Warren Gatland has accused the All Blacks of illegally targeting his scrum-half Conor Murray and warned that the British & Irish Lions will hit back hard in the second Test this weekend. Having reviewed footage of Saturday’s first-Test defeat, Gatland is calling for more scrutiny on players who launch “dangerous” lunges at the standing legs of kickers rather than seeking to charge the ball down.
The Lions management concede their team were outgunned physically during their 30-15 defeat but were aggrieved by several incidences of Murray being tackled or pushed after launching box-kicks. “From my point of view, if someone pushes him afterwards, that’s fine but diving at his leg … I know other teams have used that in the past,” Gatland said, referring to the Glasgow v Munster Champions’ Cup game in January when similar complaints were made.
“It’s just a safety issue for me. I’d hate to see someone dive at his leg and have him blow a knee and then wreck his rugby career. There were also a couple of times where he’s kicked and they’ve just pushed him to the ground after he’s box-kicked so I don’t know if it was a tactic. We’ll probably get some clarity from the referee later in the week. It’s just making sure he’s being looked after and protected and not harassed after he’s box-kicked. I thought that was a little bit dangerous.”
However, the All Blacks’ coach Steve Hansen hit back when he told New Zealand’s Radio Sport on Monday: “It’s predictable comments from Gatland, isn’t it? Two weeks ago it was we cheated in the scrums, last week it was blocking and now he’s saying this. It’s really disappointing to hear it, because what he’s implying is that we’re going out there to intentionally injure somebody and that’s not the case. We’ve never been like that and as a New Zealander I’d expect him to know the Kiwi psyche.”
The Ireland coach, Joe Schmidt, also spoke up in support of Murray this year, although there is no suggestion from the Lions that foul play affected the outcome of Saturday’s game. “We can’t complain about the referee in terms of the way he controlled the match,” said Gatland, who will also be seeking clarification about the way in which the All Blacks stopped the Lions’ driving maul. “They’ve done a good job in terms of negating that aspect of our game and we need to look at that.”
Above all, though, Gatland is demanding more physicality from his players in the second Test, stressing the All Blacks taught his side a few lessons on that front. “They were pretty brutal in that breakdown area and we need to match fire with fire if we’re going to do well on Saturday night,” Gatland said. “Sometimes at the top level it’s not about playing pretty rugby and we’ve seen the All Blacks be prepared to be pretty physical in the past.
“You have to challenge the players mentally for that physical challenge and on Saturday that’s one area they got the better of us, I’ll be frank about that. We need to make sure we’re a lot more physical in the contact area in both attack and defence. If we get that right the transfer to other parts of the game will be huge.”
The Lions, meanwhile, are contemplating changes to their pack for the second Test on Saturday, with Sam Warburton and Maro Itoje in line to start. “We might have to shake it up a little bit,” Gatland said. “I think someone like Maro Itoje made an impact coming off the bench and was very physical. I thought Sam Warburton was excellent as well at the breakdown when he came on. The All Blacks were very direct in the way that they played and we may have to be the same. Sometimes it’s an attitude thing – getting off the line and winning collisions. It’s just a mental thing.”
New Zealand will be without their full‑back Ben Smith and midfield back Ryan Crotty for the second Test. Hansen said Crotty could be out for anything from two to four weeks with a hamstring injury, while Smith has concussion issues. The exciting Chiefs back Damian McKenzie has been called up as cover but Gatland does not believe the All Blacks are certain to win the best-of-three series. “Look, they were good last night, but having gone back and looked at the tape we were in the game at 13- 8.
“I think the players were frustrated at the breakdown. I spoke to Sean O’Brien afterwards and he felt they were getting three seconds’ opportunity on the ball defensively while [New Zealand] were being given a lot more chance to clear it.”
The players are also determined to finish the tour in style, whether it be the midweek or the Test team. “We don’t want to go into that final week having lost the series,” the Harlequins prop Joe Marler said. “You’ll see a reaction this week.”
The Lions face the Hurricanes tomorrow in their final midweek fixture with Gatland confirming that the six extra cover players summoned to bolster the squad will shortly be leaving again after just a week’s involvement.
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