So... I've just got back from Wales. I watched the game in a charming wee town not far from Cardiff called Aberdare. I was dressed in my AB finery and asked an old timer in the street near the main road where to go to watch the rugby and he gave me directions to a pub called the Whitcombe, an excellent establishment chocka full of Welsh blokes of all ages. A relatively small and intimate bar with I kid you not, 2 big screen tv's and two medium sized tv's.
The local punters were Friendly and knowledgeable and they were good fun and good natured and they were bloody funny when they were ribbing me after the game.
More fool me, I took only AB jerseys with me for the weekend and I copped it everywhere I went. Even sheilas wanted to shake my hand and have a good laugh.
Fair play, we lost.
The Lions won.
Bragging rights to the victors.
I wish I was going to be back there next week though...
However, first up, I would like to offer a heartfelt and warm congratulations to every single Lions fan out there.
Well done.
A classic come from behind historic victory to be proud of and the series is fizzing at the bung for the return to the garden of Eden this coming Saturday.
It must have been an awesome game for the neutrals to enjoy.
I cant wait, awesome excitement, better get the blood pressure pills in now.
For the Lions, I have to say AWJ stood up, he got fired up and he gave it some in the hour he was on the park. A personal best performance on tour.
Sam Warburton lifted to another level and justified his inclusion. Another personal best performance for the tour.
To be fair though, you have to wonder how effective he and Toby Faletau would have been if Kaino had not been dragged after 20 minutes to make way for Laumape in the centres, but we will have to leave that for another week. Kaino looked well peeved when he got dragged off. I daresay he has got a few words about the incident to say to the culprit.
Watson - looked good again, took a cheap shot and came back on and played well, I like this kid, he's got guts, pace and talent.
Farrell, came into his own in the second half with his place kicking but still seems to be a bit lost in the running play.
Courtenay Lawes looked tremendous when he came on, real impact, pace, power, carrying ability, he's a class act.
Itoje struggled manfully and he came through the fire with a glorious rare win to put in his personal cabinet of triumphs.
Conor Murray capped off another solid game with a cracking try that built on the try Faletau scored when the Lions stretched the AB's defensive line to breaking point. Murphy's was the try that excited his teammates and all the Lions fans in the crowd to fever pitch. The belief came flooding back in spades and they were up for the kill.
Barrett missed a few kicks and that was telling but the 14 man All Black team squandered their lead and then coughed a penalty that I couldn't make sense of...
Now I'm not shouting sour grapes here, the ref made a call and thats it, done deal.
I have'nt seen it more than they showed it during the game but from those short viewings, I thought the ball carrier (was it Sinkler?) jumped into the air as he was carrying the ball, not collecting a kick, he just jumped, and the AB was already committed to the tackle (The bearded prop, forget his name) and Garces (who I thought had a pretty reasonable game) immediately gave a penalty for taking a man in the air.
Now... I know it's illegal to touch a bloke who is up to catch a kick, until he hits the ground, however, Sinkler? already had recieved a pass, and then jumped, (was he jumping to avoid another tackler?) Anyway, it seemed odd to cop a penalty when the runner jumped into the tackle. It seems to me (and I could well be wrong here) that if that is the rule and you jump into a tackle while running with the ball, you could win a penalty everytime. That seems very odd. I'll have a look in the refs thread and see what the boys are saying there.
All in all, a strong Lions performance and a fantastic outcome for them and the series which goes back to the Garden alive and wide open.
For my AB's, well, well, well, Silly Boy Williams, what have you done?
I'm a fan of the champion player, but that hit with no arms was a big mistake and 'the' turning point in the game. Garces had three officials with him on the ground and a TMO and big screen replays. You can't argue with it, there was no intent to wrap around with the arms.
You just can't do that anymore and expect to stay on the park with a yellow for a 10 minute break.
Too many officials, too many cameras and too much weight in favour of cleaning the game up, and I'm all for that.
SWB, you need to have a really hard look at yopurself and learn from that rush of blood to the head.
Yeah there was some other dirt in the game, notably from Mako V, and a cheap forearm smash from SOB. There was plenty of handbags especially from a fired up AWJ, thats all good for the contest.
The Lions were up for it. They had their dander up and their backs to the wall and they produced a glorious upset.
Tempers were always going to get a bit frayed at times. It was mostly harmless pushing and shoving and a bit of verbal. The boys were passionate, it's all part of the pageantry.
Back to the incident... I was gutted for the team, there was about 60 minutes to go and we were always going to be up against it from that point.
The Welsh boys around me in the pub were roaring "Game On", and it surely was...
Pouring down rain affecting the fast ball carrying and offloading game.
We were in a tight test match and no mistake.
It hurt to see Kaino go off at the 20 minute mark (he's my favourite player) because he is for my money still the stand out no.6 on the planet. When the colossus hits, he hits hard and true and legal.
He must be a nightmare to play against. A double world cup winner. Losing him meant all the ruck contests were going to be up for grabs.
Retallick had an enormous game again, he is a dynamite lock forward. Whitelock was strong but losing Kaino really upset the balance in the forwards.
The front row produced and Sam Cane disappeared in a puddle of bodies. Ardie Savea made a difference when he came on and I thought Laumape looked great in his first game as an AB.
Dagg looked pretty average, we really miss Ben Smith at fullback, he is incomparable.
Naholo looked great for 20 minutes and then became a bit of a passenger, Reiko was almost non existent.
Beauden Barrett nearly won the game on his own, if Read had collected the clever grubber through the line it would have been game over right there. What a piece of absolute magic.
He's lightning in a bottle that kid.
Warren Gatland; I have to say, he was good for the win and after SBW severely cuffed Hansen's options with his foolishness Gatland cleverly took full advantage and squeaked the result he needed, and the Lions needed.
He deserved it.
I'm frankly a bit peeved off at the NZ Herald for doing that mock up of Gatland as a clown during the week.
When did NZ think it was ok to stoop to that kind of garbage in the media?
Thats the kind of rubbish stunt I'd expect from a tabloid in London or Aussie. Thats not the Kiwi way and I was fair dinkum genuinely disappointed that they stooped to that nonsense.
It never pays to disrespect your opponent, and it's not the Kiwi way.
I hope the Lions fans are sticking it to the Herald and throwing bacon at the windows of the herald headquarters to go with the enormous egg they have on their face after their churlish jibe at Gatland backfired on them.
Poor form from the NZ Herald, they should know better and I really hope they don't engage in this kind of gutter sniping journalism again.
It's beneath us.
Congratulations again to the Lions and their legion of fans.
On to the last Hurrah and may the best team win.
