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Lions must stop 'monster' Sonny Bill Williams, says Rhys Webb

The British & Irish Lions must stop "monster" centre Sonny Bill Williams to stand any chance of beating New Zealand, according to Rhys Webb.

Williams conjured a magisterial break and offload to send Ihaia West haring home for the winning try as the Blues floored the Lions 22-16 at Eden Park.

Head coach Warren Gatland admitted "one moment of magic" was all it took to unpick the Lions, and Wales scrum-half Webb accepts the tourists will have their work cut out to contain Williams in the fast-approaching Tests against the All Blacks.

"He's a monster; everyone knows what he can do," said Webb, of former rugby league star and ex-boxing champion Williams.

"He got them over the gain line. He's got that class about him. We know he's going to be a threat in a couple of weeks' time so it's good to play against him now. He's special, he's an athlete, he's a world-class individual."

Williams only needed one trademark mix of deadly break and deft offload to sink the Lions in Blues colours, and Webb admitted the tourists are already wary of a repeat in the Test series.

"He's a big-game player, he's world class, he showed a couple of glimpses of what he can do," said Webb. "Obviously he's been out for a while with injury, he's coming back to a bit of form now. We'll need to be on the money to stop him in a couple of weeks' time.

"Our defence has got to be strong, we've got to be physical, and obviously track that offload as well. He can throw these unbelievable offloads from nowhere.

"If you try to tackle him high [to stop the offload] he might sit you down and bounce you. We need to be alert at all times. And be disciplined.

"We think Sonny Bill Williams is going to start [for the All Blacks]. I don't know who will play outside him but whoever they play is going to be a threat so we just have to be on our money."

Despite the glaring dangers, Webb remained adamant the Lions were not about to send out any distress signals just because of one defeat in a 10-match tour.

"There's no sense of panic, not at all," said Webb. "Obviously we lost and we're disappointed but we'll keep our heads up.

"We'll review the game tomorrow and learn from it and move on pretty quick. But we're not going to drop our heads. We knew it was going to be tough, we knew it was going to be a challenge coming over, so we'll look forward to it."