The Lions concerns Gatland will raise at this week's refs meeting
Warren Gatland has outlined he will be speaking to the referees at this week’s pre-Test meeting about the stop-start nature of play in the Lions versus Springboks series ahead of the third-game decider in Cape Town this weekend. French official Mathieu Raynal, a touch judge for the opening two Test matches, will be on the whistle for the series decider and Lions boss Gatland is hoping that his team isn’t put through the wringer in the same frustration fashion that unfolded in their dreary 27-9 defeat last weekend.
According to Opta, the ball in play time for the opening half was just 16 minutes and 28 seconds, a figure reduced to 14 minutes and one second in the second period. The halves, though, took a respective one hour, two minutes and 30 seconds and 53 minutes and 26 seconds to play.
Asked about how long last weekend’s Lions match took to reach its conclusion and how limited the ball in play time was, Gatland said: “There are two things there – one is keeping the ball and also talking to the officials about making sure we keep the game flowing.
“We found every scrum there was an injury slowing the game down, there were something like 14 minutes TMO time in the game and it was really stop-start and that made it frustrating for us. We want to keep the tempo of the game up to get the ball quickly out of scrums and lineouts to play and to get a flow and South Africa at the moment don’t want to do that. Everything is so stop-start that it does make it frustrating.
“I know Alun Wyn Jones was talking to the referee on a number of occasions about keeping the game flowing. We had stud changes, we had TMO reviews, we had the referee stopping the game for cramp. That will be one of the things I will talk to the referees this week when we discuss how we need to make sure that we can’t have 60-odd minute halves. It’s important that we keep the flow of the game from a spectator point of view. We want to see some pretty good rugby and we didn’t see some great rugby played at the weekend.
"They have inadvertently dragged us into it"
– Lions vs Springboks series row takes yet another fresh twist #CastleLionsSeries #LionsTour2021 #LionsRugbyhttps://t.co/heZOgAWrKp
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 3, 2021
“It would help if there weren’t players going down for injuries on a regular basis, stopping,” added Gatland, who has named a starting XV containing six changes. “You want that flow in the game and we have seen from other games where we have had tempo that we have played some really good rugby, and it was very frustrating for us and particularly Alun Wyn on the weekend. He was talking to the referee on a number of occasions asking to speed up and you could hear the ref through his mic encouraging both teams to keep the flow of the game going because it was so slow.
“We definitely want some tempo. How long the halves have been, how little minutes in play that we are actually getting, it’s definitely something that is not to our advantage and we need to work on that and make sure we definitely try to keep that tempo up this weekend.”
Why Gatland's Lions XV now very much has a dominant Welsh look, and why it's Finn and not Faz as the reserve out-half #CastleLionsSeries #LionsTour2021 #LionsRugby
https://t.co/6y6Xj8f0jZ— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 3, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
A wallaby front-row of Bell, Blake and Tupou…now that would be hefty
1 Go to comments“But with an exceptional pass accuracy rating “ Which apart from Roigard is not a feature of any of the other 9s in NZ. Kind of basic for a Black 9 dont.you. think? Yet we keep seeing FC and TJ being rated ahead of him? Weird if it’s seen as vital to get our backline beating in your face defences.
1 Go to commentsThanks BeeMc! Looks like many teams need extra time to settle from the quadrennial northern migration. I think generally the quality of the Rugby has held up. Fiji has been fantastic and fun to watch
13 Go to commentsLets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
11 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
10 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
11 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
24 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
10 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
35 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
35 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
17 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to comments