Graham Price says the main problem following the Lions’ second-Test win is the law book
The Wales prop legend has been a regular contributor to WalesOnline and the Wales on Sunday for a number of years
I must admit all the controversy over the last-ditch match-winning Lions try made me chuckle somewhat. I cast my mind back to my own playing days when Wales played against Australia on tour in 1978.
The referees were not neutral in those days and there are plenty of anecdotes about incidents that involved the referees favouring Australia.
John Taylor tells a great story from the Wales tour to Australia in 1969 where an Australian referee made a decision that infuriated John enough to accuse the referee of being a ‘cheating b*****d’.
Two years later John returned to Australia as a member of the 1971 British and Irish Lions where they played a game against Queensland at the start of the tour. At a function a day or so before the game, the same referee approached John and advised him that he was the referee for the game and he added “by the way, I’m still a cheating b*****d!”
On the Wales tour of Australia in 1978 the referee of our game against Queensland awarded a scrum. Our scrum-half Brynmor Williams asked “is it our ball, ref?” The referee’s response was “no, it’s ours”.
The referee was due to officiate in the first Test match. Our tour management attempted – unsuccessfully – to have him removed. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
We could complain as much as we liked but we were met with accusations of being “Whinging Poms. Get over it.” My usual response was “I’m not a Pom, I’m Welsh!”
Well, I’m sure that’s what I would have said if I hadn’t been on my way to hospital with a fractured jaw!
Now the shoe is on the other foot. They are “whinging Aussies” and they should get over it.
I thought it was rather absurd to accuse our hero, Jac Morgan, of foul play when he was just performing at his skilful best.
When the TMO’s response was in our favour, it turned our Jac into an even bigger hero.
I have no doubt that Carlo Tizzano’s amateurish attempt to fool the referee would have been an influencing factor in the decision making. It would have embarrassed any other team in world rugby.
The main problem is the rule book. It leaves too much to the interpretation. You need to be a Philadelphia lawyer to interpret much of it.
Is there still a rule that says that the ball must be put into the middle of the scrum?
It is a shame that the result of the game and the series should be determined by which question was used by the referee when asking the TMO to review the incident.
Was there any foul play? Obviously there wasn’t.
It was just an example of Morgan demonstrating his superb skills at the breakdown.
What if the question was, “Can you see any reason to disallow the try?” That could have led to the opening of a can of worms.
Anyway, we should not allow that incident to detract from the fact that we won what was a very enjoyable and entertaining game. In doing so, we won the Test series with a game to spare. So you whinging Aussies will just have to get over it.
I expected an improved Australian performance, especially with the availability of Will Skelton and Rob Valetini after their recovery from injury. They both really made an impact while they were on the field.
I realised we would need to provide an 80-minute performance. However, I didn’t for one moment expect it to literally take until the very last seconds.
That speaks volumes for the resolve that is possessed by these Lions and they all had to dig deep.
Although this is not the Aussie team that we have been used to seeing, they have picked themselves up from the seriously underprepared team that we saw in the first Test. But, if we were to have lost on Saturday, we couldn’t have complained.
There was a great atmosphere at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It was more like it should be for a Lions Test match. It must have been an amazing experience being in a stadium that size with 90,000-odd in attendance.
This weekend’s game in Sydney will be a dead rubber and the quality of the game will depend on how the respective teams are able to motivate themselves.
Will the Lions be able to dig deep into their resolve again, motivated by a desire to win a clean sweep of Tests and in doing so become the first Lions tour ever to go through a tour undefeated?
Perhaps Australia will be motivated by a desire to salvage their pride by preventing a whitewash.
Whichever it is, I hope for everyone’s sake that it will not turn into an anti-climax. The team for the third Test needn’t have many changes, if any, to the matchday squad.
A vote of confidence after last week’s heroics would be appropriate.
Alternatively, I would change Tommy Freeman and James Lowe for Blair Kinghorn on one wing and Mack Hansen or perhaps Duhan van der Merwe on the other.
After being disappointed with the scrum in the first Test, I was pleased to see that we dominated their scrum in Melbourne.
However, I didn’t agree with Andy Farrell dropping Ellis Genge to the bench. I believe if you’re the best player in your position, as Genge is, you should be picked to start but, I must say that when Genge came on he was immense.
It was interesting that Farrell did not replace Jamison Gibson-Park, who remained on for the whole game.
This was unfortunate for Alex Mitchell but it allowed the influential Finn Russell and Gibson-Park partnership to remain intact during the crucial second half.
From a Welsh perspective I believe Morgan has done enough to justify being selected to start the third Test and give the Aussies a bit more to whinge about.
At least they will have another 12 years to get over it.
