Now the good news is that the time period covered, November 7th – 14th, has no games for Munster or Ireland that he is missing. the bad news is that it should already be more, not reduced.

Good Behaviour

Now I understand that John Hayes has had a wonderful disciplinary record until now… and that’s great. But when you intentionally stamp on someones face I think you kind of lose all claims of being a nice guy. And I do believe he intentionally stamped on someones face.

But guess what happens? The committee find that the suitable ban is to expire just before the Autumn Internationals. who would have guessed it? Aside from everyone who has watched the joke that has become rugby’s sanctions anyway.

Aside from Dean Richards ban for bloodgate (which was a tad harsh in my opinion) rugby has made itself a laughing stock with its bans. 8 weeks for shoving your fingers in someones eye, 6 (now 5) weeks for stamping down hard on someoens face.

Seems to me that we aren’t trying to deter foul play, we’re just trying to make sure people see we are doing something before rushing our star names back into action when they are needed. Rugby is facing a massive crisis of public relations, and yet we keep shooting ourselves in a foot.

This ban is a complete joke as far as I am concerned.

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Ok, own up, who didn’t know that?

But this time the news is a little more unusual. Seems you could contract a skin condition known as the dermatitis of muddy wrestling. Sounds exciting doesn’t it? In my experience though mud wrestling is only of interest when done by scantily clad women wearing not very much.

But it could also be a worry for us rugby players.

Find out what I am whittering on about here

So there you have it – rugby is bad for us. Who knew?

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The only change is Prop Jannie du Plessis, the one player in the squad who didnt play against the British and Irish Lions this summer.

Of course the flanker, Shalck Burger, will not make an appearence as he is still serving out his 8 week ban for ‘making contact with the eye area’ in the 2nd test against the British Lions.

It is a very powerful looking squad that could take some stopping. The question is will they be playing like the side that took control against the Lions and dominated, or will they play like the side that got taken apart in the 2nd half of the first test and the first half of the 2nd?

South Africa Squad

Forwards: Andries Bekker, Bakkies Botha, Heinrich Brussow, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Ryan Kankowski, Victor Matfield, Tendai Mtawarira, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Danie Rossouw, John Smit (captain), Juan Smith, Pierre Spies.

Backs: Jean de Villiers, Fourie du Preez, Jaque Fourie, Bryan Habana, Adrian Jacobs, Ricky Januarie, Ruan Pienaar, J.P. Pietersen, Francois Steyn, Morne Steyn

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According to Toulon’s chairman it was all but a done deal, with only small problems to overcome. But that was on Monday and 5 days is a long time in rugby. It seems that Scrum.com are claiming they have reports that Hernandez is on the verge of signing for South Africa’s Super 14 side – Natal Sharks.

Hernandez

Hernandez is certainly one of the biggest stars in world rugby at the moment. Despite their high position in the world rankings, and a 3rd place finish in the 2007 rugby world cup, Argentina’s players are, in the main, quite low profile compared to other countries’ stars.

However this is not the case for Juan Hernandez, who many consider to be one of the best players in the world, whether at 10 or his more usual 15 position. His signing is a significant one for any rugby side and it comes as no surprise to see that teams are fighting over him (Another Super 14 side, Western Province, are also understood to have been interested).

He will be bringing quality to whatever side he plays for, and, from a personal point of view, I would love to see what he can do in the Super 14 competition. But the transfer is not done yet, and where French rugby teams are involved there always seems to be bit of a saga – let’s see if this one has any more twists

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Rugby World Cups

There was a strong feeling in New Zealand that the 1 – 1 draw was the final straw for Henry, following on from the defeat to France in 2007. New Zealand have long been considered the strongest rugby team in the world, but the failure to win the World Cup since they did so on home soil in 1987 has cost many an All Blacks coach his job.

But Graham Henry now gets the chance to repeat that home win in 2011, with the World Cup being hosted, controversially, by New Zealand. Controversially because many people felt the Japanese bid was the stronger one, and better for the game, but various deals meant that New Zealand were able to secure the cup.

Graham Henry also gets to keep his backroom coaching staff intact, with Steve Hansen (a fellow ex-Wales rugby coach) and Wayne Smith also having their contracts renewed.

My Opinion

Personally I think it is a good thing. Graham Henry, like any coach, has made mistakes. But always under him the Kiwi side has been powerful, adventurous and, in the main, winning. One small loss to France in a quarter final they dominated should never have been enough to get him sacked, and nor should one loss to the same team when half the All Black first team was out injured, including their two most important players.

This contract is make or break for Henry though. Win in 2011 and he will go down in kiwi folklore as a legend. Lose and he will be the man who cost them a home world cup win.

It’s a fine line he’s walking now.

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Martin Johnson has decided that there is no place for Paul Sackey. Banahan, the truly massive Bath winger, instead gets a place after impressing over the summer.

Mr brittle bones, Jonny Wilkinson, is back in the fold. We can only hope that he survives French rugby (after him move to Toulon) better than he has done in the Guinness Premiership. It would be great to see him playing international rugby again. his place in the main EPS means no squad place for Danny Cipriani, with Kelly Brooks boyfriend again having to settle for a place in the Saxons squad.

Disappointed to see Robshaw is only with the Saxons, he has been superb all season. Even more disappointed to see David Strettle there. Strettle is one of the few wingers around that can truly change a game with a moment of magic. He offers something different that frankly no other English winger can.

Great to see Joe Simpson and especially Dominic Waldouck still with the Saxons, he has a huge amount of talent. Indeed there are a number of talented youngsters in that set up.

Some interesting choices for the squads. Wonder how much movement we will see between the squads, and from outside it, this season. More than alloted I think.

ENGLAND SENIOR ELITE PLAYER SQUAD:

FORWARDS

George Chuter (Leicester Tigers)
Jordan Crane (Leicester Tigers)
Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers)
Steffon Armitage (London Irish)
Steve Borthwick (Saracens)
Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers)
Nick Easter (Harlequins)
Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)
Ben Kay (Leicester Tigers)
Lee Mears (Bath Rugby)
Tim Payne (London Wasps)
Tom Rees (London Wasps)
Simon Shaw (London Wasps)
Andrew Sheridan (Sale Sharks)
Phil Vickery (London Wasps)
Julian White (Leicester Tigers)
David Wilson (Bath Rugby)
Joe Worsley (London Wasps)

BACKS

Riki Flutey (CA Brive)
Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon)
Delon Armitage (London Irish)
Matt Banahan (Bath Rugby)
Danny Care (Harlequins)
Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks)
Harry Ellis (Leicester Tigers)
Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers)
Dan Hipkiss (Leicester Tigers)
Paul Hodgson (London Irish)
Ugo Monye (Harlequins)
Olly Morgan (Gloucester Rugby)
Mathew Tait (Sale Sharks)
Mike Tindall (Gloucester Rugby)

ENGLAND SAXONS SQUAD

FORWARDS

Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)
Alex Corbisiero (London Irish)
Nick Kennedy (London Irish)
Richard Blaze (Leicester Tigers)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)
Matthew Mullan (Worcester Warriors)
Tom Mercey (Saracens)
Lewis Moody (Leicester Tigers)
Luke Narraway (Gloucester Rugby)
David Paice (London Irish)
Chris Robshaw (Harlequins)
Will Skinner (Harlequins)
George Skivington (London Wasps)
Dan Ward-Smith (London Wasps)
Rob Webber (London Wasps)
Nick Wood (Gloucester Rugby)
Ben Woods (Leicester Tigers)

BACKS

Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby)
Brad Barritt (Saracens)
Danny Cipriani (London Wasps)
Ben Foden (Northampton Saints)
Shane Geraghty (Northampton Saints)
Topsy Ojo (London Irish)
Stephen Myler (Northampton Saints)
Paul Sackey (London Wasps)
Joe Simpson (London Wasps)
David Strettle (Harlequins)
Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins)
Sam Vesty (Leicester Tigers)
Dominic Waldouck (London Wasps)
Richard Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks)
Micky Young (Newcastle Falcons)

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The players, the management and everyone involved can walk away from this tour with their heads held high. Mistakes were made, and we shouldn’t be too quick to gloss over the fact that we lost the series, we did – mistakes were made by players and management. But overall we can take great pride in what our Lions did, and perhaps more importantly, how they behaved.

The South Africans can’t say the same thing.

The South African Union

From beginning to end the South African Rugby Union has brought controversy and disgrace upon itself. The half empty stadiums are not, as some people in the UK might believe, because the South Africans no longer have a love affair with the Lions or rugby in general. It is because the South African Rugby Union thought that there was a lot of money to be made – and ended up pricing a lot of the South African rugby fans out of the stadiums.

Few South Africans could afford to go to the games, and if they could only afford one would they choose a test or a provincial warm up game? Exactly.

The Union also refused to allow their international players to play in the warm up games – avoiding the big clashes and potential shock upsets that could easily have come had the Super 14 teams had their top players. Instead the Lions had to take on teams devoid of the players that made them amongst the best non-international sides in the world. But of course that didn’t effect the ticket prices.

Gouging

The gouging affair said a lot. Shalk Burger should have had the book thrown at him. Remember Alun Quinlan was banned from the tour, with a 12 week ban for gouging, in a far less blatant move than Shalks did. And of course it wasn’t just the ban – it was an obvious red card and the linesman said so, then backed down from making the call so early in a big game and the ref agreed – these are meant to be top level officials who know the rules… but obviously they don’t have the balls to make the right calls in the game.

We shouldn’t blame the South African Union for the failings of the officials. Shalck should be widely condemned for what he did – that it happened so early in the game said a lot for the attitude he entered the game with – to hurt and cheat. But did they leap in to condemn him, or even just keep a silence? No. Peter De Villiers moaned about people moaning and said such things were part of the game, that rugby isn’t ballet dancing.

I am glad that the Lions coaches decided to tackle the issue head on rather mince around with politically correct, not condemning the opposition style of things. Graham Rowntree and Sean Edwards both criticized De Villiers for his comments, as did players of the standing of Brian O’Driscoll. There is no excuse for gouging ever, and, as Graham Rowntree pointed out – if it is part of the game what parent in their right mind would allow a child to risk their sight just to play a sport – we would lose all our top young sports people to football.

So did Peter De Villiers apologize for his comments? Eventually he was bullied into doing so by his Union when the IRB and the press made such a big issue of it that he had no choice – and even then it was made clear that it was for legal reasons he was apologizing.

I had thought John Smit had come through it very well, the South African captain showing his frustration and emotion, but also recognizing what a problem it was as well. But not so by the time we hit the 3rd test.

The 3rd Test

Even before the kick off the 3rd test showed just how little the South Africans cared about British Lions rugby. They announced 10 changes for a game that, whilst being a dead rubber, still contained a lot of passion and interest – especially to the touring Lions fans who paid a lot of money to be there and get the tickets.

Now before you think ‘well it’s up to them’ I want you to remember how the Lions work. They are invited to tour by the host nation. The hosts REQUEST that the British Lions go over on tour, and once accepted (lets face it, pretty much a formality these days) an itinerary is chosen.

But rather than show the team that they requested to be there any sort of honor, the South Africans have treated them like a cash cow the whole way. It is the South Africans that get the ticket money, and think how much extra TV money, sponsor money and merchandising they have made, not forgetting the millions brought into the country by the travelling fans – but without paying any respect to the Lions by picking a first choice team for the 3rd test. If they didn’t want the last test they should have said so. The Lions is not a development opportunity.

Justice for Bakkies.

The 3rd test also saw one of the most petulant rugby acts I have ever seen. No not gouging, but taking a stance of the Bakkies Botha ban.

Bakkies Botha had received a 2 week ban for illegally charging into Adam Jones at ruck time – dislocating the Welsh prop’s shoulder and putting him out of action for a reported 6 months. It should be said I have some sympathy with Bakkies – strong rucking has always been, and should always be, part of the game.

However I was told, in no uncertain terms, that the IRB were cracking down on charging into the rucks this season. We were told by numerous refs before the first few games of the season that the IRB were being very strict on it – and so to must the refs. And if a league 5 social side in Wales are being told that it can be safely assumed that professionals might have had it mentioned to them once or twice. Whether it is right or wrong is a debate for other people – on the field such actions are definitely wrong.

But they happen, Bakkies got a harsh ban but certainly one within the laws of the game. That should have been it. Instead the South African Union, Peter De Villiers and John Smit showed again why they are bringing so much disgrace to rugby.

The South African rugby players tool the field wearing ‘Justice 4 Bakkies’ arm bands. They were trying to make the world bow to their pressure, because they felt one player was hard done by. Think what would happen if this was the case every time a player got banned for harsh reasons. Martin Corry got banned for ‘making contact with the eye’ in a game against the Ospreys, with little actual evidence – should Leicester players have done the same thing with arm bands? How about the Welsh when Gavin Henson received a long ban for attacking a prop – who was actual in the process of taking Gavin out without the ball?

No, rugby players accept and move on – it’s what (sweeping generalization and smug warning coming) separates us from football – we behave with dignity and accept decisions. Not so the South Africans – and remember this is the same team that told us to stop moaning about Burger shoving his fingers into Luke Fitzgerald’s eye socket!

Such actions have no place on a rugby field, and showed just how petulant and pathetic some of South Africa rugby can be. Dirty things happen on the pitch. Violence happens, mistakes happen. So long as we don’t condone it and instead ensure that people are punished and condemned no one can criticize too much. If Peter De Villiers had said the Shalk should never have done what he did and left it there then a lot of this criticism would be bypassed.

But it is not the on the field problems that are the main issue here – at least not in a traditional sense. The South Africans won a very tough series by punishing Lions mistakes more than the Lions punished South African ones. It is the off the field, and the non-rugby issues that have become the main talking points of the tour.

That is a shame, but for me the biggest shame lands at the feet of the South African Rugby Union. As far as I am concerned they have brought the game into a lot of disrepute. The IRB should be asking them some very tough questions.

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Gouging is one of THE most evil things that a player can do on the rugby field. It is VERY dangerous, it is invasive and it can have severe repercussions on a players health outside of the rugby pitch.

The fact is that it was blatant that Schalk was intentional in what he was doing, lining his fingers up and then shoving them in the eyes of Fitzgerald. Such an attack is, in my opinion, nothing short of assault.

I am far too angry to make this a fully coherent rant so let me say this one thing…

Schalk could have blinded Fitzgerald very easily by performing such actions, how would we then have reacted. Just because Fitzgerald escapes serious injury does that mean Schalk Burger escapes serious punishment.

The intent was there and he should be condemned accordingly.

An evil, evil attack that has not been dealt with anything like as harshly enough.

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It seems that the Lions management have backed their tactics to work, and have selected a bench to compliment that. Fair enough, always good to have the courage of your convictions, and I can see the reasoning. If there is an injury in the starting line up it is always useful to be able to bring on like for like replacements.

But one look at that starting XV confirms one thing for me, they are going to play ‘Team Wales’ tactics. Basically try run the opposition ragged, hit hard and often and use big runners like Roberts and Heaslip to smash them backwards. And don’t expect us to kick for touch, everything is going infield with the chasing defensive line used as an offensive weapon.

It has done well for Wales. It won one grandslam and poor as Wales have been this year they were about 1 meter from a triple crown and if Martyn Williams hadn’t gotten his shirt just caught in the last minutes they could well have won against France out in Paris as well.

But the French, and to a lesser degree the English, game has shown what a problem it can be just having the one tactic. Yes Wales beat England but they could have made it much easier on themselves if they recognized that England were using Worsely to target Powell and Roberts and so varied the tactics, they didn’t.

Concern

And that’s my concern here. The side has the same feel to it that the welsh sides have, a mobile but hard hitting pack, a big hitting 12 and a big kicking 15 – as well as a 9 who doesn’t need much protection and an 8 who loves to carry and offload.

But what if the tactics don’t work? What if we need to vary things? The bench doesn’t give us much by way of options. Martyn Williams will be a change from Wallace, sacrificing some ball carrying for better work on the ground and link up play. Adam Jones would slightly improve the breakdown from Phil Vickery, again at the loss of some ball carrying skills. But Dermot O’Callaghan is just as straight swap for Alun-Wyn Jones of Paul O’Connell, Ronan O’Gara is a straight swap for Stephen Jones, Rob Kearny is again a straight swap for Lee Byrne, though could also replace Monye or Bowe, at loss of finishing skills – whilst Harry Ellis is just rubbish.

The loss of James Hook for this test is a big blow, even if he will be back for the next two. He is a player that can make a difference from the bench. He has a bigger goal kicking range than either Stephen Jones or Ronan O’Gara, and he can implement far more of an attacking running game than either of the other two. Yes he doesn’t have the same control they can impose on the game but when you are chasing points after the tactics have failed he is the man you want.

Shane Williams may not be on form, but he is another that can change things when you are chasing a game, capable of scoring tries from nothing. When you need tries you need game breakers, and even off form ickle Shane is one who can do this.

I am also surprised to see O’Callaghan there instead of Nathan Hines. I would have thought that Hines’ ability to play 6 would give him the nod for the bench. Tom Croft is an exceptionally talented blindside, a great athlete and lineout operator. But if we need to close a game off his lack of strength at the break down might be costly. Bringing Hines off the bench would mean adding real bulk and power to the backrow, at no loss of lineout ability. Yes he is less athletic, but he is a player that can really meet the South Africans at their own game.

As I said, I am happy with the first XV, only one change or two from what I would pick. But is the bench good enough should we need to change things? I don’t think so. So we need to hope that Ian McGeechan, Warren Gatland and co have got their tactics right first time around.

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A good choice in my opinion. Personally I would have gone for Julian White though. Whilst Hayes is the better prop I think that White would be able to slot into teh front row more easily and instantly, important as he will be having very little training time with the squad should injuries mean he be called upon.

Obviously aside from injuries Hayes is not likely to get anywhere near the test XV, with Adam Jones being in superb form and Vickery finding the form of afew years ago that made him one of the best tight heads around. Both are monsters in the loose, Adam at the breakdown and Vickery a superb ball carrier.

Which makes me think again Wbhite would have been better. With no game time his scrummaging technique could have been a vital fall back position, plus he offers what Murray did, a different dort of tight head, strong scrummaging rather than a monster in the loose.

John Hayes deserves the call as being the better prop. I’m just not sure it is the right one considering the unique position the Lions will find themselves in.

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