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'It's an important meeting': Why Lions want to talk to ref Berry
Warren Gatland has revealed he is set for an important meeting on Thursday afternoon to help ensure the Lions get a fair crack of the whip when it comes to the refereeing decisions that will be made in the three-match Test series versus the Springboks which opens this Saturday with Australia’s Nic Berry in charge.
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So far in South Africa, the five Lions matches have been officiated by two South Africans (AJ Jacobs and Jaco Peyper) and an Englishman (Wayne Barnes), but that complexion will now change for the Test series where New Zealander Ben O’Keeffe and Frenchman Mathieu Raynal – touch judges this Saturday – will respectively take charge of the second and third Test games after Berry has had first dibs with the whistle.
Gatland wants to ensure there will be a consistency between the officiating the Lions have encountered so far in their five warm-up matches with what they will encounter in the series. “We have a meeting with the referees tomorrow [Thursday] at 3 o’clock,” he said after confirming the first Test starting line-up comprising a half-dozen England players along with three each from Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
“What has been good with the referees in the lead-up games is we have had meetings with them in terms of debriefing the previous game and looking at the game going forward and trying to get that real consistency of the calls that are being made.
“That will be very much the discussion tomorrow in terms of what he [Berry] has seen in the previous games and we will show some clips just to get some clarity so it’s the same messages that we have had in the warm-up games, are they seeing the same things and refereeing the same things.
Gatland has voiced his anger over his leaked Lions team and vows to do things differently next week for the second Test versus the Springboks #LionsRugby #CastleLionsSeries #RSAvBILhttps://t.co/ke9yx87me9
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 21, 2021
“It’s an important meeting for us tomorrow in terms of just getting that clarity in the way they have seen us from afar and then also the same messages that are being delivered from the three referees we have had in those lead-up games are the same messages.”
Gatland came away from last week’s midweek loss to a star-studded South Africa A team bemoaning how opposition scrum-half Faf de Klerk was only yellow carded for his head contact with Josh Navidi. After initially suggesting it should have been a red card, he accepted the yellow decision after a meeting with the referees prior to Saturday’s win over the Stormers.
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While the Lions were beaten by a South Africa A side containing nine of the same starters they will face this weekend at Springboks, Gatland felt they did enough to dent some egos heading into the Test series.
“In that A game, we were very happy with the way our lineout went and our maul defence and the way we scrummaged. There were a couple of scrums towards the end where we felt we really dominated them. Whether they come with different variations I don’t think so. They will come with a harder approach.
“That is one aspect – we probably dented a little bit of their ego and had that dominance in those two areas that they would have liked. Incredibly impressed with the way we have defended on this tour and continued to improve. We haven’t conceded a lineout maul try, haven’t conceded a pick and go try close to our goal line.
“That is one aspect we have worked really hard on and if we can stop them dominating in those areas they are going to have to go to something else in their game. Definitely, they will kick a lot. When you play South Africa you can expect 40-odd kicks in a game. That aerial battle is going to be key to us.”
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"We're all really proud"
– Two players chosen on May 6 by the Lions as Edinburgh players have been included for Saturday's first Test versus the Springboks as warriors from Worcester #LionsRugby #CastleLionsSeries #RSAvBILhttps://t.co/z4JrndNdGZ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 21, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
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