Ref cheated
I wouldn't go that far mate.
He definitely bottled it though. If there had been a hole on the field he would've been hiding in it.
That being said I've never had confidence in French refs. It's the language barrier or something, they just never seem to be consistent and coherent with their decisions.
Kiss his bum#
he cheated
That was a piss poor performance from a team that is supposed to be world champions, full of mistakes, five penalties given away in kickable positions to one the ball dropped or knocked on missed chances and a yellow card.
Last week they had an excuse playing most of the game one man down no excuses this week.
Who were the big improvers not the AB's thats for sure from 10 penalties given away last week to one this week the Lions got their discipline right the AB"s didnt.
Regardless of the score the Lions won the game and the series simply because the AB"s didnt.
Over and out of here for a week hope the world has improved when I get back.
So the All Blacks are less than perfect eh? A timely reminder 2 years out from the RWC.
Interesting to hear the comments of the BIL players after the match, about how much they enjoyed and valued the Lions experience.
From a purely nationalist perspective, The young English and Irish players will grow stronger for it. The elderly Welsh have a last hurrah.
Heart of Gold and a Knob of butter.
The Lions are a good team.No doubt at all.Nothing like the 1977 team that beat all the domestic teams though.They were great. Al;l games mattered to those guys and they came within a nats knacker of winning the series.(To this day, I still think that Steve Fenwick was the best center that I have ever watched.....even if he spent all day in the New Zealand back line...)
In theory, the Lions should have beaten the AB's by 20 points.The best of 4 nations...opps sorry, 3 nations.You guys left out Scotland.
The AB's are certainly not perfect. Never will be.They will get beaten. It's only fools that think otherwise. I have never heard an All Black captain or coach say anything else. It's the press and other numptys that think different.
We do set the the bar though.....
The Lions were not a good team as the performamces have shown over the whole tour just the All Blacks did their choking thing in the final test. Haven't looked at the stats but the handling errors must have been in double figures or close to it. Normally they'd have been out of sight by half time but uncharacteristically butchered numerous chances. Gatland who I don't rate as a coach is going back to Wales till the WC2019 then I really hope he becomes AB coach as your world domination will end while he's in charge. But i presume kiwis will see sense and never appoint him. Wales wont finish in top half of 6n table next 2 years before WC.
I have never liked Gatland. This tour has given me a grudging respect for him and his team building ethos, and getting the best out of a pretty disparate bunch that often lacked flair players.Originally Posted by buriramboy
That is down to professionalism and current NH tactics and coaching. The fact that Wales will probably not trouble the six nations title for a while, is more down to the outside half factory closing down along with the pits and the steelworks. In the 60's and 70's Welsh rugby was regarded in a similar way to the way Kiwis see it now.
That has fook all to do with Gatland's success or failure, more a sign of the times.
As long as NZ has good farming stock, lumberjacks and mountain men, and the Maori, they will continue to produce quality Rugby. The schools system and academies obviously helps too.
Even Gatland could coach a winning side out of that lot.
Wales like Ireland have 4 teams in the pro12 compared to Scotland and Italy's 2. Gatland did do well but he hasn't evolved, he hasn't moved with the times as in he still plays the same warrenball rugby with nothing else to offer and while successful in years gone by and he was blessed with a good crop of players those days are gone and when even lowly Scotland can give you a lesson you should know your days are numbered. Wales and Italy will be fighting over the wooden spoon in 6N.
Whoosh!Originally Posted by buriramboy
Choking thing..... my fucking arse. Lions played well.....without Scotland. Who would have thought.....They were certainly a shite load ahead of where Scotland would be.
Gatland got a group of Brits together that normally hate each other and made them as one. I don't know of anybody else that could have done that.Certainly, no Scottish people.They also drew with the world champs. That's right....THE WORLD CHAMPS!
Get rid of your bias, son.
Players on both sides looked a bit lost at the end. Disappointed not to have won such a contest.
I realize I am biased but I think the Lions will come away with the most credit from this result.
NZ are World Champions and nearly came unstuck. They don't normally let sides off the hook when they are on top of their game. So many chances went begging because of fumbled ball or knock ons. Too many occasions when there was a 2 on 1 overlap that never got used. Most uncharacteristic.
Lions adapted well in the second half but still kicked away too much possession. AB's normally capitalise on that.
The Lions forced those All Black mistakes through great defense. Frustrated the hell of the best attacking team in the world.
The SBW sending off seems to me to be the turning point of the series.
The All Blacks seemed to be cruising at that stage.
A fitting result although I hate draws.
Draws are utter shit aren't they. I don't think anyone can take anything out of this.
The Lions won only five from 10, lead the series for only three minutes out of 240, and for their part the ABs played like shit and blew however many chances they had to win.
The Lions Are Coming - and now they will be on their way home. Only another 12 years to wait for a crack at them.
Great suggestion in some match report I read today, (Grauniad) let the AB's play this lot again under the Babas banner this autumn?
At last, a sensible answer.Originally Posted by Loy Toy
The ABs played well, so did the Lions - at this level against such good teams, the space is closed down and mistakes are due to the intensity of the opposition.
The ABs really wanted to win this and after the first win only needed 1 win from 2 games, but couldn't manage that - no other team in the world, currently, would have stopped them from accomplishing that.
It's a 3 game series, and both teams have every opportunity to win 3 x 90 minutes to show they are the better team. After that, a draw is a draw and should be respected.
I've thought that Gatland has been good throughout, and Hansen has spoken very well in press conferences.
The Kiwis may feel they didn't get the rub of the green, but they know better than anyone that good teams make their own luck.
Cycling should be banned!!!
Lets see if I can make it 3 sensible answers in a row.
First up, I've got no bias in watching the game apart from having some coin on NZ to win.
Unlike you lot, I thought then first half was great!
The Lions has their stoic defense and to counter that the AB's planned some innovative attacking options.
Sure, the AB's made heaps of errors and the Lions few, but I believe that was because of their playing style.
Sort of like watching David Campese at the top of his game.
Had both teams played like the Lions ... BORING
Had both teams played like the AB's ... MISTAKE FEST
The second half looked more like a traditional Union Test between these two great Rugby Nations.
To me, the AB's always looked liked winning ... they just needed to get a few passes to stick.
To me, the Lions always looked liked winning ... because their Defense was inspiring and Defense wins games.
So, to that Penalty/No Penalty which could have handed the AB's the win.
Did the Ref cheat - NO
Did the Ref crack under pressure - Maybe
Did the Ref did consult with TMO George Ayoub, Poite changed his mind and awarded the All Blacks a scrum.
Here is a different view on that penalty/Scrum ...Former international referee Jonathan Kaplan has echoed Lions coach Warren Gatland's view that Kieran Read should have beenpenalised before the controversial call to deny the All Blacks a potentially match-winning penalty in the series decider.
Gatland, who arrived at Saturday's post-match press conference wearing a clown's nose, claimed that Read was the guilty party for making contact with Liam Williams
It was also clear to me that Read hit the LIONS player in the back whilst he was in the air when he was attempting to catch the kick off. At no time did Read attempt to play the ball. His sole goal was to disrupt the catching of the ball which he achieved when the player knocked on.
When the ref blew the whistle I thought it was to penalize Read which would have put the Lions deep into attack with a few minutes remaining.
The yellow card was a farce also for Kaeno as the forearm was not intentional. The ref also claimed it was not intentional but still gave him a yellow card including the penalty. Rubbish.
Another penalty which equaled the score for the Lions for a high tackle was no where near a high tackle. Rubbish.
The record books will not show any of this conjecture At least Hansen has accepted the result because he knows it won't change, no matter what he says.
A rather prescient Brian Moore, before the game.
Brian Moore: Third test set to come down to a moment of genius - NZ Herald
Originally Posted by David48atTDFunnily enough, at the restart the ball went up, Reid charged into Williams in the air, the whistle blew and my stream locked up for about two minutes. I was anxious because I presumed that we got a penalty, kicked to touch and were rolling a maul towards their tryline then back for a Sexton drop goal to win the series...Originally Posted by Loy Toy
...when the stream came back and the Kiwis had a scrum penalty for accidental offside it seemed very weird indeed.
Anyways, we are where we are, both teams had 3 games to get the upper hand and neither managed to do so.
Still left with a hollow feeling from the draw.
Kinda ironic that the series was decided by two last minute penalties - one that was and one that wasn't but should've been. But that's sport I suppose although there is a wider issue that rugby has with referring and a convoluted rule book that needs to be addressed.
Anyways, the AB's had their chances in that game and bombed them so no doubt they'll be blaming no one other than themselves.
Again, looking in as an outsider, I was surprised that while the opportunity presented itself many times, no Field Goals were attempted by NZ.
Several times, just before 1/2 and Full-Time they were in position ... but they didn't.
Pride?
Attack only mentality?
I do believe it cost them the match.
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