Chris Hewett: Oh no! THAT tackle again

It would be deeply unprofessional - not so say cheap, despicable and appalling - to jump on the journalistic bandwagon by continuing the debate about THAT tackle. So here goes ... The whole of New Zealand knows it was a reckless challenge; the one by Gordon D'Arcy on Rua Tipoki during the Maori-Lions game in Hamilton, that is. The one on Brian O'Driscoll was not so clever either. Graham Henry knows it, Steve Hansen knows it, Tana Umaga - or Tana Upsadaisy as he has been re-christened by folk in the old country - and Keven Mealamu know it. Hell, if there is anyone on the face of the earth who considers it a good challenge, speak up now.

But why the fuss? Or rather, why is the fuss continuing? Because it was O'Driscoll, that's why. Can we seriously be asked to believe that Sir Clive Woodward, Eddie O'Sullivan, Alastair Campbell, the resident barrister Richard Smith and the rest of the Lions' over-populated party would have banged on at this volume, for so long, had the victim been Denis Hickie or Andy Titterrell? Please. There would certainly have been uproar had Jonny Wilkinson been bounced on his head by two nasty All Blacks, but that's your lot.

O'Driscoll was central to the Lions' chances of making sense of this series.

Not to put too fine a point on it, he was the one world-class attacking back available to them - probably the only player who might have stood an earthly of being named in the New Zealand back division. And he disappeared on a golf cart, 77 seconds into his career as a red-shirted test captain. That was hard to take, especially in light of the team's subsequent performance.

Yes, the Irishman feels he was spear-tackled. As he is not the sort to make it up, the chances are that he was. However, there was not so much as a square millimetre of video tape providing incontrovertible proof of any deliberate assault, so even if there had been a hearing, Umaga and Mealamu would probably have walked.

Of course, the All Blacks could have handled the issue better, both during the game and after it. Umaga should have inquired after his opposite number's wellbeing as he lay squirming on the turf - heaven knows, there was enough time for a consolatory pat on the shoulder (no, not that one, Tana). The New Zealand captain will probably squirm himself when he finally realises how much trouble he brought upon himself by retreating into the bosom of his team and staying there.

As for the week of spin and counter-spin we've just suffered, the All Black management could have nipped it in the bud by being more forthcoming on the sympathy front. Henry is a smart sort, but even the super-smart find the going tough when the newspaper boys smell a story and choose to stretch it like a piece of knicker-elastic. Never a dead horse left unflogged in this trade, as they used to say in Fleet Street.

By way of a last word on the subject (fat chance), how about this? In injury terms, rugby is about as risk-free as a game of Russian roulette.

Sadly, O'Driscoll picked the loaded chamber. Unlucky? Definitely. More than that? Only Umaga and Mealamu know the answer and they're not telling.

* Chris Hewett is a rugby writer for the Independent in London