British and Irish Lions 2017: Warren Gatland relieved as win over Crusaders shuts up New Zealand critics

Gatland feels his squad have been harshly treated over the last week and believes he has been 'hammered' by the local media

Warren Gatland hopes that the Lions have answered their critics with victory over the Crusaders (Getty)

Warren Gatland insisted the British and Irish Lions had silenced their critics with a victory over the previously unbeaten Crusaders after being “hammered” by the media in New Zealand following the defeat by the Blues this week.

Four penalties from Owen Farrell were enough to see off the Super Rugby leaders, who were only able to muster a single kick at goal of their own as they suffered a 12-3 defeat by a much improved Lions side.

With the Crusaders scoring an average of 37 points per game in this year’s Super Rugby season, Gatland was pleased with the defensive effort of his side to limit the Kiwis to just three points, but he was also happy to prove that this tour is far from a write-off and would go a long way to silencing his doubters.

"There are a lot of people who have written us off in the last week saying the tour was over and I even heard someone say it was more embarrassing than 2005,” Gatland told Talksport after the match. “I have been hammered by the New Zealand media as well so it has been a targeted campaign against me personally.

"That is part of coaching at the highest level and we know you have got to be able to handle those sort of things and handle that sort of pressure and sometimes that brings out the best in me as a competitor in sport. The pleasing thing was, as Alun Wyn Jones said yesterday, it is about the 15 doing it, the 23 doing it, for the whole 41 of us so we can take another step forward and start looking forward to the next couple of weeks."

He added: It's been a tough week. It's been very tough this week. There's been a lot of criticism and people have written the tour off already after two games. That's been challenging, it's been challenging for all of us. We need to stay strong in the group and keep the faith.

“The goal is the Test matches and to keep improving for that. I hope we didn't disappoint any people tonight with the result.”

Though it was an improved showing, the Lions are still not where Gatland wants them before they meet the All Blacks in a three-Test tour that begins in two weeks’ time. But the win is certainly a step in the right direction, and given that the Crusaders have beaten every other side that they have faced this season, Gatland believes they will continue to get better as the tour develops.

It was a huge psychological victory for the Lions (Getty)

“The most important thing was the result,” he added. “We felt we have improved over the three games. We knew we started off pretty rusty having been in New Zealand only 72 hours. Thought we improved against the Blues, got ourselves in front but unfortunately conceded a try with six or seven minutes to go through a bit of Blues’ magic which happens.

“Tonight was another step up but there is still a lot to work on.

We felt that there were some aspects from Wednesday that we improved in our defence, that off-loading and some of the line speed was excellent. That is just time together. It’s a like a club side coming together in pre-season, getting a couple of games under its belt and you know that more time together the better you’ll get. It has definitely felt like that. This team was outstanding in training on Friday, looked sharp and I knew there would be a performance because they have had time to gel. The result was pretty important for us.”