Geech and justice

Arise, Sir Ian!

Welcome to Loose Pass - our weekly assortment of musings, mutterings, tickled fancies and disjointed thoughts. This week we will be mostly concerning ourselves with justice, Geech and big Al Charron...

As the Springboks were so keen to point out, justice was done at Ellis Park. The Lions romped to a splendid 28-9 victory that will carry the famous touring side to Australia on a high wave of refound pride and heady optimism.

We said it last week, and we'll say it again: South Africa deserved to win the series for the steely togetherness that they displayed in the first hour of the first Test and in the final twenty minutes of the second.

But the Lions of 2009 deserved something for their efforts. They were far too good a side to go down to the dreaded whitewash and they did their long and distinguished heritage proud by having the final word.

And this wasn't a case of fighting the dying of the light. This was strapping an incendiary device to the moon. They took the record-equalling victory together with an aggregate 74-63 scoreline that including seven tries to five.

Yes, the Boks might have mustered a little more heart and a few more top names had the series been on the line in the third Test. But let us not forget that the Lions had as many - if not more - absentees as the locals.

Where did the fire spring from? In truth, it was there all the time. It just needed the mastery of the Lion King himself - arise, Sir Ian! - to stoke up the dying embers left at the centre of the abandoned camp of 2005.

Whilst the real Knighted One took the Square Mile approach to management in New Zealand, and Graham Henry donned his old mortarboard in 2001, McGeechan and his cohorts were determined for old values to surface and they oversaw a tour of inclusion rather than exclusion.

The players bought into it to a man. They trained hard and they played hard, but there was also time for the often-neglected social side of touring and to sup beers with friends and fans alike.

To mould a team capable of challenging the reigning world champions over a three-Test series in barely a month is - at best - mission improbable.

But the fact Paul O'Connell and company went so desperately close to achieving it shows what a special bond was created.

It was the shortest of all Lions tours - just ten games - which challenged players, coaches and support staff to hit the ground running, and then keep going when the going got tough.

More importantly, the tour confirmed the emergence of a next generation of Lions - players will undoubtedly be back for more in Australia four years from now.

Jamie Roberts, Rob Kearney, Ugo Monye, James Hook, Mike Phillips, Adam Jones, Tom Croft and Jamie Heaslip all moved to new levels of excellence, illustrating what healthy prospects the Lions should have when they reconvene down under in 2013.

The events in New Zealand four years ago had some wondered whether the Lions had been damaged beyond repair.

But those doubts were not shared by true rugby men.

The Lions choose to tour not because it is easy, but because it is hard. And they go about their work in the knowledge that nothing is impossible if you have mates at your shoulder and faith in your heart.

The Lions are back, and world rugby owes an eternal debt to the class of 2009 - and to Ian McGeechan.

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The Boks' decision to protest the ban meted out to Bakkies Botha has polarised opinion across the rugby world. Was it a petulant act that has diluted the power of legitimate protest, or a much-needed bulwark against the creeping emasculation of rugby?

It was neither. Far from being naive or gutsy, it was simply a smokescreen to divert attention from the real issue of the second Test: Schalk Burger's eye-gouge on Luke Fitzgerald and Peter de Villiers's subsequent comments on the incident.

All credit to them - as a diversion it worked quite brilliantly. The Lions were keen not to draw attention to Botha's charge on Adam Jones for the exact reason that it would take the spotlight of what is rapidly becoming rugby's major scourge: fingers raking at eyes.

But the Boks' protest managed to do just that. Now all we can talk about is a measly two-week ban that saw a player miss a dead-rubber match that he would have probably sat out anyway.

Okay, Boks - you win. If you want to talk about it, let's talk about it.

First, let's watch it again.

Call us cynical, but we are not too sure that Botha was thinking of anything over or beyond that initial hit. A leg-pumping drive to clear the player off the ball (normal protocol when joining a ruck) is conspicuous by its absence.

In fact, Botha didn't even get to grips with Jones and he actually went off his feet. Had the Welshman not been injured he could have followed up by wrenching the prone lock free of the ruck and out of the game. Or he could have held Botha down over the ball and won the Lions a penalty.

Our speculation aside, let's take a look at the laws of the game, and we draw your attention specifically to three of the four clauses under 'Law 6.2 - Joining a Ruck'.

16.2(a) All players forming, joining or taking part in a ruck must have their heads and shoulders no lower than their hips.
Penalty: Free Kick

16.2(b) A player joining a ruck must bind onto the ruck with at least one arm around the body of a team-mate, using the whole arm.
Penalty: Penalty Kick

16.2(d) All players forming, joining or taking part in a ruck must be on their feet.
Penalty: Penalty Kick

Is it not possible that Botha transgressed at least one of these laws? Did he not look like Michael Phelps on the starting blocks?

As it was, the lock wasn't penalised and the Lions lost their second prop of the match. It was a situation that left them chasing a game they eventually lost.

Jones, for his part, will spend the next six months with an armband of his own: a sling that will hold his shoulder in place.

And the Boks talk of justice?

Being world champions entails more than flaunting a gold pot. World champions are obliged to lend a dignified, paradigmatic leadership to their chosen sport.

England failed on that score. Alas, the Boks have followed suit.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Well, perhaps we should lighten the mood!

Here, in no particular order, are our favourite quotes from the last week of the Lions tour.

"There's not a lot of top-notch games that can provide what a Lions series can provide. If anything is kept, I think the Lions series should be kept."
- John Smit underlines his reputation as one of world rugby's good guys

"We have a new template for preparing for a Test match - it includes quite a lot of alcohol."
- Ian McGeechan on the secret of his success

"'Any questions? I'm all ears."
- Lions scrummaging coach Graeme Rowntree breaks the ice with reporters

"When your mum, your wife and your sister text you to say they still love you, you know things haven't gone too well."
- Phil Vickery reflects on his 'beasting' in the first Test

"I wanted to break down and cry, it was an amazing feeling."
- Ugo Monye, smitten by the Lions bug, describes scoring in the third Test

"The small things like judicial hearing will not take away the fact that we won. Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk won the Nobel Peace Prize. No matter what they did wrong in their lives, no one can take away the fact that they won it."
- Peter de Villiers on (is?) Nelson Mandela

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And so England manager Martin Johnson has picked his Elite Player Squad (EPS) for the forthcoming season.

No. No need to glance at your calendar - it really is mid-July.

With no real form to go on, this pick is made on the basis of pure reputation, and picking on reputation runs contrary to all credible sporting norms.

Wasps coach Shaun Edwards publicly queried whether the early announcement of last year's EPS contributed to his club's woeful start to the season. What motivation is there for a player to improve or push himself, he asked, when he is assured of shot at the Test stage before the season has actually begun?

It's a good question - one that is set to return to haunt England and her clubs.

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Hats off to Peter MacKay, the Canadian MP who recently laced his boot for a charity rugby match on the lawns of Parliament Hill, Ottawa.

The defence minister would have considered mobilising a commando unit or three when he found himself alone and marooned between his own sticks and a rampaging Al Charron.

Sadly for him, he didn't have the chance.

The former Canada captain was actually brought down in the tackle, but not before breaking MacKay's arm.

Still, it was all for a good cause - the game raised a significant amount of money for Canada's Military Families Fund.

So let's hope the idea catches on. Loose Pass would pay handsomely to see the Lions take out their frustrations on Gordon Brown's cabinet in the shadow of Big Ben.

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If there's one thing the public enjoys more than the sight of a sporting personality performing at the highest level, it's the sight of a sporting personality skating on thin ice.

If nothing else, the Lions tour has introduced Britain and Ireland to a new character who has duly been invited to perform pirouettes with the countless soccer managers who are tipped to go under in the next few months.

Loose Pass recently stumbled into a well-known British bookmaker (we were looking for the library, honest) and found the following odds pinned to the wall:

Peter De Villiers to be head coach of the South African team when they play 1st match of the Tri-Nations: 1/7
Peter De Villiers NOT to be head coach of the South African team when they play 1st match of the Tri-Nations: 4/1

Peter De Villiers to be head coach of the South African team when they play their last match of the Tri-Nations: 2/9
Peter De Villiers NOT to be head coach of the South African team when they play their last match of Tri-Nations: 3/1

Peter De Villiers to be head coach of the South African team when they play their match against France in November: 1/3
Peter De Villiers NOT to be head coach of the South African team when they play their match against France in November: 9/4

If Loose Pass was of a gambling persuasion (and we're not, we were simply looking for the library) we'd have a hefty punt on that 1/3 option.

South African rugby is held together by so much red tape that De Villiers's critics would need a squad of samurai soldier, working double shifts, to cut him loose.

Got something to add?

Compiled by Andy Jackson