Cheating claims toned down but issue remains

Lions Geordan Murphy flicks the ball up to Charlie Hodgson as he is tackled by Otago's Jason Shoemark. Picture / Fotopress

Four words uttered on television soon after his team's loss by Otago captain Craig Newby last night are sure to win a place in Lions rugby folklore -- only he reckons he didn't really mean them.

"They cheated like buggery," was Newby's po-faced answer when quizzed on the Lions' tactics at the breakdown during the 30-19 win at Dunedin.

Under the Carisbrook grandstand it was easy to picture simultaneous gasps of astonishment from homes around New Zealand and Britain.

Another sound, of headline writers sharpening their pencils, also sprung to mind.

Fronting a packed post-match press conference half an hour later, the man who rarely strays far from the stock-standard rugby replies was immediately asked to expand.

The response was watered down, considerably.

"They attacked our ball to the letter of the law and got away with it, and that's what I was expressing," he said.

Whatever the semantics, it is obvious the tackle ball will be the most contentious off-field and contested on-field facet of the upcoming test series between the Lions and the All Blacks.

The tourists have obviously addressed the issue since being badly cleaned out by the New Zealand Maori in their sole tour loss to date, at Hamilton a week ago.

In last night's 30-19 defeat of Otago, the Lions loose men could argue they had a slight edge over one of the best flanker combinations in the country -- Newby himself and openside Josh Blackie.

The question is whether they did it by fair means or foul.

The latter according to Otago coach Wayne Graham, who repeated his pre-match assertions that the Lions' main priority is to prevent opponents getting any momentum.

"I think they're allowed to come in from the side and get the big bodies in there behind the ball. Then it's hard to play the game at speed. I think it's probably a deliberate tactic they use just to keep the game at their pace," Graham said.

Lions coach Sir Clive Woodward today brushed off suggestions of cheating, saying his team were simply chasing success in any way they could.

"You just want to win the game and walk off the pitch with more points than them," Woodward said.

"Clearly in rugby every team with the ball wants quick ball and if you're defending you're there to try to stop the ball. There's a lot of nonsense written about slowing people's ball down, but that's what you're there to do."

Woodward said another important skill in rugby now was preventing defenders from slowing the ball down. It was then up to referees to apply the law in the best manner possible.

Midweek coach Ian McGeechan, the former Lions head coach, regarded Newby's comment as a compliment.

"I think in New Zealand parlance that means we're now competitive at the breakdown," he smiled.

Blackie believed the Lions had quickly rectified many of their problems and were now playing more of a New Zealand style.

However, the complex laws remained a conundrum for players, he said, adding that match officials found them just as perplexing.

"We get angry when the call goes against us and I think the call did go against us quite a few times," Blackie said.

"Any time they seemed to hang onto the ball, they'd get a penalty their way. The tide wasn't going our way out there but that's rugby, you've got to take it on the chin I suppose."

- NZPA