LIONS HEAD COACH Warren Gatland wants his Test side settled by the Waratahs game next Saturday.
Gatland saw his multi-national outfit dig in for a 22-12 victory over Queensland Reds on Saturday, their first tough opposition of the Australia tour.
Led by mercurial fly-half Quade Cooper, the Reds blitzed the visitors in the opening period before the Lions stepped up a gear to triumph in the rain.
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The touring team now face Combined Country on Tuesday before difficult Waratahs and Brumbies clashes ahead of June 22′s first Test against the Wallabies.
Gatland said: “We said all along we were going to give everyone an opportunity in the first three games.
“To be honest the tour is probably about two matches too short for us, you’d like a couple more warm-up matches before going into that first Test.
“We’ll probably need to start thinking about formulating the side, at least the majority for the Waratahs and looking at combinations too.”
Meanwhile, Irish centre Brian O’Driscoll hailed the Lions game plan in the face of the early attack from the home side.
The Leinster legend, who starts Tuesday’s next game, said: “I think everyone was a bit surprised (by the pace of the game).
“I talked to some of the Reds players afterwards and I think after 20 minutes they were thinking in their own heads how can this pace go on.
The engine
“The answer to that is you can’t go on at that pace for 80 minutes, people just don’t have the engines.
“They came out with the policy of playing which was very exciting for the crowd and we had to soak up an awful lot of pressure for the first 20 minutes.
“I think we played a smart game, we managed to do that and then we got ourselves into the game.”
Waratahs game will showcase majority of Test XV – Gatland
LIONS HEAD COACH Warren Gatland wants his Test side settled by the Waratahs game next Saturday.
Gatland saw his multi-national outfit dig in for a 22-12 victory over Queensland Reds on Saturday, their first tough opposition of the Australia tour.
Led by mercurial fly-half Quade Cooper, the Reds blitzed the visitors in the opening period before the Lions stepped up a gear to triumph in the rain.
The touring team now face Combined Country on Tuesday before difficult Waratahs and Brumbies clashes ahead of June 22′s first Test against the Wallabies.
Gatland said: “We said all along we were going to give everyone an opportunity in the first three games.
“To be honest the tour is probably about two matches too short for us, you’d like a couple more warm-up matches before going into that first Test.
Meanwhile, Irish centre Brian O’Driscoll hailed the Lions game plan in the face of the early attack from the home side.
The Leinster legend, who starts Tuesday’s next game, said: “I think everyone was a bit surprised (by the pace of the game).
“I talked to some of the Reds players afterwards and I think after 20 minutes they were thinking in their own heads how can this pace go on.
The engine
“The answer to that is you can’t go on at that pace for 80 minutes, people just don’t have the engines.
“They came out with the policy of playing which was very exciting for the crowd and we had to soak up an awful lot of pressure for the first 20 minutes.
“I think we played a smart game, we managed to do that and then we got ourselves into the game.”
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Brian O'Driscoll British and Irish Lions dropping hints Lions 2013 Reds Rugby Union Waratahs Warren Gatland