Mourning the boot of Steyn

Lions Tour 2009 - 27/06/09
South Africa 28, British & Irish Lions 25

A month on tour seems a long time, but this week coming may feel like an eternity. The dreams of a Lions series revival are over, giving insult to injuries left, right and centre in a touring camp ripped apart over a weekend. Adam Jones out. Gethin Jenkins out. Brian O’Driscoll out. The list goes on.

The life of the tour has dissipated with everything else. Elation in contrast for the Boks, albeit a few hiccups with bans to Bakkies Botha at lock and Schalke Burger at blindside denting preparations for the Tri-Nations competition. But, what may be deemed brutal disregard for their opponents health, may be the one thing that beat the Lions overall.

Only an eight-week ban for Burger after the eye-gouging incident on Luke Fitzgerald, the Lions are in uproar that it is not longer. You cannot console with someone who has blatantly attempted to blind an opponent, but if we were to look at it as brutality that comes on the field of play, you would have to say the Boks had the edge all along.

A lack of talent on the Lions bench and Drico and co. flying into everything at one hundred miles an hour to do some damage themselves, it turned out in hindsight that the only damage caused was self inflicted.

The Lions played with the right game plan, the right mentality, and were far better in front of goal than our good friend Piennar. But in a frantic, high-tempered test, the best moments were from the skill of Jones’ back hand pass, Kearney’s elegance taking every high ball under the sun, and the powerful scrummaging of our all-welsh front row.

Instead, patches of over zealous tackling turned what were fantastic moments to watch in the game, into unnecessary set backs in the long haul. Injuries killed the Lions and the boot of Steyn buried them.