Losers can’t be heroes
29 Jun 2009
Once again the British and Irish are on a high in celebrating losers, writes Keo in his Business Day newspaper column.
There is no disgrace in losing heroically was the tiresome media reflection of a yet another Lions Test defeat and yet another Lions series defeat in the southern hemisphere.
Perhaps the time has come for the British & Irish Lions to tour Argentina or the Pacific Islands to restore a winning culture.
One of the reasons South Africa, New Zealand and Australia have a winning rugby culture is that defeats such as the one in Pretoria on Saturday are never celebrated. When a team leads 19-8, enjoys field position advantage and a 71% dominance of possession and still loses then there can be no heroes. Not in South Africa, not in New Zealand and not in Australia.
In Britain and Ireland this morning mortals have been cast as giants when instead they should be castigated as emotional dwarfs for their inability to shut out a Springbok team in free fall because of the lack of pedigree among the coaching staff.
Players run the Springbok team, but clearly every player still needs someone to put together a coherent game plan and to coach and manage the team.
The Boks, without this structure and guidance, played like individuals and not surprisingly against the playing limitations of the tourists this was still enough to win.
The indictment of the Lions is that they could lose from such a healthy position and the indictment of the Boks is that it needed a 55m penalty with the last kick of the game to secure the match and series win when the gulf in class is 20 points.
The Lions were gifted a one-man advantage within 30 seconds when Schalk Burger was sin-binned for a moment of stupidity and with it came a 10-point start before 10 minutes had been played.
The tourists, we know, have perfected the art of telling a losing story with such seductive appeal it makes winning seem cold and secondary. Who wants to win when you can lose and be immortalized?
The Springboks deserved the win because in the last 20 minutes the South Africans were the ones attacking and mentally their players wanted victory, whereas the Lions were content to settle for a draw and with it a drawn series at best with just the one Test in three to play.
Contrast the approach of the two captains in the final quarter. John Smit’s Boks trailed 19-15 and got an easy three pointer. Smit did not kick the three points to reduce the deficit, but attacked the goalline for five points and the psychology of a lead in the final 10 minutes.
Lions captain Paul O’Connell, with five minutes to play, had a chance to level the scores at 25-25 from 25m out or go for a try and a possible win. He opted for the kick and a draw and allowed the Springboks an 80m advantage from the resulting kick-off. Instead of defending their line, the Boks had the chance to push for victory from a kick-off that would transfer field position by 80m.
The Springbok last quarter substitutions also need to be put into perspective, as does the criticism of not starting with Morne Steyn ahead of Ruan Pienaar because of the former’s superior goalkicking.
Steyn, in the Super 14, averaged 75%, although he kicked at 80% in the last three matches. Pienaar, in the first Test win against the Lions in Durban, kicked 80%.
It was right to start with Pienaar, but it was wrong not to introduce Steyn earlier because Steyn’s line-kicking game is superior and so is his use of the up and under on his home ground in Pretoria.
Another substitution that has been lauded is that of openside specialst Heinrich Brussow, whose introduction coincided with the Lions getting slower ball from the breakdown, and in the last five minutes next to no ball.
Brussow, though, would not have been on the field had Brian O’Driscoll not knocked out Danie Rossouw with an illegal shoulder charge tackle and clash of the heads. Injury forced a decision to introduce Brussow; not any tactical appreciation of the match situation because it was Rossouw who was preferred to Brussow as Juan Smith’s replacement.
O’Driscoll should have been carded for the no-arms tackle, as should Andy Sheridan for his constant off-the-ball antagonism, especially when he punched Bok replacement lock Andries Bekker in the balls.
Burger was rightly carded and Bakkies Botha should have gone along with Sheridan for his charge on Adam Jones. There are two sides to every story and there were two sides to this Test when it came to what went on in those dark alleys we call rucks and mauls.
Brussow’s impact was as obvious as it had been in the first 50 minutes in Durban’s Test victory, as his style troubles the tourists more than it will Australia and New Zealand, and Morne Steyn provided calmness in the last-minute chaos.
The efforts of individuals masked an international of poor quality that appeared spectacular because of the closeness in score and frenetic finish.
There was physicality and desperation from the Lions in the first 40 minutes and the Boks in the last 20 minutes, and individuals like Jamie Roberts, O’Driscoll, Simon Shaw, Adam Jones, Rob Kearney, Victor Matfield, Fourie du Preez, Smith, Bryan Habana, JP Pietersen, Jaque Fourie, Brussow and Morne Steyn added the power and polish to the occasion.
There have been club matches with as much drama, but equally there have been club games in which the basics of the game have been as poorly executed.
Had the Boks lost heroically 28-25 there would be a national inquisition this morning. It is why we as a rugby nation win more than we lose.
We don’t celebrate mediocrity or losers.
Think about a Test played with uncontested scrums for the last 35 minutes and it pretty much sums up the 2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa.
263 Comments
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29 Jun 2009, 14:18 pm
#194 bananaboy:
i suppose not, but its just so much BS that you need to give some back, otherwise its just continued. the media is a funny thing, i may be wrong and overreacting, but there is something which most of us can see as clear as day, which they cant.
29 Jun 2009, 14:18 pm
#191 Cheetahboytjie: Please tell me where I have ever said the Lions are better than the Boks and I will apologise and retract the statement. Think we’ve got a case of crossed-wires!
29 Jun 2009, 14:20 pm
#197 Yetirat: true. the lions have to earn respect and they lost it by being crybabies
29 Jun 2009, 14:22 pm
#196 jonnymain:
my honest view is that the Lions is a phenomenal concept, i can’t remember such good test matches anywhere in the last two years. the problem is all the off-the-field stuff which has gone from needle and banter to just plain poor sportsmanship, and to be honest, just plain poor losers.
These lions were not gallant losers, that is for sure. They showed alot of skill and bravery and whinging, but they could never be excused of being gallant.
29 Jun 2009, 14:22 pm
#150 I wanna be coach:
My home town is Greymouth.
This Town sits on the banks of the Grey River. In Grey County, in the South Island.
In the North Island we have Greytown, in the Wairarapapa region.
Sir George was among the 5 most influencial people in the history of Our (NZ) Nation. IMHO.
29 Jun 2009, 14:22 pm
#198 kwaailight: You say this I can say that. We can go around in circles on that one mate and it will do no good. What my original post was trying to point out (with little success) was you can understand, if not excuse, the bleating coming from the Lions players and management on the subject and that if it had happened the other way around (the eye-gouge incident that is) there would have been plenty on here screaming blue murder and injustice.
You know it and I know it.
29 Jun 2009, 14:23 pm
#185 jonnymain:
Tim Henman? Gallant loser loved by the nation, nice guy. Andy Murray, far better tennis player, personality of squid.. not so widely adored. Well maybe he’s adored in Scotland.
29 Jun 2009, 14:26 pm
The real heros are always the gallant losers.
None in this touring outfit that i can see.
29 Jun 2009, 14:28 pm
#202 cab: Very true, and very sad for me. Mike Phillips is a prize arse and should not be anywhere near a microphone after a match. Emotions were obviously sky-high after the final whistle and things said that shouldn’t have been. I’m disappointed in O’Connell as well. If things had been different I’m sure Smit would have congratulated the Lions on victory straight away. It’s not what you come to expect from an Irishman and a Munsterman in particular!
29 Jun 2009, 14:28 pm
Jacques Fouries try was so typical of him, the slimmest of chances, right on the edge and his physicality is outstanding and makes him get those scores more often than not. Even young Brussouw, half the size of the Lions forwards, when he has his hands on the ball, they CANNOT get it away from him. I see a changing of the guard coming in the Bok side soon. If the management team dont see it, they will implode like they did under Mallett…..makes you wonder just how much pressure is coming from “head office”.
Schalk is carrying a long term injury, look at the way he clicks his neck and head every 5 minutes or so….he came into the side underdone and had huge pressure placed on him and he is probably at about 85% of his best. Jean de Villiers is also not right, there is something going on with his physique….Habana is nearly back to his best, Ruan is also at about 85% of his best. If I was the guy in charge, I’d be telling a few players to sit it out for a while.
29 Jun 2009, 14:28 pm
#201 Cheetahboytjie:
The problem I have now with the Lions and their management is that talked a big game before the series and each game how they were going to take it to the Boks, be physical, won’t be bullied. When they get beaten at their own game they then cry foul. It is truly pathetic. They have yet to give any credit where its due, they have only whined about what should or could have been.
29 Jun 2009, 14:31 pm
#205 Londonbokshark: I don’t identify with the gallant loser mentality! Henman was a prime example of one, and he was a posh well-spoken Englishman to boot – Viscount would approve! Murray is a strange one – great player with more natural talent in his little finger than Henman, but he won’t gain the affection of the public because he once said he supported any team against England (think this was around the time of the last football WC in Germany) so I think he’s a hero!
29 Jun 2009, 14:34 pm
The Lions must never be lost as a concept. Shame to the Provincial sides for not playing their strongest and best teams. If rugby loses any more traditions we must just end up having nothing to be passionate about. My football team Liverpool has about 3 Liverpool players in it…..theres something wrong with that!! I actually only follow the big matches now and almost without passion, I save that for schoolboy rugby where there is still a sense of belonging to something bigger than yourself.
29 Jun 2009, 14:34 pm
#209 Londonbokshark: They should go out to ellis park and win or loose, take it like men. you ever hear McCaw complain. he congratulates the other team and go on to prove the AB’s are up to it in the next game. its all about attitude.
29 Jun 2009, 14:35 pm
#202 cab: The Lions concept is unique but my problem with it is I just don’t think they can ever expect to win a test series again now the game is fully professional. You just can’t throw 4 nations together in 8 weeks and expect to beat the best teams in the world in their own backyard. How many years has it taken for the current Springbok squad to mature into the best in the world?
29 Jun 2009, 14:38 pm
#210 jonnymain:
LOL! I remember Murray saying that. Still it hasn’t stopped the crowds lining up to watch him play.. I’d support Germany over England so I am with him on that one!
i just wish this series had been played in better spirits. it had the potential to be a festival of rugby, which it deserves. Now it has degenerated seriously and I think there are going to have to be some harsh words to keep the players from brawling outright. Some might feel they have a personal score to settle after saturday.
29 Jun 2009, 14:39 pm
Guys I don’t usually post, normally just read but I have to post today.
I am watching a replay of the test match and firstly, the ban to Bakkies is ridiculous – his clean out was standard issue, albeit with lots of power. If you look at the Lions hooker who tries to clean out Bakkies after the incident he hits him in exactly the same manner.
Secondly, it gives me great pleasure to beat the Lions because I had to listen to the Sky Sport feed and their commentators are as one-eyed as can be. After O Driscoll takes out Danie with the head high charge the comment is “that’s the sort of hit that lifts a team, brilliant play from O Driscoll”. Are you kidding me?? These okes just about neededed a change of pants when Schalk only got a yellow card but thuggish play from one of their own is applauded!
Nice one Bokke. 3-0!
29 Jun 2009, 14:40 pm
#214 Londonbokshark: Let’s be honest. I’m looking forward to seeing some fighting on Saturday! It’ll make the match worth watching
29 Jun 2009, 14:41 pm
#192 bananaboy:
It is more of a case of history repeating itself.
Just 10 months out from the World Cup White and Smit and most of the Boks were useless according to most. They had no plan and no chance in hell of achieving WC success.
White inhereted players too, he hardly brought something ‘new’ to the setup from a resource point of view, he was brilliant in developing structures.
PDV has done brilliantly not to destroy those structures and build on them, and try to tweak them to improve them even more.
Looking at his record, which in his first year was the same as White when he quit, meaning there was no regression, and has now improved with very important series win over the Lions…
I see no regression, I see moving forward using the same structures and with the same slobby, overweight, underperforming players that White stupidly kept on selecting in 2006…
29 Jun 2009, 14:43 pm
#212 Cheetahboytjie:
True, John Smit too. All great Captains will congratulate the opposition first on a job well done. I have yet to read of John or Ritchie moaning in the media. Correct me if I am wrong..
I hope the 3rd test is played hard, but clean. I don’t think it will though. That said, Bakkies is out so that’s a start
29 Jun 2009, 14:47 pm
#218 Londonbokshark: Bismarck will be playing though!
29 Jun 2009, 14:50 pm
#215 Stoffel: I hate the Sky commentators. Fortunately we are getting the Supersport feed which is much better, apart from Naas’s Corner which is just plain embarrassing! Don’t recall the SS commentators making too much of a fuss of the BOD versus Danie clash, apart from saying that BOD was perhaps half a mile offsides!
29 Jun 2009, 14:58 pm
#213 jonnymain:
not sure about that jonny, both test matches could quite easily have gone the other way. this Lions team was and is a class team, many have been saying so before they were beaten. I believe they have wordclass talent in every position, but perhaps might have been struggling at 2, 8 and 10 – who are all good players, so no real weakness. Also when they pull on their jersey there is alot of pride, simon shaw was actually in tears. This is all great, but the pride and losing is no excuse for poor manners and belligernce.
Paul O Connel loooks like a decent guy and all, but he aint no captains arse, his belligerance has filtered right through this Lions team.
29 Jun 2009, 15:07 pm
#152 Viscount Crouchback: stuff off vitriol brokeback! Go and re-read some of the stuff you write on your blog, about “beastings, afrikaners & anglo-boer wars” don’t come here with your sanctimonious bullsh!t…if we’re “raging” we’re doing it amongst ourselves as saffas, you don’t have to subject urself to it…i’m sure there are plenty of blogs in the UK where you can go & celebrate your vanquished heroes?
29 Jun 2009, 15:09 pm
once again keo moans about the coach not being good enough… same old story… will he ever be happy with any coach? or only if he coaches the team himself.
My conclusion is that badly coached teams do not score from set-plays. that is something that can only be done through good planning, good coaching and hours of repetition.
Lay of PDV, the dude has done more in the last few months of his career than many of his frontrunners.
29 Jun 2009, 16:14 pm
Very bitter from Keo, obviously he cannot accept there was precious little between the two sides over the series.
This ‘we would’ve won by 50pts if it wasn’t for the coach’ is very silly. Statistically he’s the most successful coach in the last six who were appointed.
29 Jun 2009, 16:21 pm
Great article.
The British Goats are hurting real bad but
the truth will always be denied.
BOKKE must trash them in 3rde Toets
3-0 whitewash will shut them up
29 Jun 2009, 16:27 pm
#224 Big Hit: Not nearly as silly as all the would’ve bullsht sprouted by the British press over the past 2 weeks. I’ve never seen a less sporting reaction to a loss in all my life.
29 Jun 2009, 17:03 pm
#226 katman: WILL CARLING (and I’m not exactly his biggest fan) at least was objective about the match:
well there has certainly been some hot air expelled on here in the last 24 hours, hot compressed air too!! But that is as it should be, sport is all about the emotions and the Lions evoke some of the strongest.
When all is said and done though, South Africa won the test and with that the series and have proved that they are one, if not ‘the’, strongest team in the World at the moment.
Just as an aside I do think they will be favorites to win the Tri-Nations. ( now that is a kiss of death!!)
lets think back to a couple of months ago and most of my mates, and lots of rugby pundits were saying (off microphone) that the Lions were going to get stuffed. I did not hold out too much hope myself to be frank.
And yet looking at the first two Tests the Lions have been brilliant in parts, brave in everything and so close to leveling the series, if not being 2-0 ahead, so very different from so many wise predictions.
Did the Boks cheat, were they just thugs? No, not in my mind. If Burger gouged that is inexcusable and the referee should have sent him off there and then. But apart from that, what else did they do that was thuggery? It was hard for sure, bloody hard, but isn’t that Test rugby? Botha’s illegal challenge on Jones? well what about BOD’s illegal tackle? It is swings and roundabouts and the Boks have always been a very very physical side. it is nothing new.
The pain of losing right at the end has evoked the most emotion I would suspect, and it was a sickening finish – but one the Lions brought on themselves, no one else. ROG’s challenge was crazy, simple.
Roberts, Kearney, BOD, Croft, Shaw SJ were all examples of Lions pride and I thought they were inspirational. No doubt that the injuries hurt the Lions organisation at crucial times, and if the centre partnership had survived the game, the game would have been won by the Lions.
Hook should have been on the bench instead of ROG, I have said that all week, and that was crucial in the end too.
But let’s remember two things;
The Lions can and should be proud of what they have achieved in throwing four ‘teams’ together in a matter of weeks and secondly the Boks are a bloody good, tough side, with many great players and great characters, and they should not be branded thugs, or cheats, they have won the test series, and congratulations to them
29 Jun 2009, 17:06 pm
#224 Big Hit: i agree. if the Boks are winning he can wear the tutu he describes and sing ‘one boer one bullet’ from the sidelines and it won’t bother me.
29 Jun 2009, 17:09 pm
#226 katman: There would’ve been more praise had it not been for Burger’s eye-gouging. It turned things sour to a large extent.
29 Jun 2009, 17:13 pm
#116 cane:
Oh no.
Not another bl**dy Coaster !
Oh fark.
Im bl**dy well married to one.
Youre all farken crazy.
Nuts. Run away !
Until whitebaiting season is over and we can all relax again.
#124 Dawn:
who cares what he looks like ? he has magic in them there hands, black magic I say.
#137 Sharksgirl:
that was no ‘punch’. Accidental follow-thru from lifting his *** up thru his neck.
#226 katman:
Isnt that the same thing you said to the last guy you were trying to p*ss off ?
29 Jun 2009, 17:16 pm
#229 Big Hit: Yes, I get the distinct impression that this eye-gouge came as a life saver for many of them. They desperately needed a BIG ONE to blame and divert attention if things went pear shaped, and their prayers were answered.
29 Jun 2009, 17:17 pm
Yoh !!!
No Mercy from the KEO Clan !
Bloody Marvelous !
I say we call a 99 next week , stuff the whitewash
The fact that our players stood back on Sat is a credit to their focus and dicipline to secure the series 1st
If the Lions bring the same dirt to next Game i say we bash them
You could see the negative effect on the psyche of players having to stand back
We cant carry that into the Tri Nations , we must go in with Positive Psyche
So Win the Fight 1st on Sat is my call
If that also menas we get a whitewash them Bonus
And make sure januarie is on hand to take out the lions front row
29 Jun 2009, 17:20 pm
#227 Soda:
I think that is a very good article by Will Carling.
29 Jun 2009, 17:23 pm
#232 Murph-YellowCardsforGoodCleaningWhatNext?-RedCardsforScoringTries:
lol
29 Jun 2009, 17:23 pm
#231 katman: I would say some of them wanted something to blame but not all. The Boks definitely deserve far more praise than they’re getting, both keo and PDV are right about that, but Burger let his teammates down and the press were never going to let eye-gouging slide.
29 Jun 2009, 17:26 pm
I agree with CArling
If ROG was on the field from Start we would have lost
29 Jun 2009, 17:30 pm
#221 cab:
Congratulations Cab on a refreshing discourse.
Unfortunately Keo’s (and other’s) bleatings exemplify that it comes from both sides.
One thing being gracious in defeat, another being gratious in winning.
Two brilliant games that went down to the wire. Both could have gone either way.
I for one find more entertainment in close fought encounters rather than one sided games.
29 Jun 2009, 17:32 pm
#227 Soda:
Most sports minded individuals are fair minded.
There’s good and bad in every on both sides.
29 Jun 2009, 17:37 pm
#227 Soda:
I have also read articles by other former players such as Will Greenwood, Keith Wood and Stuart Barnes, and they have also been fair and unbiased, and have mentioned the good play by the Boks as well as their own team. This is in stark contrast to the articles written by nobodies, reporters who have never featured on the rugby field. Their so-called “match reports” whenever England or the Lions lose are nothing but a list of excuses: they blame the referee, the weather, injuries, altitude… in fact anything, but will never ever acknowledge that the opponents played some good rugby and deserved the win. This is not a new thing, we’ve seen it time and again in 6 Nations, the last world cup, and I don’t believe they are man enough to ever change so best we don’t worry about them. Just keep on winning!!
29 Jun 2009, 17:38 pm
#238 Osama – bin OCO: More from Carling:
willc:To all Lions supporters; Let’s take a deep breath, and see it for what it was. A bloody hard game of rugby, where stuff went on – what a surprise!! and we lost a game that we could and should have won. Yes that hurts, like hell, but let’s not go crying and blaming foul play for f**ks sake!
Going back into the dim and distant past, when we played the French and the likes of Blanco, Berbizier, Sella etc, we spent the whole game provoking them into fighting, we stamped on them, punched them, late tackles, early tackles, blatant shoeings – the lot!! We managed to get them to fight and not play rugby – I do not hear too much complaining on here about those days and those tactics????????? That was fine them was it????
Rugby is a hard game, that is why it is so great. Yes the Boks put it about yesterday, and apart from the eye-gouging, which if proved correct has no place on a rugby pitch – the rest of it is part of the game. If I was playing, you would love to get stuck into that, get a f**king great hit in late on one of them, etc etc. It is what gets the blood going.
So as I said at the beginning, yes it is hard to take a loss like that, the last kick of the game after the team played with such pride, but take it we must without making excuses. End of
29 Jun 2009, 17:54 pm
#240 Soda:
Thanks Soda, as PdV says (OK I’ll paraphrase ‘cos PdV doesn’t have the menatl aptitude to do so himself) – ‘Contact sports are not for the feint hearted’
What many of the bloggers fail to comprehend is that they are whinging more than the whingers themselves.
Problem is most of the bloggers (and even commentators) haven’t experienced a ‘hard fought match’ outside of couch rugga (and they still lost!
There are sportsmen and those who never made it. It’s easy to tell the difference, less whinging.
29 Jun 2009, 18:24 pm
#152 Viscount Crouchback: Hehehe we saffers are an angry bunch aren’t we?
You wouldn’t say we just won a Lions series….jeez….I must say all this negativity is a bit of a downer!
29 Jun 2009, 18:40 pm
Keo
It must have hurt you something awful 12 years ago that you write such spiteful tosh.
Anybody would think that SA lost the way you are so ungracious in victory.
It was a great test match marred only by a very talented player for SA doing something completely unnecessary 1 minute into the game.
Other than that it was one of the best games I have seen in ages and it’s not often I say that when I lose.
Big congrats to the Boks, Great nerve and resolve to come back to win
Rugby has always been about toughness on the pitch and sporting off.
Maybe you should take up writing about football just before the WC.
29 Jun 2009, 19:10 pm
And winners (like PDV) cannot be winners on this site.
Keo you and your lot are pathetic. No wonder you guys get shafted by PDV.
This country has a long way to go before it will change.
Did you guys see News24 poll regarding SA readiness to stage WC.
Only roughly a third of vote agrees our readiness. Swartgevaar negativity based on inherent racist doctrine!
VIVA PDV, No normal sport in an abnormal society is still very much a reality!
29 Jun 2009, 19:16 pm
#240 Soda:
Thats spot on.
Only real point of contention was the eye-gouging, everything else incl Bakkies was just part of the game.
Of course if Burger had been dealt with correctly it would have changed the course and result of the match. Surely that is not in dispute.
If we can look past that misdemeanour – because 15 against 14 always ruins the spectacle – we can remember that it was one of the very best Tests matches we’ve ever seen. And for that we can be thankful.
And whatever amount of bile and spittle has been shed in its wake, it pales in comparison to what would have happened if the shoe had been on the other foot.
29 Jun 2009, 22:08 pm
The reaction of the British press to this Test (and tour) has been, and continues to be, nothing short of appalling. Anyone who stoops to justify this whingeing nonsense is just as pathetic.
I’m especially infuriated by talk of Springbok “bullies” when the vast majority of niggle and dirty **** in both Tests came from British Lions intent on showing how little intimidated they are by the Bok physical challenge. Now, having lost, they all want to carp about how dirty the Boks were. If you can’t take it, don’t start dishing it out. It’s simple as that.
(This excludes Burger’s moment of pure stupidity, which ranks on a level all its own, although if Sheridan had connected with that punch he threw at Bekker’s balls, I’d have something else to say about that.)
29 Jun 2009, 23:44 pm
These Brity Lions are killing me. They keep talking about Schalk yet they had teh opp to win thw match and did not take it. What losers.
29 Jun 2009, 23:46 pm
#235 Big Hit: I agree Big Hit but the lack of sportmanship and after such a great test match is poor form..
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