GO FOR THE KILL

Bullish Gatland urges Lions to clinch series on Saturday

A BULLISH Warren Gatland has turned up the heat on the reeling Springboks and urged his Lions to clinch series glory in the second Test on Saturday.

The British and Irish tourists claimed a 22-17 comeback win over South Africa in Cape Town to take a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series and head coach Gatland has urged his men to seize their shot at history.

‘I would love to win the Test series this week,’ he said. ‘You’ve got to embrace that expectation. It’s about how much you want it and what it means to you. Test match rugby is about that.

‘We should expect ourselves to improve from the first Test. Hopefully, we will have won the series by next week.’

Gatland is confident that his team can beat the wounded Boks at their own high-power game. South Africa’s renowned ‘bomb squad’ failed to detonate from the bench and the Lions’ set-piece took away the host nation’s anticipated area of dominance.

Reflecting on the manner of the victory and the psychological impact on both sides, Gatland said: ‘It probably relieves

a bit of pressure and the pressure reverts a little bit to South Africa, because they are going to be incredibly desperate.

‘We saw that in 2013 when we had won the first Test and saw the amount that Australia put into that second Test — not just from a physical point of view but from an emotional point of view. I didn’t feel like they could get to the same level for the third Test and that proved to be the case.

‘It is going to be pretty much the same. Whether or not South Africa are a bit more expansive and try to play a little more rugby — that will be debatable. It’s hard for them because they have a model that has been successful for them through a World Cup. We will just wait and see.’

Asked if South Africa have more potential to build momentum as the series goes on, Gatland twisted the knife, saying: ‘We think there is another level in us and I’m not sure where that momentum is going to come from.’

He also cast doubt on the Boks’ ability to reduce the fitness deficit between themselves and the Lions, adding: ‘I’m not sure. It’s quite hard in a week. To get conditioned from a running issue, you have got to be doing some extras and top-ups. We have been doing that throughout the whole tour. ‘During the Test week, you have some hard training sessions but it is quite hard to top up from a conditioning point of view.’ As a sign of the Lions’ confidence, Gatland (left) is likely to name his side tomorrow — two days earlier than originally planned — for the potentially decisive second Test in Cape Town. He raised the possibility of changing a winning team, saying: ‘Do we need to introduce a few people just to change things up a bit? A lot of players put their hands up.’ Wales fly-half Dan Biggar has started his return-to-play protocols after suffering a bang to the head and will not take part in contact training early this week.