Wales wing Louis Rees-Zammit says the British & Irish Lions should have employed a more attacking gameplan during the three-Test series against the Springboks.
Rees-Zammit was talking to the Guardian during the buildup to the November Test between Wales and the Springboks in Cardiff, which will present a number of the home players the opportunity to avenge the Lions series loss earlier this year.
The Lions suffered a 2-1 series loss to the Springboks back in August, after South Africa’s veteran flyhalf Morne Steyn slotted a last-gasp penalty in the third and final Test to give the hosts victory.
The 20-year-old Zammit, who spent most of the series as a fringe player, hit out at the tactics the Lions used during the tour, with the tourists trying to go toe to toe with the Springbok kicking game.
“I don’t want to be the bitch but I just thought we had the wrong gameplan, to be honest,” Rees-Zammit said.
“If we’d played a bit of rugby I think we could have given them a better test, but we ended up falling into their gameplan and that cost us the series.
“I obviously wasn’t suited to the gameplan they went with. If we’d played more attacking rugby I’d like to think I’d have been in with a chance but they wanted physicality. It was, ‘Who can kick more?’ That’s the last thing I wanted. I wanted ball in space, which was exactly what Finn Russell wanted as well.
“I personally think we could have played any gameplan. We had wingers with pace, we had wingers with physicality, we had centres with pace and we had a range of 10s who could have done anything. That was probably the worst bit. Everyone thought we could have done a bit more in terms of playing. You heard it from fans and people who weren’t there. They just wish we’d played a bit more rugby, as opposed to sitting back and trying to play their game. We tried to stick with our plan but it didn’t end up working.”
Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
