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Living With The Lions Sports Travel

The British and Irish rugby tour to South Africa has seen some excellent and nail-biting rugby. There was controversy with a couple of penalties given against the visitors and a bitter taste left in the mouth when players such as Burger avoided being sent off.

Wherever your allegiances lie, you would have to admit that the Lions deserved to level the series but the game is for 80 minutes and in that time, the Springboks managed to overcome a powerful and determined Lions side.

Lions skipper Paul O’Connell, praised the ‘commitment’ of the British and Irish lads saying that everyone was in the fight together. South African captain John Smit was proud of his team too calling the squad ‘amazing’ which, under the circumstances one cannot deny.

Losing here in Pretoria 28-25 is no disgrace; the Lions were up at half-time by eight points having surprised the Boks with their tenacity in the field. But the hosts wanted it more and the Lions didn’t seem to have anything else to give.

There’s been blood, sweat and O’Gara’s tears on this tour and the South Africans have won the series as the better team.

Okay, so we lost the first test against the Springboks, but what was pleasing was that we had 60% of the ball and about the same amount of territory. If we had just had a little luck in getting the ball over the line from a couple of feet away and one nervy opening kick had gone through the uprights then surely victory would have been ours.

The British and Irish rugby tour has been a bruising affair so far, but the way the Lions fought back and very nearly (just running out of time) making a historic comeback must be pleasing to the coaches.

You can forget about the ‘warm up’ game against the Emerging Spingboks’ ending in a 13-13 draw as this match has no baring on the Lions test results, and it’s a wise idea to rest players that had until the test, played quite a gruelling schedule.

All is by no means lost and, taking the positives into consideration, it could be that the British and Irish Lions will look back at the defeat in Durban with real insight into what they could have achieved if they had made a better start.

With a good start in Saturday’s second test at Loftus Versfeld and the Lions could find themselves leveling the series. The pack will need to be strong and every chance taken, not easy but doable, very doable.

It would seem that the assistant coach to the South African rugby team, Dick Muir, thinks the British and Irish Lions lack the element of surprise within their ranks. Well, he might be right after all the Lions are unbeaten so far on the tour, a bit boring that, six unbeaten very MOR indeed.

Of course when the Lions rugby tour really gets started here in Durban tomorrow with the first Test, we’ll see whether the Springboks have a surprise to their game or whether the Lions preparation accounts for the South Africans.

No doubt there will be some surprises tomorrow, but the hosts will be without one of their major stars, Schalk Burger, which must be a major blow to their preparations. Whereas the Lions have had a chance to practice with a few different formations, the South Africans are used to having a fairly stable team. The injury to Burger may just throw a spanner in the works.

The British and Irish Lions have nothing to fear, they’ve played some scintillating rugby at times and come through some bruising encounters, which if spun positively will cement the comradeship and provide the visitors with the will to conquer their hosts. Will it be a surprise? Not from where we’re looking Dick.

A bruised British and Irish Lions rugby tour take a rest after the discomforting scenes witnessed against a very aggressive Western Province here in Port Elizabeth. Whatever the South Africans throw at the Lions though legal or otherwise they have stood up to everything.

Could it be that our hosts have become increasingly frustrated by the good rugby played by the visitors, which has manifested itself into trying to batter them into submission. On the evidence so far though, the British and Irish lads are made of stern stuff, despite the intimidation.

Donncha O’Callaghan the Lion’s captain for the day called for his side to experience life ‘outside the comfort zone’, a phrase which came to mean far more than a feeling a sense of stepping up a gear. Indeed, Ronan O’Gara highlighted the ‘lippy’ nature of Western Provence’s players even after the game had finished.

20-8 the Lions triumphed over Western Provence making it the first time in 20 years that they have won six consecutive games in a Test series.  Although they may be battered and bruised, the Lions have set up a great first game against the Springboks back in Durban. The tourists kept their heads and won the game and that is all that matters. Intimidate all you like but if you lose it will fall on uncaring ears.

You can’t get better than beating the reigning world champions can you? England may be out of the World Twenty20, but at least they achieved this feat. That win showed some positive signs for a team that was ridiculed after defeat to the Netherlands in the opening match of the tournament.

The way that Ryan Sidebottom bowled the last over at Lord’s underlined his maturity and nerve. With 19 to get off the last over, India was quite capable of hitting the winning runs, but Sidebottom’s accuracy denied the title holders room.

Another excellent piece of cricket came from the new man behind the stumps, James Foster. He instinctively snapped of the bails to stump big threat Yuvraj Singh when the Indian was looking at his most menacing. The timing of Singh’s wicket was crucial as it seemed to sap the hope from India’s hearts even though they tried to rally towards the end.

It’s sad to see India go from the tournament as they have a glittering array of talent but its to England’s credit that they showed the sort of form that can beat the best and you can’t ask for more than that can you?

Well, maybe they could have beaten the West Indies later in the week…

There has been another record breaking win for the Lions in the British and Irish rugby tour of South Africa as they battered the Sharks at the Absa stadium here in Durban on Wednesday night. The style with which they brought about their highest victory over the Sharks made for huge satisfaction within the coaching staff.

We’ve been saying on these pages for weeks now that the team’s confidence and depth have been looking really good. The way O’Driscoll set an example for his team mates to follow giving credence to the idea of a team full of captains.

The 39-3 score line suggests an easy win but the Lions didn’t have it their own way, especially in the first fifteen minutes where they struggled to flow much at all. After this initial staccato start however the team played in a way that hinted they’re tuning up well for the first test here next week.

The Test side needs that kind of strong upbeat approach to beat South Africa, it needs a team of captains, each man taking responsibility and standing up to be counted. O’Driscoll’s class, Byrne and Roberts’ amazing confidence and Phillips mazy runs bamboozling opposition players are some of the games highlights.

With Phil Vickery being chosen as captain for the next game against Western Province at the weekend you get some idea of the calibre of player the Lions can call upon.

20-0 up at the end of the first quarter here in Bloemfontein and it looked as the Lions rugby tour had swatted away the best warm up beasts South Africa had to offer. As we know, there’s nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal and the Cheetahs were about to show their teeth by way of a slick swift comeback that almost led to the Lions capitulation.

The weariness (for that is what it looked liked) of the British and Irish Lions pack towards the end was worrying and probably well noted by South Africa test team scouts. Whereas Wednesday’s sublime win was at a canter this was scarily close with Lions butter finger handling adding to the nail-biting turnaround.

As Louis Strydom’s drop goal sailed towards the posts, a famous victory hanging in the air, Lions hearts were in their mouths. Fortunately for the tourists Strydom missed and another win for the visitors was about to be recorded in tour notes.

Let’s concentrate on the positives, the Lions tour has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride but they haven’t lost yet, and at times here, they played the sort of rugby that took your breath away. Okay so the finish seemed as if their breath had been taken away but they saw it out with good defensive teamwork. That is the watchword out here, ‘teamwork’ and as long as they keep winning the bonds, like the rugby, will get stronger and stronger.

The Lions roared to their biggest victory in South Africa in 35 years last week when they pulverised the Golden Lions 74-10 with a team performance that showed just what the British and Irish rugby players can do.

Brian O’Driscoll raced through the shell-shocked Golden Lions defence on one occasion only to turn around and see defeated, dejected and demoralised faces which made one feel a little bit of sympathy for the hosts - but only a little.

There’s no doubt that seeing the British and Irish Lions rugby tour reaching these heights sends a shot of confidence through the whole team, substitutes and management included.

If the press had been underwhelmed by the previous game in Rustenburg they were full of praise for this excellent display, and so they should be, because it was a real statement ahead of Saturday’s game against the Cheetahs.

Whilst we must guard against over confidence it is great to see the players responding to head coach Ian McGeecham’s demands to ‘lay down a marker’ for the test series, the first game of which starts in a weeks time.

There are a few more warm up matches to be played before the first Test in Durban and it will be difficult for the players to reproduce a score line like the one seen here in Johannesburg but, if they can produce the same intense performance they should bring about great victories.

Although it may seem that many in the public’s eye are after as much money as they can get at the moment, it was reassuring that another personality, who was accused in the past of putting finance first, was chirping up the England team prospects at achieving their first global trophy.

The Lions Twenty20 team have, inside their ranks, the devastating talents of Kevin Peterson, not known to always tow the party line on such matters as team camaraderie. It was indeed KP however that was talking about how everybody is “contributing” to the team and how Ravi Bopara plays “without fear”.

This all bodes well for the Lions as they enter the Twenty20 world cup warm-up matches the first of which has just been played against Scotland with a winning result for England. Some of the press called the win “unconvincing”, but the reason for warm-ups is that you take small positives, embers of growth if you like, and build upon them.

Kevin Peterson’s excellent and match winning knock of 53 was the main positive to take from the game as well as Ali Rashid picking up a wicket in his first over. Embers do not burn brightly from the outset; they provide the foundation for a bigger fire. Hopefully, as the tournament progresses, the Lions cricket team can ignite into something scorching.

The first game is over and the Lions won it, that’s the only thing you can really say about the error strewn opener in Rustenburg. The sparse crowd were not treated to the best rugby the Lions rugby tour could offer but as we know the lads have only just got together and a win is a win. Better to start the tour with a shaky win than a definite loss.

The victory was unconvincing but the way Alun Wyn Jones took his chance (as a substitute) should give the Lions confidence in their strength in depth. It takes time to gel properly, which is reflected in the amount of points scored by the lads in the last 14 minutes. They scored 24 points in this final quarter which might suggest that the more they play with each other the better the rugby will be.

It’s a wonder why the crowds were so low? Perhaps the Indian Cricket League (played out in South Africa due to security problems in India) may have something to do with it but one thing we can be sure of is, if the Lions play rugby like they did in the last 15 minutes throughout the whole game then the crowds will come.