Gatland: Lions ready to battle the Bok bullies
The Wales boss was not afraid to criticise South Africa’s style of rugby claiming “The South Africans have very much a bully mentality, to come in and try to dominate, pushing players off the ball,” he said.
Victory for the world champions at a stadium where they have won 71% of their games would secure Test series glory with one match in the series still remaining.
The Lions, in contrast, are fighting to stay alive following a 26-21 defeat in Durban last Saturday.
But Gatland saw enough in the Lions’ second-half performance – they fought back from 26-7 adrift – to confirm his belief the series is far from over.
He warned the Springboks the Lions would not be intimidated nor take a backward step and went on to offer this critical analysis of the South African’s style of play: “South Africa depends on a bully mentality and they will try to dominate physically; they’re in your face all the time, pushing players off the ball, but I would be surprised if any of the Lions (players) take a backward step.”
He also challenged South Africa to show what they could do with the ball in hand. “Last week one of the things that surprised me was how little (good) rugby they played. They went to fourth phase just once in the game.
“There has always been a lot of criticism about northern hemisphere rugby, about us being boring and only capable of playing 10-man rugby. You wouldn’t often give that criticism to teams like South Africa, but they didn’t play any rugby at all,” he said.
Yet, South Africa used their physical power and stung the Lions with a succession of first half scores and another early in the second half to build up what proved to be an unassailable lead.
They based their challenge on the destructive scrum power of Tendai ‘The Beast’ Mtawarira and another huge contribution from the well-established second row combination of Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield.
The Lions responded with second-half changes that did manage to stabilise the challenge and head coach Ian McGeechan now looks to an all-Welsh front row, the experience of Simon Shaw and to tour captain Paul O’Connell, to back rowers Tom Croft, Jamie Heaslip and David Wallace to force the Springboks to dig deeper again.
Today the pack will face the biggest challenge of this tour. They must pass what is bound to be a searching examination or the possibility of a series win will surely have slipped away.
The game also provides Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald with the opportunity to show off their silken skills. It’s a great chance for Ireland (7) and Wales (6) to prove that outstanding Six Nations form over the last two seasons had to be rewarded.
IF THEY can secure enough possession, the emphasis will again be on all-out attack with the world-class centre combination of Brian O’Driscoll and Jamie Roberts sure to give their opposite numbers a difficult day.
The Lions will also hope for what Gatland described as “a fair crack” from the match officials, who are this week led by French referee Christophe Berdos.
“You get a touch judge’s decision on Matthew Rees for throwing a punch,” Gatland added.
“We’ve had a look at it, he’s swung with the arm but no contact has been made, so you just want a break and to get some 50-50 calls.
“We are not asking for any favours – just to be allowed an opportunity to play because we have the players who can. We just don’t want to be whistled out of the match.”
Springboks coach Peter de Villiers is also under pressure today.
He has been heavily criticised for taking off so many front-line players and last week was forced to reintroduce captain John Smit in a bid to steady the ship late on.
Gatland is well aware of the harsh judgement that will follow defeat. He is aware a similarly disastrous start for the second time against the Boks will leave the Lions challenge in tatters.
“They will be going out to hit us from the start again, to finish us off; it’s up to us to ensure we don’t give them that chance.
“We won’t.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
