THE British & Irish Lions got away with a patchy performance in the first Test but paid the price for another in the second. If they are to achieve a series victory in today’s third and decisive game against South Africa, they will have to produce something far closer to the complete package.

It need not be that cliched 80-minute performance which is so often talked about, because the reality is that no team can go full throttle from first to last. But it does need to be more competent and consistent across the board, and in particular more expressive and incisive in attack.

After scoring tries for fun in their early matches, the Lions have managed just one in the first two Tests - from a maul which was finished off by hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie. They have an extravagantly talented back division, but so far it has been far more conspicuous in defence than attack.

So this afternoon, while the onus, as ever, is on the forwards to get some decent possession, there is also a huge responsibility on the backs to do something more positive with the ball than merely hoist it into the air. Gregor Townsend, for one, is confident they can produce the goods.

“There's certainly more to come,” the attack coach said yesterday when asked how far short of their best the Lions have been so far. “If we were to look at the first half last week and the second half of the first Test, that would be a very good performance, but I feel there's more in us than those halves of rugby. 

“There's more we can do in each area of the game, and I feel that we'll improve with another game under our belts. It should be a better quality Test match than what we saw last week.

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“We’ve got to create more, that's for sure. If you create opportunities, whether that comes through errors in the defence that can get you line breaks that lead to tries, that gives you a better chance to win the game. But you may create more through pressure, through fatiguing opposition, getting penalties. In these tight Test matches, that could be enough to win the game.

“We did that well in the first Test, especially in the second half. We were building into that sort of performance in the first half of the second Test, but we didn't do it for 80 minutes.”

Last week’s 27-9 defeat cost Stuart Hogg and Chris Harris their places in the squad, but Duhan van der Merwe has held on to the No 11 jersey thanks in large part to the physical menace he poses when chasing down kicks. Ali Price, meanwhile, is back in the starting line-up after being on the bench last week, and Townsend expects a big contribution from a scrum-half with whom he has worked at both national and club level.

“He rose to the occasion in that first Test,” the coach said of the Glasgow Warriors player. “I thought he was excellent and accurate in his kicking and passing. He helped us take control of the game in that first Test, and if there is ever an opportunity he’ll be encouraged to take it, as he has the pace to go through those gaps.”

If it is a tight game - and remember, for all the Lions’ supposed superiority, the first Test went down to the last play - everything could be decided by the relative strength of the benches. Which is where Finn Russell comes in.

“He's got himself on the bench because we know he can ask different questions than any fly-half in the world,” Townsend said of Russell, who has recovered from an injury to get into the 23. “He's trained really well this week – he's feeling much better around where he is with his achilles.”

Of course, for either Russell or starting stand-off Dan Biggar to be used to best effect, the Lions will have to ensure the game is played at a higher tempo than was the case last week. “I think [the Springboks] will get better again,” Townsend warned. “We know that we have to control the game more by moving South Africa around, draining them of energy whenever we can.

“We have made the point that we don't want unnecessary stoppages. You keep the tempo and the flow of the game through your own accuracy and decision-making. When the game stops for a scrum or lineout, you want it restarted as quickly as possible. 

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“We have the ability to score tries. We have the ability to put the South African defence under pressure, which can open up opportunities later in the game or can lead to three points, six points ... 

“And I believe to win a Test match against a quality opposition you’ve got to get a 20-point or more scoreline, to have more control of the outcome. We have got to do that through all aspects, whether it’s the set piece, our defence getting us penalties and the ball back, but in particular our attack, creating and finishing off opportunities.”

If the Lions do attain that all-round excellence, they can beat the world champions and record a series win that in the Covid-affected circumstances would be an even greater achievement than the one in which Townsend played back in 1997. It is not beyond them, but you suspect they will need the odd fortunate bounce of the ball to get the better of opponents whose self-belief and sense of destiny has rarely been greater.