Warren Gatland said his British & Irish Lions were tactically outsmarted by Steve Hansen’s All Blacks in their 30-15 first Test defeat at Eden Park. Gatland’s side now have to win the remaining two Tests, with only one Lions squad in the past 118 years having bounced back to win a series from 1-0 down.

New Zealand had been expected to kick more to counteract the Lions’ aggressive defence but, instead, took on their visitors at source, generating crucial impetus by choosing a more direct route via the scrum-half, Aaron Smith, and their forwards.

“They did a good job at stopping our line speed,” Gatland said. “They came really hard off nine, got some front-foot ball and were very aggressive at the breakdown. We’ve just got to make sure, if they do employ those tactics again, that we’re much better at stopping that momentum they created. Hats off to them, they were very direct and didn’t throw the ball around a lot.

“In fairness to them, they were very physical up front. You’ve got to give them credit. We’ve got to be much more physical. The All Blacks’ tight five were very good, but we need to be tough on ourselves and honest in our performance. A lot of things are fixable.”

Gatland was frustrated by his side’s failure to take two or three try-scoring opportunities, as well as a double-figure penalty count: “Look at the games we’ve played and that’s a disappointing thing. We’ve given away a few soft penalties and they’ve been costly. You put yourself under pressure by giving away soft penalties. We allowed them soft exits and it’s an area we’ll have to look at.”

Hansen confirmed that he and the assistant coach, Ian Foster, had plotted for hours to find the best antidote to the Lions’ defensive strength. “It was our ability to play off nine and hurt them by getting in behind them and taking away what they wanted to do with us,” he said. “Once we started to look after the ball, and stopped trying to offload, we built pressure. Time after time that fatigues you and fatigue makes you make mistakes. The team executed the plan very well.”

Hansen then took a swipe at the Lions’ stated ambition to become the best forward pack in the game. “I always find it amusing when people tell us they are going to beat us up in the tight five,” he said. “We can play down-and-dirty rugby too, if we have to. You don’t become the No1 side in the world without having a quality tight five.”

Even so, Hansen views the Lions as dangerous opponents and is assuming nothing before nextSaturday’s second Test in Wellington. “The job isn’t done, is it? So many times in sport the winning team gets knocked over the next week. They’re a good team, so if we don’t prepare properly we’ll come second.

“It wasn’t easy; the Lions played magnificently. When they can score tries like that first one you’re thinking they should probably do that more often. That’s one of the best Test tries I’ve ever seen.”

Gatland believes the Lions can still force a close series. “We created some great chances, played some lovely rugby and scored some nice tries. And the All Blacks haven’t exactly played champagne rugby and thrown the ball all over the place.

“There were a couple of golden moments we could have taken and we just switched off when they caught us on a quick tap penalty for a try. Elliot Daly said he got caught in no man’s land there. From a kick, the ball’s gone through Liam Williams’s hands. That’s fixable. The other try is from a scrum advantage where we missed a first-up tackle.

“We’d come under a bit of pressure in the first half. If we’d scored after half‑time that’s 13-13. That’s an interesting take on the game.”

Gatland’s players share his view. “We still believe we are capable of winning the next game and getting what we want out of this tour,” Taulupe Faletau said. “There’s no need to panic. We know the game was there for us to win. We just need to get our basics right and hold on to the ball. We’re against the world champions, it’s not going to be easy – but we’ll work hard for it.”

There was some concern for Hansen as the All Blacks full-back, Ben Smith, failed a head-injury assessment, while Ryan Crotty’s picked up a hamstring injury and could miss the rest of the series.

The Lions face the Hurricanes in Wellington on Tuesday before the second Test at the Westpac Stadium.