It says a lot about the mindset of the Lions squad that Alun-Wyn Jones had barely caught his breath following Saturday’s defeat and the captain was already speaking about Warren Gatland wielding the axe on several occasions unprompted.
Every player will be sitting uncomfortably this morning as Gatland begins to finalise his team selection for this weekend’s third Test decider.
Never one to shirk a big call, it will be fascinating to see how many changes the head coach makes, because there is no doubt certain areas are in dire need of attention.
The back-three cannot remain the same as Stuart Hogg, Anthony Watson and Duhan van der Merwe all struggled badly.
For the second week running, the midfield wasn’t fluid, as Chris Harris had little impact alongside Robbie Henshaw, who was one of the Lions’ better players.
The Lions skipper gathered his side in a huddle just after full-time, as the talismanic Welsh lock sounded the rallying cry.
“We have got to get up and stay together,” Jones insisted. “It’s still a squad effort. Gats is notorious for making changes and we go again.
Wounded
“There has been a lot said about a wounded Springbok, but I think the Lions have taken a dent today and we need to put it right.
“There was a lot of eye contact and you could feel the fact that everyone is well aware that Gats will make changes.
“There will probably be an opportunity for some and I have a feeling that people want to put it right. I could definitely feel that,” he stressed.
It’s difficult to know if the Lions will be more concerned by the fact that the Springboks didn’t throw anything unexpected at them, yet they were still powerless to stop them, or will Gatland’s men take some sort of solace from knowing the hosts will stick to the same game-plan again this week.
“We were well aware of what they were going to improve on,” Jones (35) reasoned.
“They probably did to us what we wanted to do to them. They tried to do it last week, they probably just did it better, we saw more of it.
“From our lack of maintaining possession in key areas, and giving away penalties, that just gave them a roll-on down the field, which you can’t do against any team, let alone the Springboks.”
Having nullified their major strengths in the first Test, the Boks flipped the series by getting back to doing what they do best.
They won the set-piece battle, destroyed the Lions at the breakdown, dominated in the air, and got their maul motoring.
It was a ruthless second-half performance from South Africa, who will now fancy their chances of going on to clinch the series.
“It was probably a momentum shift, wasn’t it?” Jones said.
“We probably came second best in the aerial battle and they got momentum from getting to the corners and the set-piece.
“Their maul turned up this week and put us under pressure. But like I said, it was probably too much momentum for us to shift it back.
“We did well at stifling the maul last week on the deck, probably something we need to look at. It was probably a by-product of the positive pressure we had early on in the game. But we probably just need to stick to the plan.
“I think from the outside, [they will] probably call it a backlash, but I think, from where I am sitting, we probably didn’t help ourselves.
“Parts of the game that were prevalent and positive from last week weren’t there, particularly in the second half this week.
“We are fortunate, we have got another week. It’s obviously going to be the biggest week of the tour. It’s the last chance to put it right.”
Jones was visibly frustrated by the Boks repeatedly slowing down the game, which punctured any momentum that the Lions threatened to build.
“We talked about tempo, it’s what we saw last week, we tried to do that, but obviously we weren’t able to,” Jones said.
“Game-management, probably on behalf of the Springboks. Ultimately, we go when the whistle is on. A lot has been said in the week about speaking to the man in the middle so I tried to be as respectful as I could to try and get that tempo in the game but obviously failed at that.”
With the series finely poised at 1-1, Jones has been down this road on the last two tours. That experience could be crucial, as the Lions skipper looks for cool heads.
“They are big weeks,” he added.
“People ask about comparisons with previous tours. You can’t compare different weeks, different opposition. This week is going to be a big week, it will be interesting to see what Gats does with the team. But definitely it’s going to be a big week.”
SOUTH AFRICA – W le Roux; C Kolbe, L Am, D de Allende, M Mapimpi (D Willemse 68); H Pollard, F de Klerk (H Jantjes 64); S Kitschoff (T Nkayane 60), B Mbonambi (M Marx 57), F Malherbe (V Koch 57); E Etzebeth, F Mostert; S Kolisi (capt) (M van Staden 73), J Weisse (L de Jager 56), PS du Toit (K Smith 22).
LIONS – S Hogg; A Watson, C Harris (E Daly 62), R Henshaw, D van der Merwe; D Biggar (O Farrell 58), C Murray (A Price 58); M Vunipola (R Sutherland 57), L Cowan-Dickie (K Owens 57), T Furlong (K Sinckler 57); AW Jones (capt), M Itoje; C Lawes (T Beirne 72), J Conan (T Faletau 60), T Curry.
Ref – B O’Keeffe (New Zealand).