HAT-TRICK hero Paul Johnson insists all is not lost despite Great Britain making the worst possible start to the Gillette Tri-Nations Series.

New Zealand, wooden spoonists a year ago, are within touching distance of a place in the November 26 final after following up their historic win over Australia in Sydney with an equally impressive 42-26 defeat of the Lions at Loftus Road on Saturday night.

Britain need to win at least two of their three remaining fixtures if they are to stay alive and, after conceding a record number of points to the Kiwis, they go into the first of two meetings with defending champions Australia at Wigan on Saturday under enormous pressure.

Johnson said: "The game was there for the taking but we just couldn't finish it off. I suppose in the end the better team won but we showed we have the ability. We just need more time together.

"It doesn't get any easier but there are a lot of positives we can take out of it. The hit-out will do us good and we should be confident because we can't play that badly again."

After being urged by coach Brian Noble to hit the ground running, Britain stumbled from the start and found themselves 18-2 down before Johnson raced in from 40 metres for their first try.

Centre Keith Senior forced his way over for another five minutes after the re-start and, when Britain twice cut the gap to just four points courtesy of Johnson's second-half brace, the New Zealanders looked set to fold, just as they had done a year ago against both their opponents.

But the 2005 Kiwis are made of sterner stuff and, with little general Stacey Jones calling the shots, they finished the stronger side, polishing Britain off with late tries from Paul Rauhihi and Clinton Toopi to ensure captain Ruben Wiki was able to mark his world record 47th cap with a memorable victory.

"I was delighted with the hat-trick but I'd swap it any day for a win," added Johnson. "We want to be winners.

"We said before the game we had to start well and that's exactly what didn't happen.

"It was looking like we were going to get beaten heavily but we showed that we have got some good attacking players. We were just rusty and we need to get our defence right.

"A few lads hadn't played international football for a while and some had not played football for a while. Everyone's timing was out, that's why the ball kept going down.

"New Zealand had two big hit-outs against Australia and that was a big factor."

Johnson's explanation was echoed by Jones, who will now sit out the rest of the tournament in order to concentrate on his commitments with his new French club Les Catalans and prepare for the latest arrival in his family back home in Auckland.

He is confident his side will now make the final but has not completely written off Britain's chances of meeting them at Elland Road.

"It certainly sets ourselves up," he said. "Our points for and against are okay. It will be good to sit back and watch the Aussies and the Poms go at it. I think it will be a good game.

"The Australians have to travel all this way and it's a bit tough getting used to the time difference. I'm not going to lean either way, I just think it will be a good, tough game.

"I know the Poms will be a bit disappointed but they will be a lot tougher for the next game. We've had two real hard games against Australia. If they had had those solid games, they would probably have put points on us and it could have been a different story."