Springboks 28 – Lions 25 – but what a game

What a game. It got off to an mazing start – Burger showed himself to be a bit of a thug, possibly cheat with only 30 seconds on the clock. What a really silly decision to gouge Fitzgerald at the first breakdown. He deserved his time in the bin, including the 10 points it cost SA, and he was probably lucky to get back on. However, what better motivation for the Lions, particularly the six other Irishmen who would be palying out of their skin to avenge for what happened to Fitzgerald. This might well have contributed to Kearney’s motivation, but he was immense – catching everything, running at pace, creating great lines. I thought Byrne was good at full back, but Kearney became world class during this game.

The Lions did really well fro most of the game, but the injuries and changes can’t have helped them to sustain the performance from the first half – losing both props and both centres is bound to have an impact on any team, and the compromises made (Jones and Bowe in the centre) weren’t going to help. The Beast was pretty much contained, although SA did take their tries well – both wingers and then a great try on the wing, which ROG wasn’t going to do to much to stop. O’Gara still bemuses me – in the Six Nations, he can be playmaker extrodanaire and never put a foot wrong, but when he is not on song (RWC 2007 ring a bell?) he can be woeful. It wasn’t that he did anything particularly wrong, and I’m not blaming him for the weak tackle resulting in the SA try, or for causing the penalty which let them clinch the game, but I’m sure he’ll want to forget this game pretty quickly. I won’t – a cracker of a game and bad luck Lions. Looking forward to the re-match in 12 years.