To all of the Lions supporters who’ve been in Australia for the last six weeks, thanks for coming and I hope you have a safe and enjoyable trip home. We’ve enjoyed having you. One of my favourite quotes is ‘rugby is far too trivial a thing to lose friends over’.
The wash up – opinion
The results are in, the disagreements have been had but, ultimately, the Lions won the third test. Here are some of my takeaways from the aftermath.
The Lions press came out for Carlo Tizzano this week which in my view just shows how myopic they have been in this entire tour. I spend a fair bit of time travelling for work and listen to a lot of home nations rugby pods as a result.
James Haskell calling for him to be red-carded. “Only bit of foul play and nonsense in that incident was the Australian player diving,” he told The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast. “That should have been red-carded because that is utter c***.”
Former Wales and Lions captain Sam Warburton directed a similar accusation at Tizzano, as he wrote in his column for The Times that the Western Force player had “made a real meal of it”. “[It’s] something I really don’t like,” he added. “I appreciate that the contact may have been on the shoulder/neck line but additional simulation is something we don’t want in the game.”
I have lost all respect for both of these w@nkers after these comments. It goes to show how little they know of the southern game and the Australian players as that’s not how Tizzano plays the game. The Euro pods during all of the games haven’t mentioned the members of the Australian teams at all,this failure to build narrative is poor IMHO. I expected better.
‘Huge honour’: Jo Yapp excited to see Wallaroos execute growth in home soil swansong
Jo Yapp hasn’t had much time to reflect on her time as Wallaroos coach, being deep in the day-to-day ‘whirlwind’ of preparing the side for the Rugby World Cup. Her two year stint has come with a maiden title on the field and women’s pathways progressing towards full professionalism off the field.
However, as she prepares to lead the team in her final match on Australian soil against Wales, Yapp took the time to acknowledge the growth of the side over the last few years, as well as her own growth in her first stab as a head coach.
“It’s gone really quick,” Yapp said to reporters at the team announcement presser. “I suppose I haven’t really looked at it like that in terms of it being the last game here, because obviously the next job is the World Cup. But it’s been a whirlwind. And on a personal level, I’ve learned huge amounts from people over here who have been super welcoming. I just absolutely love working with this playing group.
“It’s been awesome to see them grow individually and collectively. I’ve really enjoyed working with this staff team too, it’s been a huge honour to have coached over here. They’re a really special group of young ladies, not just on the field, but off the field as well. They’re amazing role models. And to be able to coach them and learn from them as well has been really special.”
Yapp has made several changes to the side that lost to Wales at Ballymore last week, welcoming back the likes of Maya Stewart who has been sidelined since May. However, the biggest change comes in the halves – Samantha Wood will start alongside Faitala Moleka with Layne Morgan being rotated back to the bench.
“It’s awesome to have Maya back,” the head coach added. “She’s a really good player, but she brings loads of energy as a person as well to the group, so having her back in and training and available this weekend has been great. When you have someone like that who’s scored, I think, eight or nine tries in consecutive games, you’re going to miss that person.
“Sammy’s [Wood] been going really well in training. We’ve been really impressed with her and what Sammy brings in particular, and a strength of hers, is her kicking game. With the conditions likely to be similar to Ballymore, we feel that that adds to us. Then with 10, it’s either been Tia [Hinds] or Tala [Moleka] this season. It’s important for us to have two 10s going into a World Cup rather than if you just play the same 10 for all six tests and then they pick up an injury, then we haven’t prepared ourselves properly. So having Tia and Tala, having those opportunities has been really important for us.”
The change in the side does show a significant growth in depth compared to previous years, with Piper Duck and Michaela Leonard among the players being rotated into the starting side – with Ash Marsters setting to serve as an impact player off the bench. An exciting prospect looms in the front row, with Faliki Pohiva coming back into the side after overcoming a hamstring injury, with Eva Karpani sitting the match out with a back complaint. With both players developing a reputation for strong scrummaging and barnstorming carries, Yapp could look to starting both players together come the commencement of their World Cup campaign in England.
“Obviously, we’re much more fortunate than we were a few years ago, where we just didn’t have that depth,” she added. “Now, we have got a really good depth in terms of props. Now we can pick more tactically in terms of the opposition that we’re playing and the best combinations at any one time. It’s massive because we know that as a team, where we sometimes struggle is the lack of test matches in games compared to, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. So to have players starting to really build that senior experience now and some leadership is really important. They’re leaders on field, but they’re also some of our leaders off field.”
The Wallaroos have been candid about their performance last week, with the Welsh making significant strides forward in their form with a 21-12 win. “There’s no question, we were really disappointed, more so with the performance last week than the result because we didn’t perform to the way we would expect from ourselves,” Yapp explained. “As players and coaches, we were all disappointed. For us, being able to right the wrongs from last week and to develop and to make sure we’re getting ourselves right and sorted going into the World Cup is really important. It’s how you respond… we had some pretty honest reviews on Sunday evening. Then they’ve hit the ground running really well on Monday. They’ve really driven those standards as a playing group, which is what we need to see from them.”
The match will serve as a significant one for Trilleen Pomare, who becomes the second Wallaroo to cross the 40-cap milestone after Ash Marsters crossed the mark last week. With the Wallaroos collectively still to cross the 100 match milestone, her influence on the Wallaroo backline since her 2017 debut has been significant in the context of the team.
“Trill’s sort of got herself back in as a starting player for us at the moment because of that experience, communication and leadership she brings at 12,” Yapp said. When you’ve got here Tia and Tala, who are both really young players, to have that experience with Trill outside them has been really important. She’s really brought that.”
I have the flu so off to bed. Hoss back tomorrow. Go Wallabies.
