Rugby. It's a tough game, and it's not a game for wimps.
If you get on that field you had better accept that there will be some pain involved. You will be tackled. You will sometimes be beneath a heap of bodies. And there may be times with the opposition will dig their boot sprigs into your back. If you can't handle that...don't play rugby.
What I am absolutely stunned by, is the Lions team. The match on Saturday 25th June was the first Test Match of the current Lions tour of New Zealand, and I watched it on televisions--the delayed broadcast because I don't have cable TV.
Mere minutes into the match Johnny Wilkinson does a dangerous high tackle on an All Black, grabs him round the neck and down they go--I am thinking 'ouch' because I know how easy it could be to injure a person's neck. It was a 'dangerous tackle' an illegal tackle, but the referee let play continue and nothing was said.
Minutes later the Lion's captain, O'Driscoll, had the ball and he was tackled by Tana Umaga (All Blacks captain) and Keven Mealamu, and upended. Seconds later 'time' was stopped as the first aid people were called on to the field to attend to O'Driscoll who was lying on the ground in pain. It appear he had a shoulder injury (which turned out to be a dislocated shoulder) and whilst he was being examined and then put onto a stretcher and carted off we, who were lucky enough to be watching the delayed broadcast, saw the tackle replayed 4 or 5 times at least. It was a normal looking tackle, nothing excessively vicious. Neither All Black was deliberately trying to cause injury to O'Driscoll. While he was being carted away Tana was keeping his team together, organized, focused on the match.
Play went on...
Obviously is it disappointing to lose your captain so early in the game, but there are plenty of other players and always someone who can take over the captains role. No coach would ever assume that any one player would be immune from injury. You have to consider what you will do if you lose this player or that player due to injury.
Anyway, the match went on and the All Blacks were doing really well. There was a terrific line out and as Chris Jack was hoisted into the air, when the ball was thrown in, the Lion player who was also hoisted into the air, but not to the same height as Chris Jack, grabbed Chris by the jersey and pulled him down. This was in the air, another illegal move, and Chris Jack went down on his back. But he just got up again and ran on. Game continued.
There was another dangerous tackle on an All Black by a Lion--though I don't recall who by or who to. Play went on.
Later there was another heap of bodies, poor Chris Jack at the bottom and we watched a Lions player go in and start raking his boot sprigs across Chris Jack's back! Oh there was no mistake about it, because he ripped the shirt while he was doing this...and he did it RIGHT INFRONT OF THE CAMERA MAN! The referee didn't see it. Chris Jack, tough All Black, got up and play continued.
Still later, with players in a pile on the ground desperately trying to get the ball, one All Black, Keven Mealamu, gets up with the biggest 'I can't believe he did that' look on his face. One of the Lions, Danny Grewcock, had bitten him! He showed the referee who let play continue, despite being shown the teeth marks!
At the end of the game the All Black stood with a 21-3 victory.
At the end of the game no All Black had performed any neck high tackles, nor had we bitten any player, no had we hauled a man onto his back from the height of a line out leap, nor had we dug the boot in to a mans back.
But all that we have heard since this match is the Lion's coach complain about Tana's tackled on O'Driscoll, claiming it was deliberate and dangerous and he was trying to injure O'Driscoll. Now, I saw that tackle, repeatedly, and there was no obvious intention to injure, the tackle was like many many other tackles we have seen. Do they think Tana thought 'if I do this and my team mate does that we can dump him on the ground and causes his shoulder to be dislocated?' There was no orchestrated attack at all. It was, purely and simply, bad luck!
I have been in a martial arts class in which a fellow classmate threw a punch at the bag and his right shoulder came right out of the socket. Sensei laid him down, a few class mates held him still, and Sensei pulled his arm gently out at ninety degrees and slid it back into the socket and the class continued. It was no big deal. He didn't cry, he didn't lie groaning and whimpering. I guess martial artists are a heck of a lot tougher than Lion rugby players.
The newspapers have, since the match, been carrying daily articles on the Lion's coach's fury and indignation and his demand to know why Tana did not face disciplinary action and why he did not come up to O'Driscoll after it happened and apologize. And O'Driscoll is demanding an apology from Tana. There are claims that this 'attack' by Tana will be all that this tour is remembered for.
I am stunned at this carry on. Dalaglio was injured in the first match against a provincial team and went off with a broken ankle, but he never blamed anyone, he knew it was just bad luck and that sometimes these things happen in such a physical game. He didn't hold any grudges. Dalaglio's injury was much more serious than O'Driscolls, but the coach wasn't concerned about that one.
So why are the Lions making such a huge fuss about this?
I have to add that the Lions and their illustrious coach must be mad (or just plain stupid) to start making threats of 'getting even' in the next match when they are playing IN THE ALL BLACKS COUNTRY!!! People are getting really frustrated with the Lion's constant whining, and with the attacks on Tana Umaga. We will defend Tana and give him and the rest of the All Blacks our full support, because Tana didn't do anything wrong, and the team that was committing all the dangerous play was the LIONS! The fact that All Blacks didn't come off injured after the dangerous tackles was purely LUCK. O'Driscoll's injury was an accident.
The Lion's need to realise that this is a tough physical game, and if they can't handle that then they should not be playing rugby. Tana's tackle was not deliberately designed to cause in jury to O'Driscoll, it was merely to stop him. (An independent match official reviewed the incident and cleared Umaga of any wrongdoing.) The incessant attacks on Tana in the newspaper have to stop. And the implication that the referee did a poor job also has to stop.
It all smacks of sour grapes from sore losers. AND all of their complaints and attacks have served to do nothing more that make the All Blacks even more determined to win the next match. It will be blatantly obvious in the next match if the Lions are deliberately trying to injure All Black players, and whoever referees that match has, through the media's reports, already been warned to watch out for dirty play.
Lions toughen up!
All Blacks! You have our full support!
