Lions pay price for Warren Gatland's refusal to use his subs
Warren Gatland's refusal to use the Lions' mid-tour replacements who were on the bench could have cost them victory yesterday, according to Hurricanes head coach Chris Boyd.
The Super Rugby side’s second-half comeback secured a 31-31 draw with the tourists and Boyd was happy to take full advantage of the Lions not opting to unload their bench.
“Deep into the game energy off the bench would probably have been as good as anything else,” said Boyd, of Gatland’s replacement strategy. “We thought that was interesting.”
Gatland opted only to use mid-tour replacements from the bench in the case of injuries, so Scotland stand-off Finn Russell only got a few minutes on the pitch. The Lions coach defended that policy but admitted it was in response to criticism that drafting in players who were close to New Zealand rather than picking solely on merit had devalued the Lions shirt.
“Those players were called out as cover, that was always the case,” said Gatland, pictured. “I know there’s a lot been made about that.
“We made a decision to bring players in for cover and protect as many of the Test 23 as we could. If we didn’t have those players there tonight we’d have had players on the bench who would have been exposed.
“I think so much was made about devaluing the jersey and those bits and pieces that we made a decision that we would try to get through the game with as many of the starting XV as we could.”