British and Irish Lions: Warren Gatland wants quicker third Test
- Published
'We want to keep the tempo of the game up' - Gatland
British and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland says he will be speaking to the referee about speeding up the game before the deciding third Test against South Africa.
Gatland says the 27-9 defeat in the second Test was "really stop-start", which made it "frustrating".
"It's important we keep that flow of the game, as much from a spectator's point of view," he said.
"We want to see some good rugby, and we didn't see it played at the weekend."
The ball was in play for the shortest time so far on the Lions tour, and while Gatland says his side want to keep the ball in hand and move away from set-pieces quickly, he acknowledged that the hosts would favour a slower game.
"We want to keep the tempo of the game up, to get the ball in and out of scrums, to get the ball in quickly at line-outs, to play and get a flow," he added.
"South Africa at the moment don't want to do that.
"I know Alun Wyn Jones was talking to the referee on a number of occasions about keeping it going.
"We had stud changes, we had TMO decisions, we had the referee stopping the game for cramp.
"That will be one of the things I talk to the referees about this week when we discuss - we need to make sure we can't have 60-odd minute halves."
The British and Irish Lions lost 27-9 in the second Test with South Africa, in what head coach Warren Gatland has called a "frustrating" game
The Lions won the first Test 22-17, but with the series tied heading into the final game, Gatland has made sweeping changes to the starting XV and wants his players to rediscover their attacking intent.
"You want that flow in the game," he said.
"We've seen from other games that when we've had that tempo we've played some really good rugby.
"I think we got a little bit embroiled in the pushing and shoving and we need to stay away from that because we've got to concentrate on the rugby and let the referee make the decisions.
"We need to make sure we're not grabbing and holding each other, with guys running in, pushing players in the back and those sorts of things.
"We've got to ignore that and make sure we get on and play the game properly."
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