Tom Curry fires stern warning to Lions teammates with 'tough conversations' planned

Tom Curry warned his Lions teammates time is short to get ready for the Wallabies. The squad will need some hard chats down under. The England flanker, a tourist to South Africa in 2021, started the 28-24 defeat to Argentina on Friday which left head coach Andy Farrell fuming and dubbing it 'unacceptable'.

The starting team for that game had a week in Portugal and one in Dublin to get ready but still produced a display full of fumbles and missed passes.

Farrell's squad landed in Perth on Sunday with six days to prepare for the weekend's clash with Western Force after teething problems with the attacking and defensive shapes against the Pumas.

And Curry has warned the Lions not to hide behind the excuse of not being used to the systems because the Australians are up in Brisbane three weeks after the Force game.

The 27-year-old said: "I have been on these things before and you can wait until Monday before you say this stuff. But 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. We nip that in the bud straight away. That is not a reason and we need to take personal responsibility for our own performances.

"We have to be honest and we can't take it too personally. This is the thing with this sport and this tour it comes and goes so quickly. You've got to make the most of it in every meeting and every session. Before you know it, we'll be playing Australia so we can't let moments pass us by. We've got to fully take it on the chin, have tough conversations, but also do as we say. We can't just keep saying it and not doing it.

"We need to be more clinical with the ball. We have got people in position, people are running, people are there but f***, we can't score points if we are dropping it."

Curry got on the plane in Dublin after putting a recording of Friday's match onto his computer but was not sure whether he could bear to watch it.

He added: "The beauty of this is we've got a week. There is no point dwelling on it or crying about it. We've just got to take it on the chin and move on. I'll probably download the game for the flight. It's either that or The Office. I'll probably watch The Office!

"I have been in these situations before and we have got to pull tighter, it is the only way. I feel like this group has taken so many steps off the field. I have not got a bad word to say about anyone so when something goes against us we have got to keep our chests out and crack on."

Northampton fly-half Fin Smith, whose grandfather Tom Elliot was a Lion in 1955, said: "We don't feel too far away but I might watch that back and it will feel miles away. We're not where we need to be which is the main thing."