Injured Hogg is out of the tour
ended up winning but threw away a nine-point lead. A lack of game management in the final quarter infuriated Gatland, who hates nothing more than his players failing to control or react to what is going on in front of them.
“When we got front-foot ball we looked dangerous and we had a couple of moments when we looked good in attack,” said Gatland. “Jonathan Joseph’s try was nice.
“We were reasonably happy to go into half-time at 10-10 and when we were 22-13 up, we just needed strong game management to close the match down. We were good at that against Crusaders and tonight we took a step backwards.”
Gatland’s anger is justified. His team will not have a hope if they concede penalties and fail to retain possession.
One man who will not face the All Blacks is Stuart Hogg. The Scotland full-back was forced off against Crusaders after a head injury.
Hogg, the Player of the Six Nations in the past two campaigns, saw four specialists before the decision was made to send him home. He was told he could risk going blind if he played on, having been diagnosed with a fractured cheekbone.
“It was a freak accident. Stuart is absolutely gutted and we are really feeling for him,” said Gatland. “He saw four specialists and one of them said he could be right in seven to 10 days, but the others said it was a reasonably serious injury with the possibility that he could lose his sight.
“We said it’s only a game of rugby and he had to get his health right. He understood that.”
Gatland has decided not to call up an injury replacement for Hogg, making Leigh Halfpenny a certainty to start the Tests in the No15 jersey.