Lions head coach Warren Gatland said last night that it was far too soon to be making specific selection decisions ahead of next Saturday’s winner-takes-all third Test against South Africa, but he did acknowledge that he is likely to shake-up the side in the aftermath of the tourists’ demoralising 27-9 hammering to the world champions.
Scotland captain Stuart Hogg’s position will be under the microscope after he endured a torrid evening in which he struggled to cope with the Springboks’ high-pressure kicking game. The full-back spilled several balls at crucial moments and was forced to concede penalties on a handful of other occasions after being swallowed up by South African chasers. It wasn’t the only Lions failing, but it was a key factor in South Africa taking a stranglehold of the match during the second half.
Gatland conceded Liam Williams could well now come back into the frame, having been a surprise absentee from last night’s game. Williams is regarded as one of the best in the world under the high ball, and has a long history of delivering for Gatland during their time working together with Wales and on the 2017 Lions tour.
“We got nothing out of today but we did get a lot out of last week in terms of that aerial stuff,” said Gatland. “We knew it was coming and we worked on it through the week, but sometimes that just happens.
“Obviously Liam was disappointed not to be involved today and he is one of those players that will come into contention as will others as well. Or do we put that same team out and give them a chance to redeem themselves? These are the conversations we’ll have over the next couple of days.”
Williams might also be selected on the wing ahead of Duhan van der Merwe, who also had a disappointing 80 minutes, during which he struggled to impose himself with ball in hand and picked up a yellow card for a reckless trip on opposite number Cheslin Kolbe.
“It is about making sure that we do a proper review of the game and look at individuals before deciding if we need to make some changes,” added Gatland.
“I was happy with that first half performance and thought we were getting some reward out of what we were trying to do, but we just didn’t get anything or the bounce of the ball in the second half to be able to create some momentum.
“The game was very, very slow in terms of how often the clock was stopped, and they did a good job of managing that, which was frustrating for us because it was difficult to get that rhythm in the second half which we thrive on.
“We just had no momentum, no opportunity to play and nothing at all from any kick-returns whether it was us or them.
“The players are obviously very disappointed but next Saturday is a cup final and that’s the way we’ve got to look at it and prepare for it.
“There’s a few things we’ve got to tidy up in terms of our game, but its one-all in the series and they [South Africa] put a huge amount of emotion into that game, so we’ve got that chance next week to hopefully tie the series up.”
Gatland added that he won’t be following rival Rassie Erasmus’ lead this week by releasing a video presenation in order to vent his frustration at how the game was refereed, and he hinted that he expects World Rugby to take sanctions against the South African.
“There has been enough said by them,” he shrugged. “I won’t be going on social media this week. I don’t really want to comment on that because I want to let other people take care of that. The last thing we need is a war of words and being accused of doing certain things.
“We’ve got systems and processes in place and hopefully World Rugby will look at that in terms of making sure everyone follows the protocols. I think that’s important. We do press conferences and try to give the media some feedback and information, and we deal with the referees and go through World Rugby, and these are the processes.
“I just hope it doesn’t get to a situation where we end up with things on Twitter and people airing their views that way rather than through the proper channels. I’ve found it quite strange that that approach was taken and it’s definitely not something I’ll get involved with.”
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