Lions to learn lessons from defeat

Cape Town - Lions head coach Johan Ackermann lamented the difficult weather conditions as his side lost out to the Hurricanes in the Super Rugby final.

The South African team went down 20-3 in Wellington as they couldn't get their wide game - that had bested the Crusaders and Highlanders - going.

Cory Jane and Beauden Barrett scored the Hurricanes' tries, with Lions head coach Ackermann left wondering what might have been on a dry track.

"Maybe on a dry day you could have spread the ball a little more but they put you under tremendous pressure but it was a great arm wrestle and neither team really constructed tries as both defences were quite good," he told Sky Sports as the Lions' year ends in a tough loss.

"I think Beauden Barrett controlled the game very well and the kicking game. A lot of the game was played in the middle of the park and that shows you what a classy player he is."

He added on the defeat: "It's a lesson we've learned. We will take a lot out of this and hopefully if we can be there again we can take those lessons.

"One of the aims of the group of players was that we wanted to be different, we wanted to play a good brand and enjoy it. If we've done that for our supporters I will be glad. I know they will be disappointed but it is a tremendous season for us. Some of the victories we achieved this year were history-making."