Warren Gatland has accused elements of the New Zealand media of running a deliberate smear campaign against him after the British & Irish Lions coach was again caricatured as a clown. Gatland said he “couldn’t give a toss” about the latest disrespectful cartoon in the New Zealand Herald, which has openly mocked him twice in six months.

There is increasingly little objective rugby coverage in the Herald, which has been churning out anti-Lions stories since the tourists flew in, and Gatland has been dismayed by the tone of the coverage: “As a Kiwi you’d like to think you’d come home and it would be more positive from one or two members of the media. That hasn’t happened.

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“There’s been a significant campaign against me personally but you can’t let that get to you. It’s water off a duck’s back. I’ve just got to concentrate on doing my job and not worry about any specific individuals who try to make it personal. It’s just part of professional sport. I’m not worried about what any newspaper draws me up as. I couldn’t give a toss if that’s happening. I just hope it was a happy clown.”

Following his side’s 31-31 draw with the Hurricanes, Gatland also made the extraordinary admission that the backlash after he summoned six extra players as cover on geographical grounds rather than on merit had persuaded him not to use them after all, unless in a medical emergency.

In normal circumstances the Lions would have emptied their bench in the second half to ensure some fresh legs; Gatland opted not to do so and the Hurricanes stormed back from 30-17 down in the final quarter of an hour. “So much was made about devaluing the jersey so we made a decision we would try to get through the game with as many of the starting XV as we could,” he said. “I understand people’s views, so you’ve got to take cognisance of that. We made a collective decision we would only make them as injury or head injury assessment replacements, which is what happened on two occasions. If we hadn’t had those [extra] players there tonight we’d have probably had players from the bench on Saturday who would have been exposed.”

Play Video 0:34 Warren Gatland: Lions players 'know they let an opportunity slip' – video

Of the midweek side Courtney Lawes would appear to have the best chance of making the Test 23 on Saturday but Robbie Henshaw’s tour looks to be over after he suffered a shoulder injury. Iain Henderson’s time in the sin-bin for an illegal tip tackle also contributed to the Lions’ loss of control in the final 15 minutes.

“Courtney Lawes carried well in the first half,” said Gatland, who is expected to name his side for the second Test on Thursday. “It’s a toss-up in terms of selection … primarily those two guys [Henderson and Lawes] had really strong games to give us some real food for thought. The back three didn’t really get a lot of opportunities.”

Gatland stood by his comments, criticised as desperate by the All Blacks coach, Steve Hansen, about referees needing to protect his scrum-half Conor Murray from players who deliberately target his planted foot when he kicks. “I haven’t read anything of Steve Hansen’s quotes,” Gatland said. “The only thing I heard was he had rung up a radio station. I thought that was quite unusual for an international coach.

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“ The stuff with Conor Murray was raised to me by the referees who had seen it. It’s just about making sure that, as a nine, he’s protected. I just felt that one situation with diving at his legs was a little bit dangerous. It wasn’t something I was hugely complaining about.”

Henderson’s yellow card had a bearing on the outcome against the Hurricanes but Gatland insisted it was an accident: “I don’t think there was anything malicious in terms of Iain Henderson lifting the player and putting him on his back. He wasn’t trying to hurt him. If he was trying to hurt him he would have really done a good job on that. I fully accept the decision that was made by those officials to give him a yellow card.

“It was, however, a big moment in the game. It was a penalty to us which ends up being a penalty reversed and a yellow card and that’s the game. We went from 68% territory to about 25% so it was a massive swing in the game.”