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'Hindsight is brilliant': Biggar's sharp words for Lions who criticised Gatland
By Ian Cameron
Wales standoff Dan Biggar has questioned why certain British & Irish Lions teammates didn’t speak out during the tour if – as they claim – the leadership of Warren Gatland was so tactically errant.
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Finn Russell and Iain Henderson have both been critical of the Lions’ conservative ‘meet fire with fire’ approach to playing the Springboks, a tactic that ultimately saw the tourist cede the series 2 – 1 to the hosts.
Speaking in an interview in the Daily Mail Biggar, who was Gatland’s choice for the Test series at 10, suggested hindsight was 20:20 version for the teammates who criticized the New Zealand Lions’ guru.
“We all bought into it at the time,” he said. “If they had such a strong opinion about it, maybe they could have voiced it at the time.”
“I’ve never made a mistake watching a game back on a sofa. Hindsight is brilliant; you never make a mistake.
“I think the general consensus of the group was frustration and disappointment. That probably caused some lads to say that.
“But you’re always wise after the event, aren’t you? People are going to do interviews and give their opinions and they are entitled to them, but for me there was just frustration in the group that we couldn’t finish the job after going 1-0 up.”
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Biggar also questioned how good the rugby has been in the Rugby Championship, likening it to the rugby that was panned as boring just two months ago during the Lions tour.
“I was watching the New Zealand-South Africa game last weekend and people were saying what a brilliant game it was, but I didn’t think it was.
“It had intensity and drama, but if you actually looked at the skill level and the style of play, certainly from South Africa, it was very similar (to the Lions series).
“But all of a sudden, because New Zealand were playing, it turned into a brilliant game of rugby, which I didn’t think it was.”
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Latest Comments
Referring to Slade as a ‘forgotten star’ is presumptuous to say the least. Borthwick is going to build a squad that is different in a number of ways to that of Jones and there’s nothing to say that Slade will be excluded. Strong, robust player that can mix it with the best midfielders around from Ireland, France and New Zealand.
Go to commentsI think he means the top 8 winner takes all final is in two months, not the Olympics. But yeah, correct, everything between now & then is virtually practice for the finals weekend.
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