The excuse the Lions have nipped in bud 'straight away' after loss

Tom Curry has warned his British and Irish team-mates they can not afford to waste a moment in their search for respect as they target an immediate response to their defeat by Argentina.

The Lions arrived in Perth on Sunday smarting from the 28-24 loss at the Aviva Stadium that drew a scathing assessment from head coach Andy Farrell, who refused to blame the squad’s lack of familiarity for the setback.

Western Force provide the first opportunity to make amends for the error-strewn opener and Curry, a tourist with the elite of British and Irish rugby in 2021, knows time is of the essence if the team are to be ready to face Australia.

“The thing with this sport and this tour is that it comes and goes so quickly. You’ve got to make the most of it,” the England flanker said.

“Every meeting and every session. Before you know it we’ll be playing in Australia so we can’t let moments pass us by.

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“We speak a lot about respect with our own team-mates. We’ve only got six weeks together. Respect is so hard to earn but so easy to lose.

“It’s really important that every session and meeting we turn up and push in the right direction.

“We have got to pull tighter, it’s the only way. I feel like this group has taken so many steps off the field. I haven’t got a bad word to say about anyone.”

Against Argentina the Lions showed ambition in attack and dominated at the scrum, but the vast number of handling errors, malfunctioning line-out and vulnerability in the air are areas of pressing concern.

Curry, who impressed outside of his own dropped passes, echoed Farrell’s warning that a lack of time together must not be seen as a barrier to success on the tour.

“We’ve nipped that in the bud straight away. You can get to the sixth week and still make the same excuse. Six weeks is not a long time so we can’t make that excuse the whole way through,” he said.

“We need to take personal responsibility for our own performances and how excited we get on the ball.

“On the flip side, it’s really exciting because we got our hands on the ball and got into great spots. But come on, we need to take personal responsibility for the ball when we have it.”

Fin Smith made his Lions debut in Dublin and the England fly-half feels the need to rally as quickly as possible following the disappointment against Argentina.

“I’m sure it’s not the first time the Lions have not played particularly well in their first outing,” Smith said.

“The main thing is how quickly we can respond and how quickly we can stop feeling sorry for ourselves. We need to get back on the training pitch and get better as quickly as possible.

“No moping about, no sulking. We need to get back on the horse straight away and have conversations that are going to make us better. That’s definitely the aim.”