Lions will be brutal, Kruis warns the All Blacks
have got six internationals in that pack and we knew it would be a tasty game. It got a bit heated at times, but we held our own and did a good job.
“We’ve got some great leaders and some good athletes. We’re trying to come up with scenarios so that on the pitch we can be unflappable.”
Lions coach Warren Gatland said the result was crucial after a rusty start to the tour. “I knew there would be a performance he said. “We talk about how we want to be a brutal pack, a set-piece dominant pack. I think we showed good signs of that.
“That was a big test. We knew it in the week and we trained hard for that. The Crusaders average 37 points a game so to concede only three is huge for us.”
The Crusaders also contained half a dozen All Black forwards in Christchurch.
And Kruis added: “It was about on par with the physicality we expected. They
GEORGE Kruis believes the Lions must get brutal to beat the All Blacks.
The Saracens and England second row played a key part in the Lions stunning 12-3 victory over the Crusaders yesterday and then revealed the tourists are muscling-up mentally as well as physically.
“We relish the opportunity to go toe to toe with a pack like the Crusaders’,”
because they have had time to gel. The result was pretty important for us.”
He said that a number of players had put their hands up for Test contention, including a well-balanced back row.
“I thought the loose forwards were good, I thought our lineout was excellent. Some of Toby Faletau’s footwork was outstanding. He posed a lot of problems.
“Peter O’Mahony stole a line-out at the front and we put their line-out under some pressure. They lost the first three. Sean O’Brien carried excellently as well. It was a good balance.”
He continued: “(Maro) Itoje was outstanding coming off the bench, CJ (Stander) was good and gave us some energy, and the front row did a really good job.”
Gatland also praised flyhalf Owen Farrell for adapting and combining effectively with Johnny Sexton after a reshuffle caused by head injuries to Stuart Hogg and Jonathan Davies.
“It was a pretty good performance. Owen definitely had a good game, but for me the most pleasing bit of his game were his kicks to touch and touch-finding which put them under pressure. I thought Johnny did well when he came on, and we talked about looking at that 10-12 combination.
“Given the experience of both of those two players they were able to cope with that, and we hadn’t worked on that in training at all. Having to move Ben Te’o to 13 and Anthony Watson to 15, they should be pleased in terms of reshuffling the combinations.”
He added: “I would have liked to have seen Anthony take Israel Dagg on one-onone because we know how quick he is.”
Gatland said the Lions had stayed strong in the face of heavy criticism: “It’s been very tough this week. There’s been a lot of criticism and people have written the tour off already after two games. That’s been challenging for all of us. We need to stay strong in the group and keep the faith.
“The goal is the Test matches and to keep improving for them.”