Kath Muir's Lions Tour blog: June/July

Well once again congratulations on an excellent 3-0 Test Series Win to the All Blacks. The Lions I am sure are away now to lick their wounds none more so than Sir himself. He seems to be on a different planet to the rest of us and we are all quite relieved that he is now involved with soccer.


I felt I must share the following jokes with you apologies in advance if you have heard them. This was from one of our fans:
What's your wife trying to tell you if she's wearing a lion's shirt in bed?
You ain't going to score....ever!!

There are only 2 things that can be seen by the naked eye from space, the first is the great wall of china...the second is the gap in the Lions' defence.

And finally, our Lions2005 site won best site of the month for June from sportnetwork.net (see link at foot of page) - had to laugh, as this is the only thing the Lions have won this series. Well done the All Blacks.

9.7.05
Hello again. After much debate and the knife going into Sir Clive big style, fans here have finally decided that he has lost the plot. He did not pick players on form, the style of play was wrong, he relied too much on his old England guard and the Spin Doctor was a big mistake, the list is endless. More to the point many feel he has ruined the Lions ethos. We have a poll running at the moment as follows:

To which Category below has Clive Woodward done the most harm on this Tour?
England 7 per cent
Ireland 0 per cent
Scotland 2 per cent
Wales 21 per cent
Lions Ethos 37 per cent
Himself 24 per cent
The Game of Rugby 8 per cent
Number of votes: 218

The best of it is, we still have Sir Clive saying things like: - "Personally I believe it has been a successful tour - unless you judged it on the basis of winning the Test series." Many Lions fans back home are very bitter but they are hoping for a good final test, we need something to lift our spirits but as usual may the best team win.

3.7.05
Wonderful performance and awesome team - the Lions beaten by a much better side and good luck to you all out in New Zealand. Good Luck for 2007 RWC - very well played. Whilst the Lions did put in a much better showing this week, the All Blacks just moved up a gear and showed the world how to play rugby at the highest level. Is it possible for you to get stronger - oh my lord surely not! Have to say I am really looking forward to seeing England play them in November at Twickenham. Mind you, on that performance today, I don't think we stand a chance.  Why do I get the feeling that this will be a complete whitewash of the Lions, off to drown my sorrows, well done again.  

29.6.05
The Lions team is out for the second test and our leader has made sweeping changes. Not before time some fans feel! Good to see Henson and Williams being given the chance and as one fan puts it, "11 changes, 4 of which are positional, at least SCW has rectified his 1st test aberration". One thing we all hope for is a much more competitive game from the Lions to restore some Pride! On another tack it makes me wonder after you tot up the 45 players + replacements, 30 assistants all at a rough total cost of £9m. Money does not work! Skills and passion do, along with a sensible coach of course!

27.6.05
First of all, congratulations to the All Blacks, they out thought the Lions, out played the Lions and won with a wonderful display of rugby, especially in those dreadful conditions. On the downside, captain Brian O'Driscoll is out of the game for six months at least. Anyone who is a true rugby fan is incensed at the tackle and the decision clearing, in fact they have lost respect for the authorities and the players who perpetrated the tackle. The following just about sums it up the bitterness being felt by fans here:
"Any forecast for how many of our guys they'll crock? How many spear tackles do you think we'll see next week? Three yesterday - the one on O'Driscoll counts as two, since it was done by two players. I reckon they'll go for five, at least. And then there's the trip. I'm sure Umaga will be trying to improve a feeble count of one. Let's see, though - AB skipper carries out two spear tackles and a trip. Perhaps that's not such a bad day's work, after all." This is going to rumble on now and it was all so unnecessary and very sad.

23.6.05
Sir Clive has said that the "Welsh are the heartbeat of the team" and with this in mind has made sure that the 16th Man was none other than Welshman Leo the Lion. Originally from Kansas but now adopted he has all his Welsh nationality papers. As the 16th Man he is a versatile utility player and only missed one match due to Captain Corry not having his glasses on. His relatives are missing him but know this is his chance of a lifetime. (See link at the bottom of this page to the story on Kath's website.) 

21.6.05
Oh Woe is Us! – Some very unhappy campers at the moment especially the Welsh ones! A couple of our posters feel that Sir Clive has lost his marbles, they are astounded at the players he has selected for the first Test squad. Many feel he has gone for favourites and not on form as he said he would. And many are hoping that he is playing mind games. My favourite message board heading at the moment by one Welsh fan is "England's Golden Oldies v All Blacks" - Me? I think Sir has a cunning plan, one thing for sure Woodward does not like to lose and he is meticulous in his preparation. Yes, some big names have been relegated to the midweek side but maybe this is all part of the cunning plan? We shall see.

16.6.05
Still some Lions fans not very impressed with that performance, even though the conditions were poor. Some felt: what was the point of putting Jones on and moving Jonny to centre and then letting Wilkinson take the kicks still! I would say playing to your strengths. Sean Fitzpatrick, pundit for Sky, in commentary said he thinks that everyone is being too critical of Wilkinson and that there is more to come from him. One fan countered that Fitz is one of the best pundits around, but he knows as much about fly halves and Rob Andrew does about front rows. So we are all squabbling again – will be back with an update of this soap soon.

14.6.05
Lots of gnashing of teeth by our home fans, recriminations and handbags at dawn with some of them. Had to laugh at one of our online rugby newsreels. They were saying that not many fans turned up in Albany to watch the Lions train. One of the comments from scrum.com was: "A highlight came halfway through the near two-hour session when coach Sir Clive Woodward addressed the crowd, blessing them with the repetitive Lions-speak". And then we hear that the NZ fans were disappointed as they did not see Jonny training! Well this is no surprise as Jonny does not like the limelight. He is a hero and wonderful with the fans signing autographs endlessly but, as one Falcon fan once quipped, we have our very own Greta Garbo.

12.6.05
Well the Lions fans have definitely gone into knee jerk reaction on our message board following the defeat to the Maori. We have comments like: "It was the ref's fault" and "Thompson throws the game away". The real problem however was the breakdown area. This needs to be addressed by the Lions coaching team pronto. Have to say the Maori Haka was spine tingling to watch all these miles away. Well done to them and roll on Wednesday when we get to see what Jonny can do.

11.6.05
With a 54st 10lb front row for the Maori game on Saturday, the question is: Does size really matter? Well according to Sir Clive it does. The answer of course on our message board was much more straight forward – I'm always told that size matters! Unless it's someone with little man syndrome telling me otherwise.

9.6.05
Never mind the game! Phew, this is splashed all over the papers here - Captain Corry forgot the cuddly toy, the lion he usually takes onto the pitch, for the Taranaki game. (For full story see link at foot of page.) How could he do such a thing? Easy by my reckoning, as he was so pumped up - and what a match, shame Taranaki tired towards the end. Once again kitchen sink stuff being thrown as well as one or two punches – hey that's rugby! The Lions are looking stronger by the day. The next game I think we will start seeing the semblance of the test Side. Can't wait, can you?

8.6.05
As a Lion's coach it would seem you can please some countries some of the time, but not all countries all of the time. A headline today says: "Wales dismiss talk of Lions Rift" over Sir Clive Woodward's decision to overlook Brent Cockbain - oh dear!! One of our posters quite rightly says: The Welsh complain no Cockbain (unintended rhyme there, folks), the Scots complain no Jason White, the English complain no Worsley, the Irish complain no O'Connor. It's time for people in positions of responsibility - players, coaches, managers etc - either on the Lions tour or not, to stop bitching and get behind them. Hear, hear that man!

5.6.05
Wow, what a game and all credit to the Bay of Plenty guys, they were fantastic. To be honest at one point I thought they would put one over on the Lions but from somewhere the Pride, but definitely no Prejudice, of D'Arcy sealed the day. Some fans are now looking at the Lions Stock:
Rising - Lewsey, Cueto, Shanklin, O'Connell, Sheridan, Hill, Peel
Falling - O'Gara, Stevens, Henson?

Shame the tour has ended for Lawrence no player likes to go out on an injury and especially during a Lions Tour - We all wish him well back home. 

4.6.05
There has been a last minute rush by fans to find out where to watch the Lions on TV. I am getting emails from all over the world asking which TV networks are covering the Lions Tour, from USA to Baghdad and now the Glastonbury festival! Just goes to show that rugby fans are quite a diverse lot. So if anyone knows the satellite footprint for Baghdad please email me.

 2.6.05
Rumblings here of animosity between Henry and Woodward - born out of Woodward's fury at not being the chosen one to lead the Lions in the last tour to Australia? Some fans think that Woodward has the upper hand as history suggests that the Lions are up against it in terms of beating the All Blacks. The suggestion being that a 2-1 defeat would be accepted as long as the Lions played well. But Henry, on the other hand, has to deliver. So I think this is going to be a battle of minds as well as rugby skills and it will be interesting to see the after-match press conferences, especially Henry and Woodward's body language.

1.6.05
Well now I did warn you about Sir Clive being hyper about security, didn't I.

Must say we are all getting very excited now, and in particular the Welsh. According to licensing officers across Wales they are expecting a last-minute rush this week as major pub chains race to get breakfast licences to show Lions games. Pubs and bars can apply to open one hour before the 8am kick-off for each of the three Tests. But most of us no doubt will watch the game in our pyjamas from the comfort of our armchairs – I know I will be!