Gatland on the SA 'A' side

Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber have named a SA ‘A’ team which could, quite easily, double as a test side.  

Speaking at a recent press conference, British & Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland gave his take on the challenge ahead. 

Asked whether the SA ‘A’ side was what he was expecting, Gatland said: 

“I probably wasn’t expecting them to be as strong as they are, they’re obviously short of games, but I’m absolutely delighted with the team they’ve put out because that helps our preparation immensely. 

We’ll get a bit of a feel of where we are and what things we need to work on in the 10 days leading into the first Test. 

I’m really pleased with how strong that team is because, even though it’s a South Africa ‘A’ team, it’s going to be a tough challenge and everything is about winning the Test series and preparing for that. 

I keep referring back to 2009, when we had the first Test we had played teams that were understrength in terms of not having the Springboks and we weren’t quite ready or we thought we were a little bit better prepared than we were. 

That’s in the back of mind so the fact that I’ve seen that side, we’ll get a good indication of where both teams are after Wednesday night’s match.” 

The game kicks off at Cape Town Stadium at 20:00 (local time).