We will not let the Springboks bully us, says Lions forward coach

Warren Gatland has backed the British and Irish Lions to cope with South Africa's "bully mentality" in today's crunch second Test showdown at Loftus Versfeld.

Victory for the world champions at a stadium where they have won 71 per cent of their games would secure Test series glory with one match still remaining.

The Lions, in contrast, are fighting to stay alive following a 26-21 defeat in Durban last Saturday.

But forwards coach Gatland saw enough in the Lions' second-half performance – they fought back from 26-7 adrift – to confirm his belief the series is far from over.

And the Wales boss was not afraid to criticise South Africa's style of rugby as the Lions left their Cape Town base for a return to the Highveld.

"The South Africans have very much a bully mentality, to come in and try to dominate, pushing players off the ball," he said.

"You saw (Bryan) Habana getting into a player's face, and you saw (Bismarck) du Plessis.

"I would be very surprised if any of the Lions players take a backward step to any physical threat imposed by the South Africans.

"One of the things that surprised me about South Africa was how little rugby they played.

"They went to fourth phase once in the game, and I think the centres got one pass.

"There has always been a lot of criticism about northern hemisphere rugby, about us being quite boring and playing 10-man rugby.

"You wouldn't often give that criticism to teams like South Africa, but they didn't play any rugby at all."

South Africa, with their pack in dominant mode, powered to an unassailable lead, capitalising on the destructive scrummaging power of Tendai 'The Beast' Mtawarira and another immaculate display by revered lineout forwards Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield.

Lions head coach Ian McGeechan has responded to particular problems in the scrum and coping with South Africa's driving maul by changing 60 per cent of the front-five.

Gethin Jenkins, Matthew Rees and Adam Jones forge the Lions' first all-Welsh Test front-row since 1955, while 19-stone lock Simon Shaw's long wait for a Test place has ended just two months before his 36th birthday.

Ireland Grand Slam backs Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald also come in.