Romain Poite

LIONS TOUR DIARY

‘‘It’s been an offside for a long time,’’ All Blacks captain Kieran Read says to Romain Poite after the French referee’s controversial late call to deny a potentially match-winning shot at goal in Saturday’s Eden Park decider.

‘‘By the time the fuss died down, Poite quite correctly changed his mind, ordered a scrum instead and eventually, the Lions were able to scrape the ball away into touch,’’

because we Kiwis love to moan about referees.

his captain for the first test. This was a monumental blunder. I warned beforehand that O’Mahony’s inexperience at dealing with international referees would turn out to be very costly and so it proved. The Irishman was a good enough player to be in the team, but not a good enough captain.

On the plus side Gatland would get Napoleon’s approval for being a lucky leader. SBW’s sending off probably saved the Lions from a 3-0 series loss and Gatland was also incredibly fortunate with injuries. Nearly all the key Lions stayed upright, despite arriving after a long hard, season. In contrast the All Blacks backline was devastated by injury and sickness.

Maybe it’s just fortune’s wheel. The All Blacks had a very fortunate run at the World Cup with injury, whereas Wales had been struck down beforehand. It was Gatland’s turn to get lucky. But at least he got his men playing some football. The Lions were an equal part of one of the most joyful and beautiful test series that I can remember and Gatland deserves credit for that. He picked a back three to have a go and they did.

Gatland also refused to wade into referee Jaco Peyper after the first test which he had every right to do. He set some of his fellow countryman quite an example in that, an example it may take them quite a time to follow. Some of the referee abuse I witnessed at Eden Park, from both men and women, was quite revolting. Such people should be ejected from grounds. We should be celebrating rugby right now and applauding both teams.

So let’s give Gatland the nod he deserves, just as the All Blacks coaches deserve credit for their strategy for the first and final test. We wish Gatland well. That doesn’t mean I want him to be still coaching the Lions in four years time in South Africa, a position he didn’t rule himself out of. That job should go to a Brit or an Irishman. But as a country we can be magnanimous in - er, what, exactly?

Ah well, sometimes kissing your sister can be a beautiful thing.