Lions saga rumbles on as offer to play in Australia is rejected
THE British and Irish Lions board has reportedly turned down Australia’s offer to host this summer’s series against South Africa.
The Lions are due to tour South Africa in July and August but the coronavirus, vaccine and spectator situation means the tour is fraught with complications.
The BBC report that after a meeting on Friday, it was decided that staging the tour in Australia - who have bid to host the series in January with the expectation they could have full-capacity stadiums - is not a viable option.
The saga is now set to rumble on into next week at least, with four options remaining on the table: a home “tour”, a tour to South Africa with matches played behind closed doors, a postponement or cancellation.
FIVE-CAP Wales international Jonah Holmes has opened up about his frustration watching Wales during the Six Nations, admitting he needs to get a string of games together and hopefully take his next chance.
Dragons winger Holmes, 28 - who moved from Leicester Tigers to Wales last season - missed out on Six Nations squad selection due to injury but is now hoping a run of performances can earn a recall.
“It’s been frustrating watching Wales but it happens, I just have to take it on the chin,” he told the Western Telegraph.
“It’s good to have players in your position doing well. It’s hard to take sometimes but it ends up driving competition and making everybody a better player.
“I need to play regularly and show that I could be in the squad. I just need to play and hope that I take the next chance I get.”
Holmes has made nine appearances since heading to Wales for the 2019/2020 season, and knows he needs to do more.
“I’ve barely touched the ball and hopefully I can string some games together and do some running. It happens sometimes as a winger, there are just some games where you don’t get much ball. You have to adapt your game to try and get your hands on the ball, and that’s something I need to do in the next few weeks.”
ADAM Hastings’ Scotland return will be further delayed after he was handed a three-game ban for his red card against Leinster last Sunday.
Catching a high ball in the 37th minute of Glasgow Warriors’ Guinness PRO14 fixture, an airborne Hastings raised his lead leg and his boot made contact with Cian Kelleher’s face.
Referee Frank Murphy produced his red card following the TMO review and the disciplinary process concluded the incident merited a mid-range entry point.
Given the mitigating factors, including the player’s acceptance of foul play, a 50 per cent reduction was applied to the default ban of six weeks, meaning Hastings will miss the next three meaningful games.
ANDRE Ayew’s injury time penalty earned Swansea City a dramatic 2-1 win over Middlesbrough at the Liberty Stadium. The Ghanaian’s 12th goal of the campaign in the first half looked to have won it for Steve Cooper’s side in south Wales until Sam Morsy levelled in the first minute of injury time.
But after Jake Bidwell had been brought down in the box at the death, Ayew converted from 12 yards out to register his fourth goal in three games to earn Swansea all three points which moved Swansea up to third in the Championship table.
Cooper made just one change to the side that started in the 2-1 win at Stoke City as Conor Hourihane came in for Jamal Lowe.
There was a significant boost on the bench for the hosts as Ryan Bennett was listed among the substitutes after missing his side’s last three games with a calf injury.
Hourihane and Korey Smith looked to give support to Ayew who operated in the lone striker role.
But chances were few and far between early on, with Ayew failing to make strong contact with an overhead kick attempt before Yannick Bolasie headed over for the visitors who were dealt a blow when Anfernee Dijksteel had to be replaced by Djed Spence after just 16 minutes.
Ben Wilmot’s header earned Swansea all three points against Cardiff City on the last occasion Neil Warnock visited the Liberty Stadium, although the visitors will no doubt have been happy with the way they grew into the game in south Wales.
Bola took advantage of a fortunate deflection to tee up Duncan Watmore inside the Swansea box, although Marc Guehi was in the right place to spot the danger before Bolasie drilled straight at Freddie Woodman soon after.
In truth, neither side managed to take control of what was a scrappy Championship contest.
But a mix-up between Jonny Howson and Bola from Hourihane’s freekick saw the ball drop to Ayew inside the penalty area, and the Ghanaian’s drilled effort deflected in off Spence as Swansea went ahead five minutes before the break.
After what was a fairly ugly opening half, that goal - Ayew’s third in as
many games - lifted the hosts, and they looked confident in possession in the final stages as they went into the break 1-0 up.
Middlesbrough flew out of the traps after the restart, and they were livid not to be level as referee Gavin Ward gave the Swans a free-kick after spotting a foul from Bolasie on Jay Fulton before Bola drilled beyond Woodman.
It certainly looked to be a harsh call, and Warnock had no hesitation in letting the officials know his feelings.
Boro dominated a significant chunk after that and saw substitute
Akpom drill an effort wide as Swansea’s defence had to withstand waves of attacks.
They threw their bodies on the line but couldn’t find a way up the pitch which ensured Middlesbrough kept on coming - with Saville heading wide from the centre of the box.
Something had to give, and with a quarter of the game left to play, Cooper sent on Lowe for Smith as Swansea desperately attempted to gain some kind of grip on the game.
Jake Bidwell replaced Ryan Manning soon after as the Swans took the sting out of proceedings before Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Marvin
Johnson were summoned by Warnock.
The game looked destined to end level though as Morsy beat Woodman with a shot from the edge of the box in the first minute of injury time.
But the drama kept on coming as Bidwell was fouled in the box deep into injury time, and, after initially hesitating the referee pointed to the spot.
And up stepped Ayew to score a penalty for the third game running as Swansea secured back-to-back victories ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Blackburn Rovers.