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Gatland braces Duhan for Bok onslaught

rugby21 July 2021 18:44| © SuperSport
By:Brenden Nel
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Duhan van der Merwe © Getty Images

British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland warned South African-born winger Duhan van der Merwe that he could expect a massive backlash from the Springbok players when he gets on the field.


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And Gatland said the Scottish-test qualified South African was expecting as much and would be ready for it.

Van der Merwe was named in the test squad and will face Cheslin Kolbe as his direct opponent, a gulf between the two in size and perhaps attacking philosophies, but the tussle will be one of several interesting match-ups this weekend.

“It is a challenge for him,” Gatland smiled at the prospect.

“I spoke to him yesterday and said to him, you know what is coming and he was fully aware because I presume every time he touches the ball they will be trying to hit him with everything they’ve got. There will probably be some verbals at him as well and he is very aware of what is at stake, but he has been relaxed.

“The way he has been running with the ball and beating defenders, he is the top try scorer in the Six Nations.”

Gatland said containing Kolbe would be a big challenge, but they would try and starve the World Cup winner of any meaningful ball to attack with.

“It will be a real challenge. Cheslin didn’t get many opportunities, he had one opportunity in that A game and made the most of it. We can’t afford to do what we did in that A game and kick the ball down his throat. We won’t be giving him hopefully as much time and space on the ball on Saturday.”

While Van der Merwe got the nod, tour top try scorer Josh Adams was left out, and Gatland admits it was a difficult decision to make.

“You know it was a really tough call in terms of leaving Josh Adams out,” he explained.

“I spoke to him yesterday and said to him it was a really tough call for us and for himself. He had a pretty emotional week last week with the birth of his child and then the next couple of days and by his own admission he didn’t play as well as he normally would. That is understandable given the week that he had had and a little knock in his hip, quite a significant blow to his sternum as well which was quite sore.

“So it was a tough call but we made that decision. For a number of players I spoke to and showed them some stats from previous tours how the test team from test one to test two, how many changes have been made traditionally. Everyone, even though they’re not involved, hopefully will still be in the picture and still get opportunities.”

JONES'S LEADERSHIP AND EXPERIENCE KEY TO SELECTION

Gatland also revealed that the halfback selection of Ali Price meant that Alun-Wyn Jones’s selection was ensured because of his leadership abilities, with Conor Murray on the bench.

“I think it is great in terms of him making a brilliant recovery to make himself available again. He had a run out the other day and had some time on the pitch.

“It is fantastic, and just with regards to selection, there were a lot of discussions. We did discuss whether we should start him off the bench again and bring him on. When the decision was made that we go with Ali Price at nine, we really felt we needed his leadership and experience in terms of starting in the second row. It is pretty important to us to have him back.

“Just his experience, he has captained the side in a couple of matches. He has been very unlucky in that this is his third tour and his first test start. It was a toss of a coin between him and Liam Williams and we could have gone either way there but we felt that this game we want to give Stuart that opportunity.

“Like I said he had that experience in the two previous tours, so he will hopefully take that chance.”

And Price had cemented his spot in the side with an impressive game against the Stormers.

“We have been really impressed with him with his running game against the Stormers, it was a nice variation and he was getting the ball away quickly.

“But in saying that, it is not just about the starting fifteen and looking at South Africa, particularly up front and at their bench, we wanted to make sure just how important our bench would be and the balance of the side with players coming on. You have players like Conor Murray, Liam Williams and Owen Farrell who are disappointed they’re not involved, but they have the chance to come on and hopefully close a game out for us.

“We are really happy with the depth of our bench and they will be important for us on Saturday.”

Gatland also praised the players who didn’t make it, saying they had not taken a step back and were doing their bit in preparing the test team for the onslaught to come on Saturday.

“Obviously I expect the guys to be disappointed. They should be disappointed in missing out on selection. We’ve spoken to them about how it's not just about the 23 but the whole squad. Everyone has been putting up their hands and we are pretty pleased with the form of a lot of players.

“It’s their responsibility in how they respond to that and to help the test side prepare for Saturday. I must say they have been brilliant in the last couple of training sessions and nobody has taken a backwards step. We had a pretty tasty training session yesterday, a bit of niggle and exactly what we wanted. I take my hat off to those guys who were helping the test team, they really fronted up and trained exceptionally well.

“We couldn’t ask for more from a coaching perspective.”

TEAM: 15-Stuart Hogg, 14-Anthony Watson, 13-Elliot Daly, 12-Robbie Henshaw, 11-Duhan van der Merwe, 10-Dan Biggar, 9-Ali Price, 8-Jack Conan, 7-Tom Curry, 6-Courtney Lawes, 5-Alun Wyn Jones (captain), 4-Maro Itoje, 3-Tadhg Furlong, 2-Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1-Wyn Jones

Replacements: 16-Ken Owens, 17-Rory Sutherland, 18-Kyle Sinckler, 19-Tadhg Beirne, 20-Hamish Watson, 21-Conor Murray, 22-Owen Farrell, 23-Liam Williams.

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