A fantastic win for the under strength Lions against, quite frankly, an extremely limited South African side.
Oh for a couple of bounces of the ball and some competent refereeing the Lions could have, should have, won this series 3 – 0. Not saying that Dickinson was all that (if he’d stuck to his balls and bravado statement that he was going to penalise all off the ball incidents then the Boks would have finished this game minus three players) but he was marginally more competent than the previous two officials.
Such a pity that our own lump of prime Ulster beef, Stephen Ferris, got injured so early as he would surely have relished, and excelled, in the physical challenge of these brutal exchanges. What a monster he would have been to bring on in the closing twenty minutes to squash any Bok fight back!
As it was, the series produced three cracking tests, played at high intensity with incidents of brutality and controversy aplenty making a mockery of the begrudgers who claim that tours like this are out of step with the professional era. The only thing out of step about these tours is the greed of the “official travel partners” as they try to milk the travelling supporter for every rand they can afford and the self interest of the host nation as they provide horrendous tour schedules and serve up under strength teams in the test build up. However this tour should go some way to addressing these minor issues and the Lions franchise should continue to flourish.
Certainly you only have to go one one of these amazing odysseys to realise how jealous, and appreciative, our southern hemisphere colonial cousins are of this tremendous institution. Up to 50,000 fans from four (or five) nations partying hard into the night with barely a hint of trouble is unique enough in the modern day but the camaraderie between the supporters of the home nations, all travelling as a sea of red, is what makes this experience truly unique. We may be fortunate in Northern Ireland to be the only true British and Irish supporters on the tour but it’s the way that everyone fully embraces the Lions concept that makes these tours special. The Welsh valley boy in his knock off gear saving for years to get there drinking with the English merchant banker who flew first class for a four day break, the Willie John McBride’s driving for days to get to Durban, the Cardiff Spidermen almost dropping from heat stroke in their costumes, the Britannia babes and the Cork Centurions who wouldn’t have spoken to each other in any other setting together with countless others make this a trip of a lifetime.
As I’d said in earlier Diaries, when you add in the confidence that many of the players have gained from the experience of outplaying the World Champions in their own back yard the whole experience has been a tremendous boost for the home nations.
All this is in stark contrast to the trolls on boards such as 606 and others. Their small minded nationalistic tendencies shown in spiteful sharp relief as they try to undermine a concept that they will never grasp. Their bitter ramblings as they try to boost their own egos by highlighting the “supposed” failure of others shows just how far removed they are from the real world of the rugby fraternity!
Now where are the best places to stay in Australia?
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