SWANNY'S WORLD OF SPORT: England can beat All Blacks, Gatland is my hero, Lukaku isn't good enough for United

The All Blacks were seen as invincibles by their most partisan of supporters. They were supposed to blow the Lions away with the pace of their play, as they’d been doing to Australia and South Africa away lately.

But put them under pressure and they are as fallible as any other team. They drop balls in sight of the the try line and they miss kicks that are easy by international standards. They whinge at refereeing decisions just like the rest of the world.

The All Blacks are good, but they are nothing special. A drawn series was an anti-climax, but I bet England coach Eddie Jones (above) was smiling at the end. His side are as good as the supposed best team in the world.

HERO OF THE WEEK

How good must the British Lions coach be feeling after his side claimed a shock, yet thoroughly deserved, drawn series in New Zealand. Depicted as a clown by the more childish members of the Kiwi press, Gatland responded in the best possible way by masterminding an outstanding result in the toughest of tours.

LUKAKO IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH

It’s a great move for Romelu Lukaku (above), but Manchester United might just have wasted £75 million on a flawed performer. It’s easy being Everton’s best player, but there’s far more pressure becoming the main man at United. I’m unconvinced Lukaku works hard enough or is good enough technically.

MAKING THE BEST OF A BAD JOB

Those in charge of the Checkatrade Trophy made the best of a bad job last week by arranging the group stages into a series of local derby matches. The only possible way for Posh fans to become interested in the early rounds of a justifiably maligned competition was to pair them with Northampton Town and Cambridge United so credit where credit is due.