Lions coach: We’ll be better prepared than Springboks
BRITISH and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland has taunted South Africa by saying he expects his team to be in better shape than the Springboks come the first Test.
The Lions extended their uneaten tour run to four matches with a 39-3 victory over Natal Sharks on Wednesday and will have played six games before they meet South Africa in Durban on 20 June.
The hosts, meanwhile, will have had just one match in the run-up to the three-Test series, against a Namibian Invitation XV last month. “What we are counting on going into that first Test is that maybe they will be a bit underdone. And that is traditionally what happens on tours like this,” said forwards coach Gatland.
“The touring side has a couple of games under their belt and the home side is a little bit rusty and underdone for the first Test and that’s your big opportunity to catch them a bit cold.
“Some of their players haven’t played for four or five weeks. Even if you have been in the gym and training pretty hard you still need games under your belt.”
Springboks captain John Smit hit back at erstwhile Wales head coach Gatland by insisting they did not need the practice of playing together, while hinting that the Lions’s hectic build-up could leave them tired.
“I don’t think we are short of rugby and the core of this team has been together for a long time and we’ve built some great combinations in that time,” said Smit.
“I guess there are two trains of thought: you either play too much rugby and everyone says you’re fatigued or you don’t play and everyone says you’re short of preparation.”
The Lions’ warm-up programme continues tomorrow when they clash with Western Province in Cape Town.