Lions 2009 - Gatland hopes Boks 'underdone'

Eurosport - Fri, 12 Jun 10:03:00 2009

The British and Irish Lions are hoping to take advantage of South Africa's lack of recent game time, forwards coach Warren Gatland said.

Warren Gatland - Lions 2009 - 0

"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," Gatland (pictured, far right) said following the Lions's 39-3 victory over the Sharks.

"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."

The Lions meet South Africa in the first of three Tests on June 20 in Durban.

Gatland bemoaned the fact that the Lions have not faced quality provincial sides as South Africa have removed their international players from the warm-up matches.

"It's always nice to play against the best players because you want the hardest possible preparation but we haven't had that opportunity," he said.

"Likewise, some of them (Springboks) would have benefited from being part of the warm-up games. They will have been hampered by not having faced us."

The Lions took their tour record to four wins from four games by demolishing the Sharks in Durban on Wednesday and Gatland is pleased with the way his team have been performing.

"We have got to be prepared to go the full 80 minutes against South Africa. If we get into a slow, set-piece game and we let them dominate us with their potential power game we are going to struggle," he said.

"We have got to be able to compete, take South Africa through phases and everyone will have to empty the tank. The players are doing that at the moment and we can't ask any more of them."

The Lions' next tour match is on Saturday against Western Province in Cape Town.

Reuters

Comment 1 - 13 of 13

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  1. Funny how we haven't from old orange2tuf since­ Munster capitulated in the Heineken semi's. Since­ then Quinlan's got banned, Earl's has been­ shown to be out of his depth. Ronan is still­ O'Useless and O'Connell is repeating his 2005­ Lions form. Poor old Orange must have jumped in the­ Shannon.
    Anyway, Gatland's right about the Boks­ not playing for a month. They'll be rusty for the­ 1st test but after that ...................

    From BigRich, on Fri 12 Jun 12:30PM

  2. Strange could have sworn that comments were supposed to­ be about the article-rugby, not the identity of others.­ Call me old fashioned but......!

    From matthew.grudgings, on Fri 12 Jun 9:12AM

  3. Please don't there be two of them! Surely the gene­ pool couldn't take such a hit.

    From Daft, on Thu 11 Jun 9:46PM

  4. I asked the same question the other day daft & he­ assured me he wasnt orange2tuf , in fact he said he had­ never even heard of him and to be honest I think hes­ right because by reading his other posts & as much­ as a clown orange was his spelling & grammar was­ far better than this idiots .

    From firstchoicepm, on Thu 11 Jun 9:36PM

  5. It's not too tough to figure out that­ suegruejames55 is our old friend and village­ idiot...orange2tuf.
    Looks like he's finally crawled­ out of his mothers cellar and is back to regale us with­ his intelligent and in no way xenophobic or bigoted­ views.

    From Daft, on Thu 11 Jun 7:38PM

  6. Some cut his access off its getting boring now (james55­ ).

    From trufftastic, on Thu 11 Jun 5:37PM

  7. I've yet to see it

    From Donald D, on Thu 11 Jun 5:14PM

  8. sugruejames55, do you ever have anything intelligent to­ say?

    From Alex, on Thu 11 Jun 5:06PM
  9. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    alex do you ever shut up

    From sugruejames55, on Thu 11 Jun 4:56PM

  10. I agree, not an ideal attitude. Having said that, I­ think it's more likely to be the reporting making­ it sound like they're relying on South Africa to be­ out of practice. If you read the quotes without the­ rest of the article, it sounds like Gatland and co are­ saying that the Lions should go out all guns blazing in­ the first test ready to punish South Africa for not­ playing any games together beforehand. (If that makes­ any sense whatsoever). It could also be meant as a barb­ to the Springbok management since the Lions management­ doesn't seem very happy that all the international­ players have been removed from the provincial warm-ups.­ Not liking the 'what we're counting on' bit­ though.

    From Alex, on Thu 11 Jun 4:38PM

  11. mmm... hope that's not plan A

    From Donald D, on Thu 11 Jun 4:37PM

  12. Thats good relying on the Springboks to be rusty.­ Doesnt say alot for the Lions!!!

    From Louise P, on Thu 11 Jun 4:15PM

  13. ........COME ON THE BOYS........

    From JULIE, on Thu 11 Jun 4:09PM
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