The 2-1 series defeat to South Africa was marred by a pandemic off the pitch and some very bland rugby on itAnother British & Irish Lions series, another story of nagging regret. Congratulations to a South Africa team that kept their nerve better when it mattered but this tour has not left everyone eagerly counting down the days until the scheduled trip to Australia in 2025.Regardless of the outcome in Saturday’s third Test, the past few weeks have raised several uncomfortable issues for the Lions and rugby as a whole. In some ways it has been a perfect storm: Covid-19, no travelling fans, social media anger, limited attacking rugby, mediocre provincial opposition and blatant Springbok gamesmanship have all combined to...
For their benefit, and for rugby union, it feels almost incumbent on South Africa to find a more expansive way to playOne of the more amusing moments of this British & Irish Lions tour came on the eve of the third Test, when a South American journalist asked the Springboks’ representatives up for questioning whether the weekend decider was effectively a warm-up match for the forthcoming Rugby Championship. Given South Africa begin that competition with back-to-back matches against Argentina, starting on Saturday, full marks for working the local angle, but in overcoming the Lions you sense the Springboks’ No 1 goal for the year has already been achieved.It raises an interesting point, though, because going back to the buildup to...
The Scot’s introduction sparked a turgid Test series into life and he kept pushing for victory until the very last minuteThe best script writers always give fly-halves the leading role. It would have seemed unfathomable not so long ago that Morné Steyn would kick a late penalty to win the series against the British & Irish Lions 12 years on from having done precisely the same thing, and equally Finn Russell seemed destined to play just a watching brief only a few weeks ago.All credit to the Springboks and Steyn for once more displaying icy veins when the pressure was at its greatest, but Russell’s performance in this nerve-shredding decider was equally as significant and for large spells it looked...
After two turgid Tests it’s time for Warren Gatland to take a risk and trust the Scottish fly-half to show his talentIf you were to put all of the leading coaches in the same room and show them the second Test between the British & Irish Lions and South Africa, I would be extremely surprised if any of them said that is how they want to advertise the sport. Not even the Springboks.Unfortunately, it speaks to where international rugby is at the moment and puts into perspective England’s performances in 2020 when they came in for such criticism for adopting a kick-first mentality yet lost only one match all year. The pandemic has shone a light on it because without...
Warren Gatland knows pragmatism is the order of the day and is willing to sacrifice entertainment to topple South AfricaSeldom does the thin line between success and failure feel slimmer than in the tense final days of a tight British & Irish Lions series. Even by the brutal standards of elite rugby it is knife-edge territory. “As I always say there’s nowhere in between,” murmured Warren Gatland this week. “It’s agony or ecstasy.”And at international level, perhaps more so than in most sports, that increasingly means playing the percentages. It is easy enough for onlookers to suggest this series decider needs to be an uplifting spectacle for the wider sport’s sake but Gatland strongly suspects entertainment is not currently sitting...