Wednesday’s top rugby news has Pulver’s thoughts on Ioane, British response to Horwill reprieve, JOC wants the number 10 again and the first test’s referee giving thoughts on his own performance.
[one_half last=”no”]
JOC Yearns for another shot
After a less than happy outing on Saturday night, James O’Connor is dead keen to get his hands on the Wallabies number 10 jersey again. O’Connor went into a fair bit of detail concerning his performance in discussions with the press yesterday. In regards to his poor goalkicking, O’Connor revealed that a slight hamstrng injury had prevented him from doing much practice at all in the build-up to the game.
As for his lack of impact in attack, O’Connor believed that it was down to the fact he “didn’t get as much quality ball as I would have liked in their 50 so I couldn’t really step up and attack.” However despite the setbacks in the first test, O’Connor made it clear that number 10 was the jersey he wanted for Saturday’s second test.
[/one_half]
[one_half last=”yes”]
Referee Pollock 90% Happy
After copping his fair share of criticism over his handling of the first Lions vs Wallabies test, referee Chris Pollock has given his thoughts on how he performed. Speaking to the New Zealand Herald, Pollock said he was “probably 90% happy” with how it went. One of the calls that he thought he did get wrong was the second early penalty against Brian O’Driscoll at the breakdown. Though he rejected suggestions that the Irish legend should have feared contesting at the breakdown following the two early calls against him, saying that he had never been threatened with a yellow card.
As for the brave scrum penalty against the Lions at the death, Pollock preached consistency “If I was happy to make that call in the fifth minute, I’d want to be making it in the 75th”.
[/one_half]
[one_half last=”no”]
ARU Downplay Ioane Issue
“A storm in a teacup” is how ARU head honcho Bill Pulver has described Digby Ioane’s legal troubles as more details have emerged. Speaking yesterday, Pulver stated that if Ioane had shown up to the scheduled court date in relation to a scuffle in Victoria over an iPhone, the likely result would have been a small fine to be donated to charity.
Conflicting reports have emerged about exactly how Ioane came to miss his court date. Some outlets are reporting that Ioane informed people at the Reds who then failed to follow it up, whilst others are saying that Ioane neglected to tell anyone at all. Whatever the case, at least publicly, the ARU does not appear too fussed.
[/one_half]
[one_half last=”yes”]
Incredulous response to Horwill Clearing
Perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly, British press outlets and former players have reacted quite strongly against Wallabies captain James Horwill being cleared of a stamping charge. The evidence against Horwill was described as “damning” by The Daily Mail who also cobbled together the opinions of a bunch of ex-lions. The main conspiracy theory held that this was the latest in a long line of Southern Hemisphere teams getting away with murder against the Lions, joining the illustrious company of Mealamu & Umaga in ’05 and Burger in ’09.
Former Lions hooker Brian Moore even felt it necessary to charmingly describe the man responsible for the verdict Nigel Hampton as a “f****** idiot” on twitter. Unfortunately no insight from Sir Clive as yet.
[/one_half]
