Warren Gatland has braced his British and Irish Lions for a backlash from South Africa after the tourists seized a 1-0 lead in the series by winning 22-17 at Cape Town Stadium.
The Lions trailed 12-3 at half-time but improved dramatically, with Luke Cowan-Dickie beginning the resurgence by finishing a line-out maul, while the boot of Dan Biggar and Owen Farrell did the rest.
South Africa’s coronavirus-disrupted build-up took its toll in the second half, but they only had themselves to blame for the indiscipline that allowed the Lions back in.
“You look at it for both teams and know that it was a bounce of the ball, it could have gone any way. There were a couple of big calls as well.
“If they had been different it might have affected the result. We were happy with the way we defended, we didn’t think they created a lot of attacking opportunities.”
At the heart of the Lions’ victory were towering performances from England forwards Maro Itoje and Courtney Lawes.
“Both of them were outstanding. Courtney Lawes carried exceptionally well, he was strong. I thought Maro was immense as well. Both of them had outstanding games and that was key for us really,” Gatland said.
