Shaun Edwards admitted the Lions looked rustier than he had expected after they struggled to victory over a Royal XV side in the opening match of their South African tour. The Lions completed a 37-25 win in Rustenburg thanks to late tries from Lee Byrne, Alun Wyn Jones and Ronan O’Gara.

The result flattered a disappointing Lions side and Edwards, the assistant coach, said there was work to do in the build-up to the coming Test matches.

“We were a little bit shocked in the first half that they (Royal XV) went into such a commanding lead,” Edwards said.

“We’ve got a few areas to work on over next few weeks but its all building up to the Test matches and in the end it’s the Test matches that really matter.

“In some cases, you’ve got lads playing their first ever game for the Lions and nerves do come into that — so next time we’ll have no excuse.”

Captain Paul O’Connell said that he hoped the Lions players would learn from their first experience together after putting in a “nightmare” performance.

“I think it’s a big wake-up call for us” O’Connell. “We’ve been working hard on getting used to playing with each other but you have to remember what you need to bring to a rugby match as well — the physicality, the attention to detail.

“That’s hard when you’re just coming together as a team but we’re trying to get beyond that now and focus and improve on Wednesday (against the Golden Lions).

“We’ve all had bad games, we’ve all gone out there and had nightmares, but we’ve just got to put it behind us. We’ve got a good bunch of lads here and I think the boys will be fine.”