Gatland wants more despite rampant start to Lions tour

By Sports Desk July 03, 2021

Warren Gatland could not find too much to complain about after the British and Irish Lions made a brilliant start to their tour of South Africa, but says his team will not be 100 per cent satisfied.

Gatland's team beat the Lions 56-14 on Saturday, with winger Josh Adams running in four of their eight tries. 

Their points tally was the most in a match since they beat a combined New South Wales–Queensland Country 64-0 in 2013 – it was also their largest margin of victory since that match.

They are now unbeaten in their last five games (W3 D2), their best run since winning six in a row across the 2009 and 2013 tours.

Though content with how the tourists started their trip – in a match which was played behind closed doors – Gatland insists he has instilled a mentality of never being satisfied.

"You cannot complain. We've been getting better and better as a squad the more time we spend together," the former Wales coach said.

"We've put down a bit of a marker but as a group we won't be 100 per cent satisfied, there are still lots of improvements but we feel we can get there and makes lots of improvements too.

"The bench brought some energy but we had to adjust the way we wanted to play because they didn't pressure us as much with the blitz that we had expected, so we changed the way we played and that was a pretty good reaction.

"I was just really pleased with the energy out there, the guys working hard when they made a few breaks. We made a few mistakes and they were hard to get the ball off, but it was a really positive start."

Welshman Adams was the star of the show, as he became the first player to score four tries for the British and Irish Lions since Shane Williams went over five times against Manawatu in 2005.

Adams, who made five clean breaks in this game – the first player to do so since Williams managed six against South Africa in 2009 – has now scored a try in each of his last five games for Wales and the Lions combined.

"I thought the guy on the left wing did okay today," quipped Gatland.

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