Liverpool always kept their focus on target, says Lovren
ENGLAND fast bowler Jofra Archer has urged victims of racial abuse to speak out following the death of an unarmed black man in police custody in the United States.
Video footage showed a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, 46, for nearly nine minutes before he died on May 25, triggering outrage and protests across the world. “I’m very glad the Black Lives Matter campaign has got as vocal as this,” Archer wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.
“As an individual, I’ve always been one for speaking out, especially 1995. Wiese copped a 30-day ban and a big fine.
Wiese was one of Bok rugby’s first so-called “enforcers” up front, before the likes of Bakkies Botha and more recently, Eben Etzebeth, came onto the scene. The now 56-year old said that it has always been up to the locks to lay down the marker and lead the pack.
“The locks are the heart and engine of the pack,” said Wiese, a strong option at the front of the lineout and if something bothers you. My personal view is that you should never keep things bottled up, because racism is not okay.”
LIVERPOOL were locked in on their task at hand long before confirmation of the Premier League’s restart date, centre-half Dejan Lovren has insisted.
The Reds are set to resume top-flight action next Sunday against Everton after the league’s suspension due to the Covid19 pandemic. With Jurgen Klopp’s team two wins away from sealing the title, Lovren and his teammates have had their eyes on the prize all throughout their time away from the pitch.
“To be honest our main focus and goal was, ‘Guys, let’s finish the season. There will, of course, be a date back, but just stay be in shape’,” Lovren told Liverpoolfc. com. a busy operator in the loose in his day.
“With no disrespect to the loosies and the backs, the tight five is what every good team is built around. And Doc (Danie) Craven always said, ‘Give me two locks and I’ll build you a pack’.
“There can be no scrum power without two quality locks, and lineouts would be pointless if it weren’t for the two locks.”
Wiese said he enjoyed the physicality of rugby and relished his role at the 1995 Rugby World Cup. “Rugby is a confrontational and physical sport; that’s why we love it. I never went out looking for a fight or a confrontation, but because of the close contact between the players things happen. I love ballet, but rugby ain’t ballet,” he said.
“In rugby there’s one or two places where you can physically intimidate your opponent legally, and that’s in the scrums and in the loose. In 1995 we knew we had to win the physical battles if we were to win the matches, and that’s what we set out to do.”
Wiese said a key ingredient in 1995 was the fact that the core of the Bok team were Transvaal players. “It made a big difference,” Wiese said.