O'Driscoll demands fast start
Brian O'Driscoll demands fast start from British and Irish Lions
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By James Christie. |  |
Friday, 26, Jun 2009 10:33
Vice captain Brian O'Driscoll has demanded the British and Irish Lions start quickly in the second Test against South Africa in Pretoria tomorrow.
O'Driscoll, along with his colleagues, was on the receiving end of a first-half demolition job from the Springboks in Durban last weekend when the hosts raced out to a 26-7 lead.
And although the Lions pegged back the world champions late in the second half with two tries to give a more respectable 26-21 scoreline, O'Driscoll knows that a nothing less than victory will suffice in match two to keep the three-game series alive.
"We probably didn't play early enough last weekend and that was to our detriment," he said.
"Hopefully we can play earlier in the first half on Saturday, cut off the Springboks and make them work for their scores a little bit more than we did last weekend.
"We can't afford to give them a 19-point lead and chase it back."
O'Driscoll admitted the Lions were disappointed with their failure to beat the Boks in the opening Test match, but said it has only fuelled the players' fire to put one over on their opponents in the high altitude of arena of Loftus Versfeld.
"Obviously we were hopeful to win that [first] game but it's done now and we are out to win Test two and three - it is as simple as that," the Irish centre continued.
"I think you're always confident when you're playing with a Lions team, first and foremost, but secondly some of the rugby played at the weekend showed some confidence and that we can play the game we want to.
"We have to bring that out from the kick off this weekend."