Australians attempt to 'defend the indefensible'

NSW Waratahs 24 - 41 Lions

The Lions – or, rather, what was left of them – pitched up in the ocean resort of Coffs Harbour yesterday, thereby availing themselves of what the local environmentalists describe as the cleanest air in Australia. Back in Sydney, the atmosphere remained every bit as contaminated and unhealthy as it had been on Saturday night, when the tourists went eyeball to eyeball with the fiery Waratahs of New South Wales in perhaps the dirtiest Lions match since they last visited Wallaby country a dozen years ago and biffed their way to a split decision in the Test series.

Duncan McRae, a wholly inoffensive sort during his spell with Saracens last season, was suspended for seven weeks by a judicial panel chaired by the New Zealander Nick Davidson. Given that McRae was sent off early in the second half for pounding a horizontal Ronan O'Gara with a combination of punches, 11 in all, that would have given Sugar Ray Leonard considerable satisfaction, seven months would not have seemed excessive. But then, this is Australia, the myopia capital of the world. The '89 Lions? Vicious, disgraceful, beyond the pale. The Waratahs? "Aw mate, they were just sticking up for themselves."

It is important to point out at this juncture that Martin Johnson's Lions are decidedly thin on the cherubim and seraphim front. Phil Vickery, a Gloucester prop in the grandest Kingsholm tradition, sailed very close to the wind at the weekend, as did Danny Grewcock, who turned in another sensational footballing performance while belting sundry Waratah miscreants into the middle of next week. These men are not backwards in coming forwards when the balloon goes up, and if one or both had seen a red card as well as red mist during their night out at the Sydney Football Stadium, there would have been no serious suggestion of a miscarriage of justice.

But this was a rough house waiting to happen, and the Australians must take a substantial share of the blame for creating a situation bordering on the incendiary. Since the Lions arrived in Fremantle at the beginning of the month, the Wallaby spin doctors have been upping the ante on a daily basis. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the Lions have been castigated as professional hard cases who throw punches as a matter of policy. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, they have been condemned as ball-killing cheats programmed to infringe at scrum, line-out, ruck and maul. By Saturday evening, the barometer reading was off the scale.

Yesterday, the Wallaby coach, Rod Macqueen, expressed the hope that "common sense would prevail" in the Test series, which begins in Brisbane this weekend. The Lions hierarchy concurred with that view, but were still incandescent over the McRae assault. Donal Lenihan, the tour manager, accompanied O'Gara to the disciplinary hearing and found some of what he heard extremely hard to take.

"I was disappointed with the way the Waratahs management tried to defend the incident, not least because they were defending the indefensible," said the Irishman, a veteran of the '89ers. "What annoyed me most was that McRae said nothing to Ronan. There was no attempt to apologise, and I thought that very poor under the circumstances. They tried to say that McRae acted in retaliation, when they would have been far better off simply putting up their hands."

Lenihan was equally unimpressed by reported comments from the Waratahs flanker and captain, Phil Waugh, who appeared to take a degree of satisfaction from the fact that the Lions had been tested so thoroughly, both physically and temperamentally. "Waugh has been quoted as saying that there would be a lot of sore Lions today, and that the Waratahs had taken what they wanted from the game," the manager commented, in scornful tone. "The situation was quite bad enough, without that kind of talk. Why not close the door on it, once and for all?"

Waugh was correct in one sense: the Lions were indeed taken to the limit in front of a 40,000 crowd at one of the most intimidating venues in Australia. Having played well enough, albeit in fits and starts, to open up a 24-5 interval lead – Brian O'Driscoll, in need of a half-decent performance, looked a centre of infinite quality, while Jason Robinson produced an all-court game to supplement his unique finishing prowess – the tourists found the likes of Stu Pinkerton, Fili Finau, Cameron Blades and Jono West difficult to subdue once the Waratahs found a way back into the contest after the break. Tries from Francis Cullimore and Sam Harris, two highly combative threequarters, reduced the gap to seven points and raised the temperature still higher.

At which point, the silage collided with the air conditioning. O'Gara removed McRae from the epicentre of a tempestuous ruck and received a spectacularly excessive hiding for his trouble. "I thought I cleaned out the ruck pretty effectively, but when we hit the ground I took what you might call a bit of a hammering," said the Munster outside-half, his left eye closed and boasting more stitches than a university student's scarf. "It took me completely by surprise. If I'd been expecting it, I hope I would have defended myself a little better."

McRae's dismissal provoked five minutes of utter mayhem, during which Grewcock, Vickery, Blades and Brendan Cannon were sent to the sin-bin for brawling. (Tom Bowman, the excellent Wallaby lock, had also spent time in the cooler after clambering all over Grewcock in the opening few seconds of the match). Rather like a good gangster movie, the entertainment was compelling and disturbing in equal measure; even with reduced forces on either side, it was still "off at all meetings", as the saying goes. Calm was restored only when Jonny Wilkinson, an oasis of sanity in midfield, took advantage of Tom Smith's floated pass to no one in particular and claimed the decisive score on 70 minutes.

As a pre-Test exercise, the contest was of limited value. The Lions were cruelly undone by an ankle injury suffered by the eternally unfortunate Will Greenwood, and while O'Driscoll and Robinson effectively secured their starting places at The Gabba this coming Saturday, others, notably Darren Morris and Iain Balshaw, left questions unanswered. Morris scrummaged forcefully enough, but he was miles behind Vickery in every other department. Smith, the slow-burning Scot, may yet get the nod come Wallaby time. Balshaw, meanwhile, was nowhere near full throttle at full-back; his running game was no better than so-so, his kicking game ineffective.

Desperate to give his quickest and most elusive counter-attacker some more game time, Henry yesterday named Balshaw among the dirt-trackers for tomorrow's less than demanding run-out against the club amateurs of the New South Wales Country XV. "We want to give Iain some ball, an opportunity to build up some confidence," the coach explained. It was not the sort of thing he would have anticipated saying at this stage of the tour. These are hard times, both on and off the field, and the Wallabies are a mere five days distant.

NEW SOUTH WALES: D McRae; F Cullimore, L Inman, S Harris, S Qau Qau; M Edmonds, S Payne; C Blades, B Cannon, R Moore, J West, T Bowman, S Pinkerton, P Waugh (capt), F Finau. Replacements: P Besseling for Bowman, H-T; D Hickey for Finau, 68; P Noriega for Moore, 69; R Tombs for Inman, 72; E Carter for Pinkerton, 35; L Green for Cannon, 81; J Mutton for Blades, 81.

LIONS: I Balshaw (Bath and England); D James (Bridgend and Wales), B O'Driscoll (Leinster and Ireland), W Greenwood (Leicester and England), J Robinson (Sale and England); J Wilkinson (Newcastle and England), M Dawson (Northampton and England); D Morris (Swansea and Wales), K Wood (Harlequins and Ireland), P Vickery (Gloucester and England), M Johnson (Leicester and England, capt), D Grewcock (Bath and England), L Dallaglio (Wasps and England), N Back (Leicester and England), S Quinnell (Llanelli and Wales). Replacements: R O'Gara (Munster and Ireland) for Greenwood, 24; M Perry (Bath and England) for O'Gara, 57; T Smith (Northampton and Scotland) for Vickery, 57; R Hill (Saracens and England) for Back, 79; A Healey (Leicester and England) for Wilkinson, 83; R McBryde (Llanelli and Wales) for Wood, 87.

Referee: S Young (Australia).