Warren Gatland opens up on ‘raucuous’ celebrations inside Lions’ changing room

Warren Gatland revels in the ‘raucous’ celebrations inside the Lions’ dressing room after their thrilling win over South Africa as captain Alun Wyn Jones admits it took ‘really hard work’ to miraculously cover from his dislocated shoulder

  • Warren Gatland disclosed that there were raucous celebrations after Lions win 
  • Lions won 22-17 against South Africa despite having trailed 12-3 at the interval
  • Alun Wyn Jones was delighted after making return from a dislocated shoulder 
  • Wales captain was initially ruled out of tour but made return after four weeks 

Warren Gatland revealed that there were ‘raucous’ celebrations in the dressing room after his British and Irish Lions side commenced their summer tour with a 22-17 victory against South Africa.

The Lions endured a difficult first half and were trailing 12-3 at the interval but they responded to secure an encouraging win in Cape Town.

Gatland admitted that it was always going to be a difficult encounter, but expressed confidence that his team can prevail in the series.

Warren Gatland revealed there were raucous celebrations after the Lions’ victory on Saturday

Gatland's team secured a 22-17 success against South Africa having been trailing 12-3

Gatland’s team secured a 22-17 success against South Africa having been trailing 12-3 

Gatland told Sky Sports: ‘The changing room was pretty raucous, the boys are jumping up and down. It was a tough, tight test match, it was always going to be. 

‘We’ve got a chance of winning the series, so that to me is the biggest thing. In the second half we got a few bounces of the ball.

‘The first half we gave away a couple of soft penalties and didn’t really get into the game. We didn’t have to panic as we felt we were still very much in the game. 

Alun Wyn Jones was in action just four weeks after dislocating his left shoulder and having initially been ruled out of the tour. 

Alun Wyn Jones stressed that he 'worked really hard' in order to be available for the tour

Alun Wyn Jones stressed that he ‘worked really hard’ in order to be available for the tour

Jones revealed that the Lions sought to improve their tempo ahead of the second period and stressed that there is still a long way to go in the series. 

The 35-year-old admitted that he worked arduously in order to be fit for the tournament.  

Jones told Sky Sports: ‘I worked really hard to get back to be a part of this. The kicking game probably took hold and the set pieces became more prevalent towards the end of the game.

‘We extended our kicking game, we’ll definitely look at that for the next game. We talked about tempo. Out of respect for South Africa, we’ve got two games to go.’ 

The sides will do battle again next Saturday before the final encounter on August 7.

The sides will do battle again next Saturday before the final encounter on August 7

The sides will do battle again next Saturday before the final encounter on August 7

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