McGeechan takes positives

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The Royal XV, a side which had never played together before, were only shaded 4-3 on tries and led 25-13 with barely 15 minutes left. But the Lions finished strongly, as Alun-Wyn Jones and Ronan O'Gara scored late tries to follow earlier touchdowns by Tommy Bowe and Lee Byrne, while O'Gara added 17 points from the boot.

"There were a lot of errors in the first half which stopped us getting some fluency," said McGeechan. "But in the second half we got stronger."

He added: "I was very pleased with a lot of the forward play. We've just got to be a little bit more patient, but it was a good start considering it was our first game.

"We made a lot of unforced errors when we were in possession, which you would expect to come out of our game the longer we are together.

"You've got to give players time and you have to realise how big an occasion it is when you put a Lions shirt on for the first time."

McGeechan praised Wales full-back Byrne's performance after he delivered a display which had Test class written all over it.

"Lee was very good today," added McGeechan. "He encouraged other players to play off him and we certainly controlled the ball better in the second half.

"The 14 turnovers we conceded in the first half did upset us. You get a bit of momentum from keeping ball.

"You have got to give credit to the Royal XV and the way they played. The encouraging thing was the way we came back."