There was a wonderful symmetry to the Lions tour of Australasia as they ended the way they started, with a big victory. That first game of the Lions tour way back in the beginning of June against the Barbarians in Hong Kong ended with a resounding victory and today was followed up with an even more impressive dismantling of Australia in Sydney.
For the record the final score in the Lions first tour match in oppressively humid surroundings in Hong Kong was: Barbarians 8/59 British and Irish Lions; and today in Sydney at the final whistle the scoreboard read : Australia 16/41 British and Irish Lions.
This would have been a particularly proud day for Wales’ Alun Wyn Jones who was the stand-in captain on the day as tour captain Sam Warburton picked up an injury in the second test while arguably the next in line, Paul O’Connell, was unable to play any further part in the tour following the first test.
The victory will be even sweeter for the management team who had a lot of negative opinions expressed in the build up to the match on what was seen to be the mistaken omission of inspirational Brian O’Driscoll for this match. In particular head coach Warren Gatland came under a lot of fire in what bordered on hysteria with many of the disappointing quotes coming from former Lions players or managers.
For Australia there will be much to ponder but not much time in which to do this as their players return to Super Rugby action next weekend and then need to compete in The Rugby Championship which starts in just over a month’s time.
In particular, questions will be, and have already been, asked about the future of head coach Robbie Deans.
Speaking in the aftermath of the defeat a former Wallaby star questioned whether Deans was the man to take Australia forward. The point he was making was that he felt that Deans as an outsider did not get Australia to play to their strengths and that he would like to see “one of us” being chosen as new head coach. This makes one wonder where in the former international players mind does Brumbies Head Coach Jake White stand. Is he an outsider or will he be considered “one us of” after spending some time doing his apprenticeship in the Australian rugby setup?
Enough of the negative and back to today’s game. In tuning in to audio for the first time today shortly before a try was scored by Jamie Roberts my heart sank as I thought the clock had raced forward and our summer was over and we were somewhere in the depths of winter. The sound of the singing of the huge contingent of travelling Lions fans reminded one of a typical afternoon at a big Premiership football match. The game was played in front of what has been described as a record crowd (not sure of the accuracy of that so see it is unofficial) for the ANZ Stadium and it was estimated that 30 000 or more of those fans were supporting the men in red.
The British and Irish Lions players will no doubt celebrate long into the night, what was a remarkable first series win in 16 years and in doing so scoring more points than they ever have in an international against Australia.
There should be some home coming welcome for the players who will be weary after a long tour, and are due to depart Australia on Tuesday. That seems like quite a long wait for them to return home but while the player’s job on the field is done the work is not finished. In particular, the medical staff will have their work cut out during the next few days. There will be a period of various medical tests conducted on the players who need to be checked over thoroughly before they can be signed off the Lions books and returned to their respective clubs. The medical staff have had a lot of work to do during this tour with numerous injuries that cropped up and certainly, from the outside, seem to have done a very good job.
Finally, congratulations to Australia for their sportsmanship in waiting around after the game for what must have seemed like an eternity. Their disappointment following the defeat must have been huge and it is really encouraging in this day to hear of how they waited till the end to form the guard of honour and applaud the victorious Lions off the field.
Good on you Mr Gatland, this is what he had to say following the win and in the light of all that was thrown his way : “I don’t want to gloat. It was a tough call but it’s about the boys, winning the series,”
Gatland also said : “I was absolutely shocked, it was vitriolic almost in terms of the criticism,” he said. “We made a tough call and we knew there was going to be some fallout from that.
“I have not taken a lot of pleasure out of tonight in terms of feeling vindicated.
“Maybe in a week or two I might get some pleasure out of this, but at the moment there isn’t a lot of pleasure because of the amount of criticism that had been personally placed on me.
“The last 72 hours have been pretty tough personally. That’s why you’re in the job, you’ve got to make tough calls and hopefully, every now and then, one comes through.”
Gatland really proud of his players : “The guys played exceptionally well. We came under pressure and the boys kept their composure and finished really strong. They deserve a lot of credit,” said the head coach.
“At half-time we spoke about going to a place that not many players go to in terms of pushing your body to the limit. And the players did that and ran themselves into the ground.
“I think we’ve played some great rugby on this tour. Four tries tonight was a vindication of that.
“I’m really pleased for the players for finishing off a fantastic and hard-fought series.”
Some funny quotes out there on of the best I think from Will Carling on Twitter – “Personally think Halfpenny should be promoted to a ‘Fullpenny’ now 🙂 What a player!”
All credit to Warren Gatland. He made the tough decisions that had to be made. He thoroughly deserves the plaudits. It’s not rocket science, but I get the feeling we might have a new Wallabies coach before the week is out. My preference: Ewen Mackenzie.
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