Lions scrum coach Graham Rowntree © Getty Images

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Matches: South Africa 26 - 21 British and Irish Lions

Players/Officials: Tendai Mtawarira | Graham Rowntree | Phil Vickery

Teams: British and Irish Lions | South Africa

Forwards coach Graham Rowntree insists the Lions pack must take collective responsibility for the mauling they suffered at the hands of South Africa in their 26-21 defeat in the first Test in Durban.

The Lions were on the receiving end of a crushing forward display from the hosts for the best part of an hour and fell 26-7 down early in the second half. But changes in the front row cemented their foundations and allowed them to launch a brave comeback that fell just short in front of a vociferous crowd at King Park.

Tight-head prop Phil Vickery was repeatedly outmuscled by Springboks loose-head Tendai "Beast" Mtawarira in the most visible deficiency in the Lions' pack but scrum specialist Rowntree refused to single out the England veteran.

"We will be looking hard at those scrums where we looked so vulnerable in that first half," said Rowntree. "But I must stress it is not about hanging individuals out to dry, it is a collective thing and that is where I come in. We have to look at what went wrong but I was delighted with the impact that Matthew Rees and Adam Jones had at that set piece.

"Phil [Vickery] is a very honest guy, it's one of his great strengths, but he struggled but the rest of that pack behind him and next to him have got to help him. What we failed to do was keep a lid on the Beast at engagement time and he was able to get under us and we've got to look at that. But the changes we made that scrum better and we got some good playable possession. We just didn't dominate that engagement area and they have an incredibly powerful pack."

The Lions management were suitably impressed by the Springboks' forward effort and Rowntree recalled one painful passage of play.

"There was one particularly uncomfortable scrum on nine minutes when we got lifted off the floor and if I was their scrum coach and watching that I would have retired and gone to Panama by now."

Rowntree also refused to blame the referee Bryce Lawrence for the Lions' costly penalty count. The Lions' scrum conceded three crucial penalties in the first half that allowed South African fly-half Ruan Pienaar to put his side in charge.

"The referee, as he has been asked to do, has rewarded the dominant scrum and I think they won that engagement, they were going forward, their movement was upwards but at the time of engagement they were quite legitimate and legal. I'm not going to blame the legalities, we were just under a lot of pressure and we will take that on the chin."

"I'm a realist and there is plenty of stuff to put right but the beauty of it is we get another shot next week. If you look at the game in general, the way we came back, the rugby we played, the tries we didn't score or were disallowed. There is lots to [be] positive about. We've got to take out the positives and fix the negatives. I'm a positive person and we'll go to work tomorrow."

Looking ahead to the team's final mid-week clash against the Emerging Springboks on Tuesday night and next weekend's second Test in Pretoria, Rowntree remains full of confidence.

"It's another opportunity for 15 guys to wear a Lions shirt," said Rowntree in respect to the Lions' next clash at Newlands against the Emerging Springboks. "It will probably help us iron out a few selection headaches. Some guys could play Tuesday and then the weekend. Given that we did lose yesterday this is a big opportunity for a lot of guys."