Gatland: Future Lions won’t have any inferiority complex

Series-winning Lions coach Warren Gatland believes those players who achieved victory over Australia will go to New Zealand in four years with no inferiority complex about facing the All Blacks.

The 2-1 victory over the Wallabies, sealed on Saturday with a 41-16 win in front of a record ANZ Stadium crowd of 83,702, has given new life to the Lions brand after three consecutive series defeats in 2001, ’05 and ’09. And the young profile of Gatland’s squad, led by 24-year-old captain Sam Warburton, means the potential is there for the majority of the battle-hardened 2013 tourists to remain intact for the toughest assignment of all against the All Blacks in 2017.

Warburton, who missed the final Test with a hamstring tear, said people who thought the Lions had no chance in New Zealand were “talking rubbish” and that spirit was embraced by Gatland when the Kiwi was asked if he believed New Zealand could be beaten in 2017.