Rugby: No test dress rehearsal for Lions, says Gatland

JOHANNESBURG: There will be no test dress rehearsal for the British & Irish Lions in the warm-up games before they face South Africa with each player having an opportunity to compete for a place up to the first test, coach Warren Gatland said on Monday (Jul 5).

The Lions play five games before the three-test series but none of the matches is earmarked for a potential test selection to have a run-out before the opening clash against the Springboks in Cape Town on July 24.

"I want this group of men to feel everyone has an opportunity, particularly right up until the test matches and we won’t be showing our hand in terms of what a test side should be," the Lions coach told a news conference on Monday.

"The message four years ago to the players who played on the Tuesday night before the first test was that we hadn’t selected the first test team and that there were still positions and spots up for grabs. A couple of player played well that night and were selected in the first test team," he said of the win over Waikato before the first test of the last Lions tour to New Zealand in 2017.

"I think as players they want to hear that message – that we haven’t made up our minds and everyone still has an opportunity and I think that’s really important for the whole squad."

In New Zealand four years ago, however, 13 of the first test side did play in the third match of the tour against the Crusaders in Christchurch in what was perceived as a dress rehearsal.

"I didn’t even know that stat, so that was by mistake,” Gatland said. “That we put 13 of the players out, was not intentional, it just happened to be that way."

There could be an inkling as to his thinking by the time the Lions play their last pre-test game against the Stormers in Cape Town on Jul 17.

"We will potentially look at the week before at what we think some of the combinations might look like and mix and match a little bit," Gatland said.

"We’ve spoken about giving everyone a start in the first three games and we are doing that, and then once those games have gone we’ll start thinking a little further down the line."

The Lions, who beat their Johannesburg namesakes in their tour opener on Saturday, next meet the Sharks at Ellis Park on Wednesday followed by the Bulls on Saturday in Pretoria.