THAT’S NO EXCUSE
Gatland puts blame on jet lag but Lions serve up a shocking start
WARREN GATLAND will stick with his plan to field a different British and Irish Lions team in the first midweek game after an unconvincing victory against a New Zealand Barbarians side featuring nurses, builders and farmers.
The tourists were trailing after 52 minutes at the Toll Stadium, despite claims before kick-off that they would use the tour opener to make a statement of intent.
Next up are the Blues, who will be loaded with All Blacks stars, and Gatland will rotate his entire line up to ensure all 41 players start in the first three games.
‘It’s going to be an entirely different team,’ said Gatland. ‘The whole 15. That’s the plan. It was a tough match. We learned a lot in terms of how tough it is to come to New Zealand and how motivated the teams are going to be against us.
‘There are positives and things to work on.’
The Lions landed in Auckland on Wednesday and Gatland claimed jetlag affected the performance that was ridiculed by the New Zealand press.
But the 1971 Lions faced similar criticism when they lost their opening match and went on to win the series 2-1.
Asked whether a misfiring Johnny Sexton had damaged his chances of starting at No 10 in the Test matches, Gatland said: ‘I think that’s pretty unfair to make an assessment like that. These guys arrived on Wednesday and are still recovering from the travel.
‘Some of the guys still haven’t got into regular sleep patterns and some are still going to the doctor for a sleeping pill.
‘We’d have preferred to have a week in the UK with the squad and a week in New Zealand,’ he said. ‘The powers-that-be in four years time should think about the schedule and preparation time.’