Jac Morgan got it spot on, unlike play-acting Australian — I hate simulation
I understand that there may have been some desperation in the minds of the Australians, as they had led the Test for so long and to be denied at the death, as they were, is always so cruel. Emotions would have been high, and understandably so.
I thought I would go back to the start of the match and watch every single ruck. I am not exaggerating when I say that there was some sort of head or neck contact at one in every two rucks. That is rugby, that is the contact area. Just because there is head contact does not mean there is foul play. They are rugby incidents, as was the Morgan one.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
22 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
How to watch Yokohama FM vs Liverpool for free: Live stream and kick-off time for pre-season clash
Liverpool return to action on Wednesday as they face Yokohama F Marinos in their pre-season preparations, and there's a way that UK-based Reds fans can tune into all of the action for free Liverpool are set to face Yokohama F Marinos on Wednesday, as the Reds' pre-season tour of Hong Kong and Japan rolls on. The Premier League champions will hope to defend their title as the season gets underway next month, and have spent the summer getting match fit. Arne Slot's side ran out 3-1 winners in their friendly with Preston at Deepdale earlier this month, courtesy of goals from Conor Bradley, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo, before securing a 5-0 win over Stoke at the AXA Training Centre. Liverpool hit their first stumbling block of the pre-season tour when AC Milan beat them 4-2 on Saturday at the Kai Tak Sports Park, with Dominik Szoboszlai and Gakpo's efforts overshadowed by goals from Rafael Leao, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and a Noah Okafor brace. The Reds will now turn their attention to Yokohama FM before returning to UK soil for a clash with Athletic Club at Anfield before facing stiff competition in Crystal Palace for the Community Shield at Wembley. Here's how UK-based fans can watch Liverpool take on Yokohama from the comfort of their own home. Where is Liverpool vs Yokohama FM? Liverpool are set to clash with Yokohama FM at the Nissan Stadium in Yokohama. The 72,327-capacity ground also plays host to the Yokohama Eagles rugby union side and the Japan national football team. What time does Liverpool vs Yokohama FM kick off? Liverpool and Yokohama FM take to the pitch at 11.30am on Wednesday (UK time), which translates to 7.30pm local time in Yokohama, Kanagawa. How to watch Liverpool vs Yokohama FM for free If you haven't booked flights and accommodation in Japan, fear not. The pre-season friendly between Liverpool and Yokohama FM will be shown live for free for football fans in the UK. Liverpool's All Red Video is showing each pre-season friendly this summer, and new users can currently sign up to get a free month of access, which will see them through until the start of the Premier League. Coverage of Liverpool's clash with Yokohama FM will be broadcast from 10.30am, with the match getting underway an hour later. The friendly will also be available to watch on LFCTV. Liverpool's pre-season schedule Here's a run-down of Liverpool's pre-season schedule this summer: Liverpool 3-1 Preston North End - At Deepdale on July 13 Liverpool 2-4 AC Milan - At the Kai Tak Stadium on July 26 Liverpool vs Yokohama FM - At the Nissan Stadium on July 30 at 11.30am Liverpool vs Athletic Club - At Anfield on August 4 at 5pm Liverpool will play Crystal Palace for the Community Shield on Sunday, August 10, at 3 p.m., before turning their attention to Bournemouth in their Premier League opener at Anfield on Friday, August 15.
Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Daily Mail
England and India deserve better - this box-office series is hobbling over the line while money men count their corn, writes LAWRENCE BOOTH
It says everything about a packed schedule, and even more about the state of England's Test pitches, that Ben Stokes and his team were lying low at their hotel in Kensington only 48 hours before the start of their biggest game since the 2023 Ashes. There was no training, no team announcement, no press-conference mind games ahead of a match that could deliver the most impressive series win of the Bazball era. Instead, the players were knackered, driven to exhaustion by administrators who have concertinaed the summer to keep August free for the Hundred, and by surfaces which have been 'kryptonite' to England's wearyseamers, as the former Test star Steve Harmison put it following the draw in Manchester. The irony as we await the toss at 10.30am on Thursday is that whoever wins it may feel obliged to bowl. You have to go back to April 2023, when Hampshire's James Vince said 'we'll have a bat', to find a red-ball captain at the Oval who bucked the trend. Since then, 20 matches — both county and Test — have come and gone, and everyone has fielded first. With good reason: Surrey like a bit of grass on their pitches, a bit of pace and carry. It's nine first-class games since the team batting first at the Oval finished victorious, and that was last summer when a powerful Surrey side beat Essex en route to a third successive Championship. It should, then, be the kind of surface England have been craving all summer, having banged their heads against brick walls from Leeds to Birmingham and from Lord's to Manchester. Yet a question remains: which of their seamers will be in any fit state to take advantage of a pitch that may finally help them? Their bowlers - including Chris Woakes - are exhausted, with August preserved for the Hundred, meaning games have to be crammed in Stokes prefers continuity of selection, but it is asking a lot of Jofra Archer to play three Tests in a row so soon into his comeback. Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse, meanwhile, were running on fumes during the last five sessions at Old Trafford, where 140 overs brought England just two wickets. Had Joe Root not dropped Ravindra Jadeja shortly before lunch on the last day, they might have been able to rest their first-choice attack with the series already won. Instead, they must contemplate bringing in any or all of Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue and, for only his second Test, Jamie Overton against an Indian team determined to leave with the 2–2 draw they believe their cricket has merited. And their resolve will have stiffened after their ever-prickly coach Gautam Gambhir took offence at Surrey head groundsman Lee Fortis's request to stay off the Oval square during training — the latest flashpoint. The prospect of England fielding a second-string attack is not ideal for a team trying to tick off a 3-1 victory. Neither will it impress the fans who have ensured a five-day sellout in south London to watch the series finale between two teams who have fought like maniacs. India, too, may stick to their pre-series pledge of resting Jasprit Bumrah for two of the five matches, potentially robbing a must-win game of another star attraction. This is not how a blue-riband Test match should be, yet the players are hardly at fault. Despite England's repeated requests for pitches with pace and bounce, chief executives at the Test grounds prefer surfaces that guarantee at least four days of ticket revenue, plus income from merchandise, food and beer. As one member of the England set-up told Mail Sport: 'I think they've made enough money out of us this series.' Groundstaff are overworked by a crippling schedule, their job made harder by the driest summer in living memory. To make matters worse for the bowlers, the Dukes ball has been going unusually soft. In all, England have bowled 5,366 balls. Only once before, in the West Indies in 1929-30, have they sent down more in four Tests, and those games were played to a finish — until the last match, in Jamaica, was abandoned as a draw after 10 days because Freddie Calthorpe's England team had to catch the boat home. If this five-game series had been given more room to breathe, so would the seamers. But the Hundred now has pride of place in August, and so the fifth Test must be over by the time the men and women of London Spirit and Oval Invincibles clash at Lord's on Tuesday. Inevitably, bowlers on both sides have struggled. When the pitches are green and the Tests over inside three days, this is less of a problem. When they are brown and dry, and tempers are flaring, and everything is repeatedly at stake in the final session, something has to give. This series deserves better than to hobble over the line.
Reuters
11 hours ago
- Reuters
Piardi call in Australia-Lions test should be accepted, Erasmus says
July 29 (Reuters) - South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus believes the decision to award the British & Irish Lions a series-winning try in last weekend's 29-26 win, opens new tab over Australia was "touch-and-go" but World Rugby's explanation of the contentious call should be accepted. The Lions won the test with a try from Hugo Keenan in the final seconds but Australia believe a ruling from referee Andrea Piardi at a ruck immediately beforehand was incorrect. Australia coach Joe Schmidt said the call was an error in his post-match press conference, suggesting Jac Morgan's clear-out of Carlo Tizzano was dangerous, and Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh said he would seekg "accountability" from World Rugby over it. But Erasmus, who received a two-month ban from World Rugby for a 62-minute video that was critical of Australian referee Nic Berry after the first Lions test in South Africa in 2021, said he could see both sides of the argument. "I had Australia (winning) by four points in the game, so I lost our internal (coach's competition) on that one," Erasmus told reporters with a smile on Tuesday. "It's such a tough decision. World Rugby has come out to say it was the right decision. It was a very tough call for the referee to make. "If I was Joe, I would be really disappointed, and if I was (Lions coach) Andy (Farrell), I would be really happy. I think it was touch-and-go, so I can understand both sides of what each coach sees. "But World Rugby has ruled on it and that is what everybody has to accept." World Rugby chief Alan Gilpin backed the call from Piardi earlier on Tuesday. "We do share with Joe and the coaching team why the match officials made that decision," he said. "Joe's got a view about what was wrong with that decision and there'll be a debate so that Joe and his players can go into the next test understanding how that game's going to be officiated." South Africa will host Australia in two Rugby Championship tests in Johannesburg and Cape Town next month. Italian Piardi will officiate the defending champion Springboks' final match in the competition against Argentina in London in October.
