ROUGH STUFF COULD WRECK MURRAY’S CAREER, SAYS GATLAND
WARREN GATLAND has urged referees to clamp down on dangerous All Black ‘harassment’ of scrum-half Conor Murray that could ‘wreck his career’. The Lions head coach accused the Kiwis of deliberately diving at the No 9’s standing leg after his box kicks. Flanker Jerome Kaino was guilty of blindly flying at the Irishman, while lock Brodie Retallick also hit him late. ‘There were a couple of times where he’s kicked and they’ve just pushed him to the ground after he’s box kicked, so I don’t know if it was a tactic,’ said Gatland. ‘From my point of view, if someone pushes him afterwards that’s fine, but diving at his leg is just a safety issue. ‘I’d hate to see someone dive at his leg and have him blow a knee and wreck his rugby career.’ Frenchman Jerome Garces will referee the second Test and will meet Gatland on Friday. ‘I’ll just be asking politely that the officials look at that and make sure they protect him so he is not harassed,’ said Gatland. ‘When you see someone dive at someone’s leg and it’s blind, you feel for the player. And it’s a little bit concerning that they are actually not trying to charge the kick down, because they are nowhere near it.’ NIK SIMON