WARREN GATLAND says his Lions players will need to be ready for a furious South African backlash when the two side meet again in round two of this summer’s three match Test series next Saturday.  

While his side were worthy winners by the end of last night’s epic clash in Cape Town, the five-point cushion at the end did not reflect how tight the match had been, and Gatland acknowledged that the result could very easily have ended up a home win. 

Their sense of frustration at having let a 12-3 half-time lead slip through their fingers will help fuel a Springboks side desperate to make amends when the two teams return to Cape Town Stadium next weekend. Falling 2-0 down in the series would be viewed as a national disaster by the hosts. 

“Both teams will look at it and say it was the bounce of the ball and it could have gone any way,” said Gatland. “With a couple of referee calls as well, if they had been different that might have affected the result. 

“They will be hurting from this because they are an incredibly proud nation and world champions, so next week is going to be even bigger and tougher, I would expect.” 

Gatland added that while he expects South Africa to be even better next week, he is also confident that his own team can lift their game to another level.  

“We feel like there is a lot more in us, too,” he explained. “From a conditioning side, we looked like we are just getting stronger and stronger, and able to keep the pace and intensity going for the whole 80 minutes, so that’s a really pleasing aspect of how we’ve worked over the last six weeks.” 

Gatland also praised his players for the way they responded to a disappointing first a half in which they were outplayed in almost every facet of the game, to produce a much more disciplined performance after the break in which they attacked with real authority, defended rigorously and generally made the right tactical calls. 

“The message at half-time was that we were still in the arm-wrestle,” he said. “If Dan Biggar had kicked that penalty just before the break it would have been 12-6. Instead, it was 12-3 but we knew we had given away quite a few soft penalties to allow them opportunities. 

“So, we knew we just had to keep our patience because we would get chances. The key was not to panic – and as the second half went on, I thought we got stronger and stronger to get back into the game. 

“We started to get some dominance in our forward carries, our try from the maul at the start of the second half was pretty important, and the scrum stabilised and then we started to get a bit of dominance there, too. 

“Once we started to take them through some phases they conceded penalties, and if we didn’t get front-foot ball then it was about our game management and going to the air and we stared to get a couple of balls back on our side, so they were big moments for us. 

“We were also quite pleased with the way we defended, we don’t think they created a lot of attacking opportunities, and in that passage of play at the end we were coming off our line and making big tackles and they weren’t going anywhere. 

“From our point of view, you win that first one and you know that whatever happens you are going to that last game of the series, so that keeps everyone engaged and really interested in it.”