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Welsh rugby fans here in Sydney had
so many expectations of the Lions tour. Some Welsh expats
are only just returning to Sydney after following the tour
around New Zealand. Ospreys fans Jamie Robinson and Bob
Slipon joined the traveling campervan parade from Otago
in the south to Auckland in the North. They attended the
games in Dunedin and Invercargill and had a great time
visiting the many areas of natural beauty. They even had
a few beauties enquire about the strange blow up Ospreys
cowboys hats they were wearing. “They were only about
a pound fifty in Swansea markets but they were popular
with the girls for some reason” said Robinson who
is now planning to import the hats!
After the near Antarctic conditions of the first test
in Christchurch Robinson came down with the flu and spent
the next week or so seeking refuge in motels and laying
aside the beer for a hot lemsip.The Ospreys duo paid homage
to the warmth of the New Zealand people who took a special
interest in them wherever they turned up. I was amazed
how friendly they were, they couldn’t do enough for
us really” said Robinson.
The Kiwis seemed to enjoy
the company of the Welsh who had traveled in great numbers.
According to the Ospreys pair the Welsh were in the ascendancy
followed by the Irish then the English and there were
even a contingent of Scots on tour.
However it was not the best of rugby experiences for the
pair, let alone for the rest of us who watched from the
comfort of our (or our foxtel owning friends) living rooms.
Towards the end of the tour many chose to watch the games
in the bar rather than pay over the odds for match tickets.
However, Robinson and Slipon enjoyed the whole experience,
especially meeting the New Zealand people and the viewing
the stunning scenery of both Islands even if on field matters
were below expectation. Campervan life though was not all
it was cracked up to be as seen below.
Much has been said and written in the mainstream press
of a tour that some are calling a debacle. Below are some
quotes from the leading papers at the series conclusion.
We have left out the most scathing of the universal clamour
for Woodwards head but he does not get our complete sympathy
here and I have left it to the English to put the boot
into the man “Gwlad rugby” lovingly call Lord
Bald.
"This tour has been about one person more than any
other - Sir Clive Woodward," said former England captain
Will Carling.
"
It's his responsibility, his failure. I'm staggered there
have been so many mistakes and there are going to be as
many questions in the weeks ahead."
Jeff Probyn, the former England prop who was controversially
left out of the last tour to New Zealand 12 years ago,
had no doubt where the blame lay.
"
Clive has to take the blame. He was the one who made the
promises. He asked for total control, got everything he
wanted and then promised the Lions would come back victorious," he
said. "He can't now say it was one of the those things
that they lost and it was a successful tour, because it
clearly wasn't. It was all about winning the Tests. If
we'd won, Clive would be telling everybody what a great
coach he is.
Mick Cleary in the Telegraph commented “The drawing
board ought to be the first thing the Lions party go looking
for when they land in London this morning. While it is
true that anything with the slightest connection to rugby
will get a wide berth after such a strenuous season, it
is also imperative that when energy levels have been recharged
a complete overhaul of style of play is right at the top
of the agenda for all four countries that comprise the
Lions……………. Only Wales have
begun to understand that if defence had been the ogre of
the age, then a new era of attacking enlightenment is about
to dawn…………………Teams
who score tries will scoop the prizes. England, Ireland
and Scotland need to take note. Wales already have. Woodward
used to think that way himself. Caution is the snare that
can trap every man. Woodward failed to dare.
Writing in the Guardian former Wales captain Eddie Butler,
a member of the 1983 side and often considered to be too
pro English by Welsh rugby fans wrote:
"
The All Blacks looked at rugby after 2003 and decided to
move on." He said, "The Lions played a rugby
that was two years out of date. And it was cruelly exposed. ……."Henry
has outwitted and outflanked Woodward."
Our old friend Paul Ackford (yes of course I am joking)
in the Telegraph, still trying to make up to the Welsh,
after years of scorn and derision from him, said.
“
If the occasion never quite touched the heights of the
decider in Wellington, it was still remarkable….. …for
the contribution made by the Lions' fans who have travelled
in support of their heroes. The team did not deserve them,
if truth be told, but they journeyed with shredded expectation
around both islands bringing dignity, humour and warmth
with them. When the hymn Bread of Heaven erupted around
Eden Park the All Blacks must have thought they were contesting
an away fixture in Cardiff. Fantastic.
The All Blacks were magnificent but not content with a
series win, Richard Boock in the New Zealand Herald wanted
more and took 3rd test linesman, Australian Stuart Dickinson
to task over perceived bias.
“
Dickinson might be an able judge of day-to-day matters
such as not touching a hot stove, the correct method of
tying one's shoes, and the proper consistency of vanilla
custard. However, when it comes to the complicated business
of running a touchline he seems to have less feel for the
game than your average household cat. You'd have to wonder
if he could run a cake stall. And this criticism is not
made lightly”
But Boock reserved some warmth for the traveling fans
when he wrote.
“
Lows: The departure of the Lions fans. Friendly, convivial,
non-adversarial, and the best advertisement for Britain
and Ireland there's been in years. Please come back, we
could do with more of you.”
But on a less convivial note and more L.B. bashing, Robert
Kitson in the Guardian fancied a bit of sarcasm too and
offered this.
“
There has been a persistent whiff of self-delusion surrounding
this Lions tour and Woodward still appears unhealthily
in thrall to his own genius. He is off on a family fishing
trip for the next two weeks and, at this rate, will probably
insist there is no tastier dinner in the world than a couple
of tin cans and a few smelly bits of weed”
And not content with that Kitson continued with another
blast.
“The truth, harsh or otherwise, is there has never
been a tour in which so many have embarked with such great
expectations and been rewarded with such hard times. As
Charles Dickens never wrote, no rugby tour has failed so
utterly to deliver what it said on the tin. Laying it all
at the door of Woodward, or Alastair Campbell, is too simplistic
but there needs to be more honesty in defeat, starting
with a less mealy-mouthed recognition of what New Zealand
achieved and a greater acceptance of the tourists' own
shortcomings”
David Hands in the Times sees even gloomier times ahead
for England as he looks ahead and sees Welsh prosperity.
“The best that can be said from the Lions’ perspective
is that the tour has become what Woodward roundly declared
it should not be — a development tour. The 12 Welshmen
involved in a party that, by the end, had grown to 50,
contributed on and off the field and, because they are
part of a steadily developing national team, will benefit
from the experience.”
Over at the Independent Chris Hewitt was scathing in his
condemnation of the dynamic duo Woodward and Campbell and
penned this to highlight the farcical nonsense the pair
dreamt up.
“Too many players? Too much Alastair Campbell? Not
a bit of it, according to the British and Irish Lions head
coach, Sir Clive Woodward”
Woodward said "Alastair has been outstanding," he
said. "I just think people don't like change. The
way he has got on with the players and all he has done
for them has been brilliant and the media has missed an
opportunity with him.
"
If they had spoken to him, he would have given them ideas
of how they could have written some more creative stuff
in terms of following the team around and how we are operating.
"
That's why I brought him along, to try to move everything
with the media to a whole new level, but unfortunately
the media have not taken up that challenge."
And finally our friends at the Western Mail commenting
about some typical skullduggery by Lord Bald and the Spin
Doctor Campbell over the non selection of Gavin Henson
for the first test.
"I told the photographer, 'Clive is very keen to
be seen with Gavin because he doesn't want people to think
he is dumping Gavin.'
"
So that was a positive thing to do for the player. If you
think that is some great conspiracy, it's pathetic."
The newspaper asked Campbell, "Was Henson used in
a photo he didn't even know was being taken?"
Campbell replied, "When Gavin Henson is on the training
field, does he know he is being photographed? I think you're
being absurd."
They say the snapper was asked by the Lions media department
to take the picture and that Henson was not to know it
was being shot.
As such, the photographer had to hide behind a car and
set himself up with a distance lens.
I wonder if Mike Ruddock made the right decision in not
going to New Zealand as part of Woodward’s back up
team?
Ruddock will now be tested to the fullest as he is no
longer in charge of a team of underdogs but must know that
winning a Grand Slam against poor British opposition and
the hapless French is not the same as taking on the best
of the Southern Hemisphere in the Autumn series. We are
not expected to win but lets hope Wales can take the game
to the all blacks, Wallabies and South Africans and dare
where the Lions would not..
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