GAT BLASTS ALL BLACKS DIRTY TRICKS... AND HIS LIONS SELECTION CRITICS
LIONS boss Warren Gatland has accused New Zealand players of dirty tricks and demanded match officials come down hard on them in the Test series.
Gatland arrived in his home town of Hamilton in high spirits following the Lions’ 32-10 mauling of the Maori All Blacks – a result which puts the tour back on track.
And the head coach went straight
on the offensive – having learned his lesson of last week when he allowed All Blacks rival Steve Hansen (above) to boss the agenda. Gatland let rip at the illegal practice of blocking and holding players off the ball, which he insists has cost his team numerous try opportunities. “It’s part of the game in New Zealand, all New Zealand teams at the moment are doing it,” he said. “The frustrating thing for us is the amount of it that’s going on. “It makes it difficult to complete attacking opportunities because so much is happening off the ball. We’ve raised it with the referee already.” He also brushed off significant criticism of his decision to draft in six Welsh and Scottish players, on the basis of geography rather than being deserving of the honour, by declaring: “My job is to win a Test series and I will do whatever it takes to do that.”