THESE warts-and-all incidents explain why neutral referees and officials are required on Lions tours.
The Lions controversies of modern tours are wellknown, especially the 1971 and 1974 tourists protecting themselves because they knew the home referees would not.
However, although a similarly uncompromising outlook was successful for the 1989 Lions, there was no escape from Aussie referee Brian Kinsey’s last-minute travesty of a call which handed the 1993 First Test to New Zealand.
It was the same again with the Schalk Burger eye-gouge on Luke Fitzgerald in the 2009 series in South Africa.
It resulted in a yellow card and a retrospective eightweek ban rather than the sending-off it merited – which would probably have swung the Second Test towards the Lions.
Here are less well-known reflections from Lions tours that show the difficulties they faced as told in Behind the Lions.
1959 tour of New Zealand and Australia
Lions prop HUGH McLEOD on the Lions 18-17 First Test defeat by NZ after scoring four tries to Don Clarke’s six penalties:
“The referee was bent. Colin Meads once said that ‘referees decide who is going to win a match’, and he was right. That day proved it. It was robbery. During the game I knew he had it in for us. Any chance he got he gave them a penalty, and Don Clarke just booted them over.”
1962 tour of South Africa
Lions lock BILL MULCAHY on fly-half Richard Sharp being ‘taken-out’against Northern Transvaal just before the First Test:
“Richard Sharp met Mannetjies Roux, who hit him high and caused a depressed fracture to his jaw. That was our golden boy gone for a while…”
1966 tour of New Zealand and Australia
Lions lock WILLIE-JOHN McBRIDE on NZ refereeing standards: “I remember one match and they scored and the referee jumped up in the air with delight.”
1968 tour of South Africa
Lions flanker JIM TELFER on different ‘interpretations’.
“The refereeing of the scrums and lineouts was what really affected our play. The South Africans played with all sorts of different interpretations to us… It emerged later that Dr Danie Craven (president SA Rugby Board) had used his influence to tell the referees to keep us in check…”
NICK CAIN