With the release of The Lions 2009 South Africa: Living With The Pride [DVD] DVD on the 19th of October I thought now might be as good a time as any to reflect back on what happened with the British Lions.

I have been lucky enough to interview Phil Vickery (who was promoting his new Raging Bull clothing line) and to attend a charity function held by Wasps that had Ian McGeechan as the guest speaker. Both rugby legends and Lions men were very open and forthcoming in what they had to say about rugby in general and the Lions in particular. I shall be talking about what they had to say a bit in the next week or two but to start with let us focus on one point that I found amazing – the ref in the first Lions test.

Phil Vickery’s Scrummaging

Now we all know Phil Vickery had a torrid time of it in the scrum till he was taken off for Adam Jones, who sured the scrum up.  That change alone (ok, and bringing on the bigger Matthew Rees at hooker) changed the course of the game and almost won the first test for us.  But it was obvious to many that ‘the beast’, the South African loosehead who was doing so much damage to Vickery, was boaring in.  the ref failed to agree.

But it seems he has changed his mind.  When asked about it both Vickery and McGeechan said the same thing.  That, with the ref also a linesman in the 3rd test, Vickery decided to make peace and walked over to him before the game to shake his hand (Geechs suggests that he looked rather worried at this point).  Good for Vickery.  More amazing is what happened after it.

At the function afterwards the ref came up to Phil Vickery and admitted that ‘he may have got a few things wrong at the scrum’, suggesting that he should have been penalizing the beast NOT Vickery.  Both Geechs and Vickery agree on exactly what Vickery said at that point ‘It’s a bit f**king late’.  And he’s not wrong.

How much would things be different if we had a solid scrummaging base to work off in that first half?  We would have conceded less points, got more field position and been in a better position.  It is very likely that we would have won that game, putting us in the position of the next game being for the series, rather than to stay in it (you never know, Ronan O’gara may not have acted like such an idiot if that were the case).

Ever wondered how important a ref is in rugby?  This answers the question nicely I think.

(BTW although it was a charity night it should also be noted that Ian McGeechan is currently doing the rounds promoting his new British Lions book.  Worth a read I’m sure)

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