Mako Vunipola vows to restore British and Irish Lions' pride in second New Zealand Test

Mako Vunipola says the Lions are ready to rise to the occasion in the must-win Test against the All Blacks Mako Vunipola says the Lions are ready to rise to the occasion in the must-win Test against the All Blacks

Mako Vunipola has vowed to prove Warren Gatland wrong and restore the British and Irish Lions' "wounded" pride in Saturday's second Test against New Zealand.

Head coach Gatland laid into his Lions after last weekend's 30-15 first Test defeat to the All Blacks for losing the physical battle.

The tourists' boss has challenged his squad to "fight fire with fire" to hit back and rebuild their aggressive reputation in the second Test in Wellington on Saturday.

England prop Vunipola has demanded that the Lions now accept Gatland's challenge and dominate the All Blacks in the tight game this weekend.

"That has stung massively, as a person and as a player, because we're all very competitive players," said Vunipola, of Gatland's criticism.

"It's him laying the gauntlet down. So it's up to us if we take that challenge on or shy away from it.

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"I want to get out there and prove him wrong. I don't know if he meant it like that, but that's how I took it. So I want to prove him wrong.

"We're going into this game wounded, there's pride on the line with Gats saying about that physicality bar.

"I know emotionally we'll be ready. We have to be. And it's about having that discipline around that too.

"We know they took us on up front and they got the upper hand last weekend, so it's time for us to put in a better account of ourselves."

Courtney Lawes sat out Friday's captain's run as the Lions put the finishing touches to preparations for Saturday's second Test.

Assistant coach Andy Farrell insisted the second row just needed some extra rest after featuring in Tuesday's 31-31 draw with the Hurricanes.