Springboks Protest Controversy

Following the victory by the British & Irish Lions over the Springboks in Johannesburg on Saturday, the IRB are to investigate the decision by the South African team to wear white armbands during the game.

In a move allegedly instigated by captain John Smit and the South African Rugby Players Association (SARPA), the Springboks wore armbands sporting the words "Justice for All" in protest at the two week ban recently handed to lock Bakkies Botha.

Botha`s dangerous charge on Adam Jones in the second test left the Welsh prop facing six months on the sidelines as he recovers from a dislocated shoulder. Botha received a two-week ban after the match which was subsequently upheld at appeal.

SARPA chief executive Piet Heymans stated,

"Over an extended period of time, numerous other players have charged into rucks without binding, but were either not penalised at all or received only a penalty," he said.

"Bakkies hit a ruck just before the one in question in a similar style and was not penalised.

"The players want to send a clear message that they require the International Rugby Board to have an urgent and serious re-look at Law 10.4."

Springboks Head Coach Peter de Villiers has confirmed that he agreed with the protest. The IRB have yet to issue a statement on the matter.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph former England international Brian Moore demands more in hope than expectation that the IRB take a tough stance over the matter.

He says,

"We now wait, with interest but little expectation, for the IRB to assert some authority over its members, having seemingly conceded it is powerless when it comes to its elite referees.

If this sort of stunt is allowed without censure where will it lead? Will players of traditionally hostile countries be allowed to air current grievances? If so, I want England to wear armbands in their game against France protesting about the Norman Conquest."

Full story.. www.telegraph.co.uk

The thoughts of Ian McGeechan

Lions Head Coach Ian McGeechan stood down from his role after the test match on Saturday. The Scot told the assembled media that he felt the time was right to call an end to his involvement with the Lions.

McGeechan then went on to offer some thoughts on the tour as a whole:-

On the tour party
I think this has been the best co-ordinated tour in terms of the medical, management, conditioning and coaching staff because what we have tried to do is make sure under that intense environment that you do have to see it as Test environment from day one and that those players are managed from day one.

On the feeling after the win
I was very proud of yesterday - this group of players are as tight a unit as I have ever worked with under pressure. I think last Saturday was the lowest I have ever felt, but we took those two or three days but they came back well and trained Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and they were superb - absolutely excellent. The players have been outstanding and were very ready for a Test match and I'm really proud of the way we've finished it and we can carry a winning Lions jersey for the next four years.

On the standard of rugby in the Tests
It exceeded my expectations - we knew that South Africa were in good shape they are a powerful team and at the top of the tree at the moment but we also knew that there were certain ways we would have to play to try and put them under pressure. They do have strengths in most areas so really to pull the game we've put together and to keep that going for three Test matches with a change of personnel leaves me really very proud of that achievement from everybody.

On anything he'd change
To have an extra weeks preparation - it was a little bit tight and there was a bit of persuasion involved to have the full set of players for that week but we got round that. The only two major things on the IRB calendar are the Lions tours and the World Cup so you would hope that there is enough planning that goes into that. People need to understand just how big a Lions tour is to a player that hasn't changed and if anything it's got better and bigger and I hope that the people who are associated with the players on a long term basis understand that there should be a very careful look at how you prepare for a Lions tour.

On the appreciation of the Lions entity
I think you have different people running different elements of the game and I think you want to have that co-ordinated because the Lions are an integral part of the professional game - just because the Lions have been around doesn't mean they are out of date or out of touch.

Speak to any of the players there is nothing bigger than this - nothing bigger - and that includes World Cups in the player's eyes. That has to be taken into account by the people who run the game - particularly the home unions and the clubs and they have to understand that there should be an integrated and coordinated process in a Lions season.

I would hope that after this tour there is a lot of empathy and even in a professional business sense if you can take 40,000 people 6,000 miles to watch a rugby team then that is not a bad business model.

I think John Feehan has done a good job and there is a Lions Board now and I think it is getting stronger and stronger and you hope that all the time you are adding the rugby expertise into the mix but that support has been excellent on this tour.

On taking the Lions legacy forward
There will be some players on this tour, coaches and management who will be there for Australia in four years time and that is what I think is where a legacy is born and I think that they should be helping drive that forward. I said before this tour that we have to set the standard, we have to set the environment about what these players are coming to and the way we operate as coaches and management gives them the environment and then they take it over.

Now it is totally the player's environment and that's the way it should be. This is no doubt the best group and best organised we've been and I'm thankful that I got the chance to plan over a year and come out three times.

On succession and the people around him
I think there are some younger management in all areas and there is succession there - medical, conditioning, analysts and the people on this tour have been superb. It's the same with the coaches - Graham Rowntree, Rob Howley, Shaun Edwards and whether Gats will still be in Wales in four years but these guys have made a fantastic group and everyone has bought something to the table and you should be looking at being able to do that. I think the hardest thing is for the Head Coach to dedicate their time to the planning but I will be making some recommendations on that.

On team selection through the tour
We said to the players we would pick on form and we did and we thought we'd got the right combinations and we weren't far off. Yes there were some things in the scrum that the referee picked up on unfortunately it made it difficult in that first first half but they were redressed and it was just about analysing, tweaking and I felt we had a good balance.

On the attendance issues
I wish the ticket prices would have been different because I think the Lions tour takes rugby to the communities. That was why we travelled together around as one party and logistically that was very tough but if you are going to do that then you want the stadiums to have a good turn out and the disappointment for me is not seeing a full house in those provincial games.

Telegraph Tour Report

Writing in the Daily Telegraph former England international Paul Ackford gives his summary of the Lions tour.. www.telegraph.co.uk

South African Press reaction

LIONS BLAST BUMBLE-BOKS - keo.co.za
"The Boks went into this game having already secured the series, but the opportunity was there to affect a whitewash. The new-look side failed to gel and you have to wonder how much the Bok management considered this an opportunity to experiment rather than an opportunity to go 3-0 up. It was a disappointment on all counts.

"The result takes no shine off an overall series victory for the Boks, but highlights a few problem areas ahead of the Tri-Nations. The first-choice line-up will be back for that tournament, but it must concern the Bok management to see the second string fare so badly."

LIONS ROAR INTO HISTORY - The Times (SA)
"It's tempting to suggest that by wearing white armbands to protest Bakkies Botha's two- week ban for foul play, the Springboks had things other than a rugby match on their minds here yesterday.

"But the sadder truth is that John Smit and his men tried, but just weren't good enough to beat a British & Irish Lions side hellbent on redemption after losing the first two Tests of the three-match series.

"The Springboks were outplayed, out-muscled and out-thought. The only thing the Lions didn't win, perhaps, was the fisticuffs that broke out 10 minutes before the final whistle. "

LIONS TRASH SPRINGBOK PARTY - Sunday Independent (SA)
"As his players mulled around the field, shaking the hands of the Lions who had just beaten them 28-9, Peter de Villiers sat alone inside the Springbok coaches' box, his hands clasped in front of his moustache and his mouth, staring blankly ahead.

"His second-string Springboks had been outplayed from whistle to whistle, his scrum punished, the pacey back three starved of ball and the chance of a historic 3-0 whitewash had gone - it was all something of an anticlimax, to be frank. It had been a weird week ahead of this match, when it should have been wonderful, a celebration of a series win over the British and Irish Lions, the first Bok team and coach to have done so in 29 years.

"Yet, that had been sadly dissipated in the space of five fractious days, the banning of Schalk Burger and Bakkies Botha, the ill-conceived comments by De Villiers and the retorts from the Lions. A much-changed team did not help, but, then, the Lions had lost a handful of players after last week's physical epic. This was a final match that an epic series, which could have gone either way, did not deserve."

LIONS LAY BARE THE BOKS' DEPTH - IOL
"Again the Springboks' much-vaunted strength against a top-class side was put into question when a Bok team consisting of a few second-stringers and some of their very best were put to the sword by a top, albeit weakened, side - just as the All Blacks and Wallabies did before the World Cup in 2007.

"What became clear on the day was that the unity professed by their management team did in fact exist and the tourists' greater hunger to win kept the Boks from a first-ever clean sweep against a touring Lions side."

The View From New Zealand

New Zealand journalist Wynne Gray compliments the Lions and criticises the South Africans as he sharpens his pencil for the Tri-Nations.

Writing in the New Zealand Herald he said,

"De Villiers can dribble on as much as he likes that he needed to check out his next layer of talent. He did that in the first test and discovered the difference.

Had he really wanted to decipher that form, de Villiers should have sent all his other troops into battle against the Lions in their tour matches, instead of keeping them in cotton-wool for the test series."

"After the spiritless Lions visit to New Zealand in 2005, their modest test showings and the lack of interaction with the public from their bloated squad, this series restored much of that fervour which accompanied their visit to Australia in 2001.

Let's hope it can be a catalyst for even more spirited showings from the Six Nations teams when they host the All Blacks this season."

Full story.. www.nzherald.co.nz

High Tackle`s View

So that`s it all done and dusted with the Lions for another four years. This tour has been eagerly anticipated, well supported and thoroughly enjoyed by those who were either lucky enough to be in South Africa or have tuned in on TV.

After a dire Six Nations the Lions have done so much to put northern hemisphere rugby back on the map. But only a week ago the voices of doubt persisted in questioning the validity of the Lions as a concept in the modern game. Journalists and former players alike filled column inches suggesting that the Lions had run their course.

Suddenly, after a memorable win in Johannesburg, their guns have fallen silent as the losing streak at test level dating back to Australia in 2001 has been ended.

Continued >>>