# SA win the series in 2 games



## gianni (27 Jun 2009)

Bit of a pity that it's been won in game 2. Poor old O'Gara had a terrible game... came on for last 20 mins and was culpable for the SA try and gave away the last second penalty to give the series win to the Boks.


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## Purple (27 Jun 2009)

I agree about O'Gara; he had a poor tour and then lost the series for the team. 
I hope he gets his act together for Ireland as Johnny Sexton is now breathing down his neck (O'Gara has the experience but Sexton has a great boot and is so much better in defence).


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## baldyman27 (27 Jun 2009)

Not one of O' Gara's finest moments, I feel sorry for him. Fantastic game though.


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## baldyman27 (27 Jun 2009)

Purple said:


> I agree about O'Gara; he had a poor tour and then lost the series for the team.


 
Bit harsh there Purple. I missed tackle and a penalty can't be the sole reason they lost the tour.

I agree with Sexton, he wil be the Irish 10, this season has really seen him come on. Played well in the States too.


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## Purple (27 Jun 2009)

baldyman27 said:


> Bit harsh there Purple. I missed tackle and a penalty can't be the sole reason they lost the tour.


 He was weak as captain in the midweek game and it was his missed tackle that gave SA the try and his stupid foul that gave them the winning penalty. He has been a great player for club and country but he has been very inconsistent and hasn't had a good season for Ireland for two or three years.


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## gianni (27 Jun 2009)

I was roaring at the video ref for awarding the SA try. It was nearly identical to the one Horgan scored against England. Needless to say Horgan's was perfectly legit while the Bok foot was miles in touch...

Ah, the joys of being a biased supporter!


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## Purple (27 Jun 2009)

gianni said:


> I was roaring at the video ref for awarding the SA try. It was nearly identical to the one Horgan scored against England. Needless to say Horgan's was perfectly legit while the Bok foot was miles in touch...
> 
> Ah, the joys of being a biased supporter!


 Horgans one was in touch, the SA one was not. Good Ref.


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## baldyman27 (27 Jun 2009)

Purple said:


> He was weak as captain in the midweek game and it was his missed tackle that gave SA the try and his stupid foul that gave them the winning penalty. He has been a great player for club and country but he has been very inconsistent and hasn't had a good season for Ireland for two or three years.


 
I agree with all this, however, we can't categorically say that he lost the series for the Lions. We also lost the first test.


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## DavyJones (27 Jun 2009)

It was disappointing but a great contest to watch.

To blame one player for the lose of the series is nonsense. Far too many variables to pin point it to one moment. There was still a lot of work to do to score the try after the missed tackle. O Gara can't be blamed for last weeks preformance. He made mistakes but plenty of mistakes had been made by the Lions. These mistakes combined, lost them the series over the two games.


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## gebbel (27 Jun 2009)

gianni said:


> I was roaring at the video ref for awarding the SA try. It was nearly identical to the one Horgan scored against England. Needless to say Horgan's was perfectly legit while the Bok foot was miles in touch...
> 
> Ah, the joys of being a biased supporter!



You need to look at it again. It was a perfectly legit try. The bok foot that was miles in touch was not the try scorer's foot. Great game. We Irish have got to have sympathy for Ronan O'Gara.


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## Purple (28 Jun 2009)

DavyJones said:


> To blame one player for the lose of the series is nonsense.


 He lost the game, that lost the series. It might have been different but it wasn't.


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## DavyJones (28 Jun 2009)

Purple said:


> He lost the game, that lost the series. It might have been different but it wasn't.



Was it Damien Duff's fault thet Newcastle got relagated? He scored the OG that lost them the game that saw them go down?

It is sometimes far too easy to point the finger at one player in a team sport. The collective team must take responsibility for losing and winning.


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## Purple (28 Jun 2009)

DavyJones said:


> Was it Damien Duff's fault thet Newcastle got relagated? He scored the OG that lost them the game that saw them go down?


 Not the same as a three game series now is it?



DavyJones said:


> It is sometimes far too easy to point the finger at one player in a team sport. The collective team must take responsibility for losing and winning.


 His team were winning 'till he missed a tackle and were drawing 'till he fouled. That lost the game and therefore the series.

O'Gara has been a great servant of Munster and Irish rugby. Nobody will be harder on him than himself. On his day he has won more than one match but as a Lion his place kicking was nowhere near his usual standard and his defensive play (never a strong point) was brutal. 
I felt, and still feel, very sorry for him but the fact remains that two key screw-ups by him cost his team the game. They may well have gone on to lose the last game anyway but that's a moot point at this stage.


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## MrMan (28 Jun 2009)

Purple said:


> He lost the game, that lost the series. It might have been different but it wasn't.


 
His mistakes resulted in SA taking advantage and scoring 10 points. Lions lost 28-25, so there were others that were culpable for a further 18 points.He didn't play at all in the first test that was also lost. 
It makes absolutley no sense to blame the man for losing the series.

the Damien Duff analogy is quite apt as had Newcastle won that one game they would have stayed up.


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## baldyman27 (29 Jun 2009)

Purple, I will dissect your last backtracking post tomorrow. Your usual brilliant rationale has come through finally. Chateauneauf prevents my sensible post tonight. 'Til the morrow sir!


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## Purple (29 Jun 2009)

baldyman27 said:


> Chateauneauf prevents my sensible post tonight.


 Is there a better reason? 

In fairness to O’Gara he was injured within minutes of entering the game on Saturday.
He is still bleeding internally from the back of his eye, I hope he’s OK.


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## elefantfresh (29 Jun 2009)

> Was it Damien Duff's fault thet Newcastle got relagated?



Hard to know WHO to blame for the mess that that is


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## Firefly (29 Jun 2009)

O'Gara's defence is pretty poor at number 10..having him on as a centre just opened things up for the Boks. The last penalty was unfogiveable though..he should have passed it out to Tommy Bowe


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## MrMan (29 Jun 2009)

Nobody knows what went through his mind, he has done the right thinbg on enough occassions to win to warrant a little bit of perspective here. To say it was unforgiveable is way off the mark.


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## TarfHead (29 Jun 2009)

If it had been a player from another country who had commited the errors that ROG did, would we Irish have been so forgiving ?

The series was lost over 160 minutes and a myriad of incidents. To narrow it down to 2 incidents and one individual is to betray a tabloid level of understanding of sport.


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## Firefly (29 Jun 2009)

I think it was unforgiveable - kicking ahead was OK as his team were in front of him. He knew the Boks player was getting the ball - either slow down and nail him when he lands or get out of the way.


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## Sunny (29 Jun 2009)

Firefly said:


> I think it was unforgiveable - kicking ahead was OK as his team were in front of him. He knew the Boks player was getting the ball - either slow down and nail him when he lands or get out of the way.


 
The guy had one eye. For God's sake people, he made a mistake. It's sport, it happens. To say it is unforgivable is an English media reaction to sport in that they always need a scapegoat in defeat. I thought Irish fans were different but I guess not.


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## Sunny (29 Jun 2009)

A bit of prespective from Stuart Barnes


But what about the reputation of those Lions who did not excel on the day? Ronan O' Gara has come in for a huge amount of vitriol and must wonder if all he has achieved counts for anything after a missed tackle for the Fourie try and the penalty conceded in the last seconds of the game. The Munster man will be devastated enough without any one else needing to remind him of the repercussions but probably is man enough not to seek excuses. 
There is one and a bloody big one and that is the fact that he was knocked halfway to Mozambique attempting to tackle the runaway bull, Pierre Spies. He was being treated on the floor in the build up to the try and pulled himself groggily to his feet when his body was screaming to stay down. Now he will wish he hadn't made the effort. No he does not deserve the abuse anymore than Phil Vickery did the week before. These are both fine players whose reputations should not be damaged any more than Ian McGeechan's by the events of the past fortnight, for it was the legendary Lions coach who got the front row selection wrong for the first test (I am not going to criticise h ere because that would be nothing but smart arsed hindsight) and it he who opted for O' Gara over Hook. 
Mistakes happen and the repercussions run through the entire camp. In the end it was not so much a single individual that cost the Lions but an opposition with more power in depth and an iron will to win.


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## Caveat (29 Jun 2009)

Sunny said:


> In the end it was not so much a single individual that cost the Lions but an opposition with more power in depth and an iron will to win.


 
And let's not forget, they are the current world champions - and are still regarded as the best team in the world at the moment by most observers.


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## Purple (29 Jun 2009)

The up side from an Irish point of view is that Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald have emerged as two world class players. With Earls (bad tour but a great player for the future) and Sexton etc we are seeing that maybe the golden generation may go on a while longer. O’Driscoll is playing as good, and possible better, than ever (lions player of the tour so far?) and should have a few seasons left, even if it’s on the wing.


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## Firefly (29 Jun 2009)

Purple said:


> O’Driscoll is playing as good, and possible better, than ever (lions player of the tour so far?) and should have a few seasons left, even if it’s on the wing.


 
+1. He is class. You could put him anywhere on the pitch and he'd be OK.


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## DavyJones (29 Jun 2009)

Purple said:


> The up side from an Irish point of view is that Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald have emerged as two world class players. With Earls (bad tour but a great player for the future) and Sexton etc we are seeing that maybe the golden generation may go on a while longer. O’Driscoll is playing as good, and possible better, than ever (lions player of the tour so far?) and should have a few seasons left, even if it’s on the wing.



Kearney s probably the best young Irish player at the moment , so assured and a great kicker.Seems to love the big games, I've seen him have some stinkers in the CL. Fitz should have been given more of a chance, but a fine player. Bowe also proved himself as an international wing.

I've always liked Sexton, so hopefully he fulfills his promise sooner rather than later.

O Driscoll's secret this season has been his ability to stay free of injury, It's probably his first season ever doing so. Real class act and would walk onto any international side, even now.

Don't think he has the legs to be a winger though.


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## Kine (29 Jun 2009)

DavyJones said:


> Don't think he has the legs to be a winger though.


 
A MASSIVE +1 to this. Bowe just about has the legs for it, BOD sure as hell doesn't.


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## MrMan (29 Jun 2009)

Purple said:


> The up side from an Irish point of view is that Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald have emerged as two world class players. With Earls (bad tour but a great player for the future) and Sexton etc we are seeing that maybe the golden generation may go on a while longer. O’Driscoll is playing as good, and possible better, than ever (lions player of the tour so far?) and should have a few seasons left, even if it’s on the wing.


 
Agreed, and it was nice to see Earls pick himself up to score twice after the first game as it can only do him good for the future. If he followed up with poor displays it could have knocked him back for awhile.


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