lions power game, it was actually the men in black who ruled the roost at the breakdown. Sure there were the flashes of ball skills we expect from the Kiwi's, Read's offload and Codie Taylor's pick up particular examples, not to mention the sublime one-handed pick up from Barrett, but the tone was set by the sheer physicality of the New Zealand pack. The Lions expected to rule the breakdown, that didn't happen, largely due to one man. Sam Cane.

For all the pre-match analysis Cane appeared from nowhere to ruin the Lions' day with a breakdown masterclass.

For so long the pinnacle of open-side play has been Richie McCaw, the King of Dark Arts. Sure there were others who shone brightly: Pocock, Hooper, Warburton; all have been feared at their peaks but none of them came close to the continued excellence of the All Blacks legend. When he retired you could almost hear an audible sigh of relief from the nations of the world, no longer would they have to endure the brilliant "illegality" of the man from Canterbury.

Cane was McCaw's understudy for four years in black.

Of course, everyone seemed to forget that New Zealand is a conveyor belt of talent and they had been preparing for the departure of McCaw for some time. This is where Sam Cane - from Hamilton-based Chiefs - comes in. At the point, McCaw retired he had already amassed some 30-odd caps, had captained his country and won a world cup. No mean feat for a backup to the world's greatest. There was a quiet crowd of support behind Cane a true belief that he would slot in seamlessly.

In my opinion, it didn't quite happen for him in the first twelve months, during 2016 he was a decent player but the claim he could replace McCaw seemed unfounded. In fact the louder voices were calling for Arde Savea to be given the seven jersey instead, for his dynamic ball carrying ability. Steve Hansen refused to listen, instead, he backed the work his former captain had put in and trusted Cane to come good. There were moments in the Autumn series you could begin to see what the fuss what about, the rematch against Ireland a particular highlight where he spent the entire game smashing men in green left, right, and centre and piling into rucks with reckless abandon. Despite this I was still in the Savea camp myself, I really questioned whether New Zealand needed a breakdown master when everyone in their team seems to win turnovers anyway. I will admit after the first test against the Lions how wrong I was.

This was the game where Sam Cane showed why he was compared to McCaw so much. Never mind the 15 carries he completed (behind only Kieran Read and Sonny Bill Williams), or the 10 passes he made to link play. It was his work without the ball that was exemplary. He made more tackles than anyone else in black, in a game where New Zealand had 61% possession, making eleven. Some of those hits were utterly savage too. In addition to this, the area which was the most impressive was his aggression at the breakdown. This is something the stats won't tell the whole story, with only two recorded turnovers, but I lost count of the number of times I would see him make a tackle and before anyone could breathe he was back on his feet wrestling for the ball. Throw in his tackle support, hitting a ruck as the first defender and killing all momentum for the Lions, and you begin to realise the weapon the Kiwi's had over the tourists.

Cane tackled basically everything, all day, in Auckland, teamed with his jackaling and he was a menace.

The Lions went into the game without a "traditional" openside, O'Mahony is a fighter to the end and O'Brien tried his best, but competing for the ball is not what they do best. Meanwhile Warburton - a man highly respected for his ability in New Zealand - sat unable to affect the game on the bench. It takes an openside to beat an openside, and without Warburton's (or Tipuric's) understanding of the skills, cheats, and ploys used Cane had a field day.

Will Warburton return to counter Cane?

There was only one operator of the "dark arts" on the field, and it showed just how much he had learned from the master over the years. McCaw was renowned for his toeing of the line, he would play on the edge of illegality (and often over it), it was his knowledge of the laws, his knowledge of referees and his ability to con anyone with confidence meant that he got away with far more than he should of. That is starting to bubble up from Cane, with entry from rucks, and questionable releasing of players which are McCaw trademarks.

You can guarantee if McCaw was still around Gatland would have selected Warburton in a like-for-like battle, he underestimated Cane and it cost him. If the Lions want to win the second test and keep the contest alive they need to find a way to stop Cane from ruling the breakdown, because while the King may be gone the Prince of Darkness is ascending the throne.