'Utter rubbish': Lions slam lightning delay criticism
While Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt had been alert to the possibility of a lightning break and said they had a "plan", television broadcast showed Lions players on their phones in the change rooms during a 38-minute delay of the eventual 22-12 defeat in Sydney.
Players had been ordered off the field due to lightning striking near Accor Stadium early in the second half, when the Lions were trailing 8-0.
Both sides were given 10 minutes to warm up, with the Wallabies shooting out to a 15-0 lead shortly after play resumed.
Grilled by the critical British press to clarify the procedures surrounding the lightning delay, Farrell disputed any suggestions his players had failed to use the time seriously.
"That's completely utter rubbish. Utter rubbish," Farrell said.
"You don't know until you know, and when you do know, then you have to agree that the warm-up time allocated is going to be acceptable to both teams.
"We agreed on 10 minutes for the warm-up, and through our advice from our experts in that field, we only made the call to come out five minutes before and stay there so that we'd be ready to go."
Farrell's Wallabies counterpart Schmidt said he had wanted his players to remain connected during the delay.
"We had been warned that there might be lightning, so we had a little bit of a plan," Schmidt said.
"We wanted to make sure that players kept moving, so we had different guys rotating on the bikes.
"We had four balls in the change room that we were just throwing around, just so they could stay connected."
The Wallabies emerged the better side following the delay, with Farrell labelling winger Max Jorgensen's stunning 50-metre runaway try in the 55th minute as "the try that broke the camel's back".
"I suppose what came off the back of that is that Australia hit the ground running and thoroughly deserved their win," Farrell said.
"Rigor mortis was setting in at one stage there for the lads.
"Anyway, I suppose that's what you come to expect with a schedule like a Lions schedule, so we've seen it all now, haven't we?"
A serious head knock to Lions lock James Ryan had soured the opening minutes of the second half, just minutes before the lightning delay.
Ryan had to be stretchered off after copping an accidental knee to the head from Will Skelton, but Farrell confirmed the 29-year-old was in "good spirits".
"He's up and talking. He was out there for a good few minutes," Farrell said.
"But he's back up in good spirits, so hopefully he's going to be fine."
Lions lock Tadhg Beirne, named player of the series, could only describe the loss as a "bittersweet moment".
"We lost tonight, which is obviously a bit crap for us," Beirne said.
"But as 'Faz' says, we'll get over that because at the end of the day, we still won the series.
"It's the last time we'll be in that change room together as a group, and I suppose that's the bitter part, that we won't get that moment again."
British and Irish Lions coach Andy Farrell has slammed any suggestions of player complacency as "completely, utter rubbish" in the aftermath of a "bittersweet" third-Test loss to the Wallabies.
While Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt had been alert to the possibility of a lightning break and said they had a "plan", television broadcast showed Lions players on their phones in the change rooms during a 38-minute delay of the eventual 22-12 defeat in Sydney.
Players had been ordered off the field due to lightning striking near Accor Stadium early in the second half, when the Lions were trailing 8-0.
Both sides were given 10 minutes to warm up, with the Wallabies shooting out to a 15-0 lead shortly after play resumed.
Grilled by the critical British press to clarify the procedures surrounding the lightning delay, Farrell disputed any suggestions his players had failed to use the time seriously.
"That's completely utter rubbish. Utter rubbish," Farrell said.
"You don't know until you know, and when you do know, then you have to agree that the warm-up time allocated is going to be acceptable to both teams.
"We agreed on 10 minutes for the warm-up, and through our advice from our experts in that field, we only made the call to come out five minutes before and stay there so that we'd be ready to go."
Farrell's Wallabies counterpart Schmidt said he had wanted his players to remain connected during the delay.
"We had been warned that there might be lightning, so we had a little bit of a plan," Schmidt said.
"We wanted to make sure that players kept moving, so we had different guys rotating on the bikes.
"We had four balls in the change room that we were just throwing around, just so they could stay connected."
The Wallabies emerged the better side following the delay, with Farrell labelling winger Max Jorgensen's stunning 50-metre runaway try in the 55th minute as "the try that broke the camel's back".
"I suppose what came off the back of that is that Australia hit the ground running and thoroughly deserved their win," Farrell said.
"Rigor mortis was setting in at one stage there for the lads.
"Anyway, I suppose that's what you come to expect with a schedule like a Lions schedule, so we've seen it all now, haven't we?"
A serious head knock to Lions lock James Ryan had soured the opening minutes of the second half, just minutes before the lightning delay.
Ryan had to be stretchered off after copping an accidental knee to the head from Will Skelton, but Farrell confirmed the 29-year-old was in "good spirits".
"He's up and talking. He was out there for a good few minutes," Farrell said.
"But he's back up in good spirits, so hopefully he's going to be fine."
Lions lock Tadhg Beirne, named player of the series, could only describe the loss as a "bittersweet moment".
"We lost tonight, which is obviously a bit crap for us," Beirne said.
"But as 'Faz' says, we'll get over that because at the end of the day, we still won the series.
"It's the last time we'll be in that change room together as a group, and I suppose that's the bitter part, that we won't get that moment again."
British and Irish Lions coach Andy Farrell has slammed any suggestions of player complacency as "completely, utter rubbish" in the aftermath of a "bittersweet" third-Test loss to the Wallabies.
While Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt had been alert to the possibility of a lightning break and said they had a "plan", television broadcast showed Lions players on their phones in the change rooms during a 38-minute delay of the eventual 22-12 defeat in Sydney.
Players had been ordered off the field due to lightning striking near Accor Stadium early in the second half, when the Lions were trailing 8-0.
Both sides were given 10 minutes to warm up, with the Wallabies shooting out to a 15-0 lead shortly after play resumed.
Grilled by the critical British press to clarify the procedures surrounding the lightning delay, Farrell disputed any suggestions his players had failed to use the time seriously.
"That's completely utter rubbish. Utter rubbish," Farrell said.
"You don't know until you know, and when you do know, then you have to agree that the warm-up time allocated is going to be acceptable to both teams.
"We agreed on 10 minutes for the warm-up, and through our advice from our experts in that field, we only made the call to come out five minutes before and stay there so that we'd be ready to go."
Farrell's Wallabies counterpart Schmidt said he had wanted his players to remain connected during the delay.
"We had been warned that there might be lightning, so we had a little bit of a plan," Schmidt said.
"We wanted to make sure that players kept moving, so we had different guys rotating on the bikes.
"We had four balls in the change room that we were just throwing around, just so they could stay connected."
The Wallabies emerged the better side following the delay, with Farrell labelling winger Max Jorgensen's stunning 50-metre runaway try in the 55th minute as "the try that broke the camel's back".
"I suppose what came off the back of that is that Australia hit the ground running and thoroughly deserved their win," Farrell said.
"Rigor mortis was setting in at one stage there for the lads.
"Anyway, I suppose that's what you come to expect with a schedule like a Lions schedule, so we've seen it all now, haven't we?"
A serious head knock to Lions lock James Ryan had soured the opening minutes of the second half, just minutes before the lightning delay.
Ryan had to be stretchered off after copping an accidental knee to the head from Will Skelton, but Farrell confirmed the 29-year-old was in "good spirits".
"He's up and talking. He was out there for a good few minutes," Farrell said.
"But he's back up in good spirits, so hopefully he's going to be fine."
Lions lock Tadhg Beirne, named player of the series, could only describe the loss as a "bittersweet moment".
"We lost tonight, which is obviously a bit crap for us," Beirne said.
"But as 'Faz' says, we'll get over that because at the end of the day, we still won the series.
"It's the last time we'll be in that change room together as a group, and I suppose that's the bitter part, that we won't get that moment again."
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The jerseys feature photos of three late cancer sufferers. "Blue is a calming colour, so it's something we thought of to support people in cancer adversity," Sleap said. "We've got three people on the jerseys this year; Ash Smith, Stephen Gee and Hayden Moth. "Blue is a colour that we sat down and went through, and thought 'it's a little bit crazy [for Souths]', but they look great. "We try to change the colours every year. One year we had yellow, another pink for breast cancer and this year is blue. "Each year we try and change the colour so it's a special jersey for the players, and then we go back and auction them at the club. "Hopefully we get forty-to-fifty thousand [dollars] when we auction the Souths and Maitland jerseys." Since 2010, Sleapy's Day has raised tens of thousands of dollars each year to support those battling cancer. It's grown from a one-off event Sleap launched a year after battling throat cancer himself, to a foundation on track to help more than 200 people this year. "Fifteen years ago we used to help one or two people," Sleap said. "It's come a long way. "A lot of hard work, but very rewarding ... who'd have thought we'd still be doing it 15 years later." Sleap and his wife Robynn, who has battled cancer herself in the past year, got the fundraising day up and running but in 2019 the Sleapy's Foundation was formed to formalise the charity work. Several events are held throughout the year, but Sleapy's Day at Souths' home ground of Townson Oval in Merewether remains the main fundraiser. "We're in the process of building a peadiatric-care unit courtyard up at the new hospital," Sleap said. "That's been a significant job for us, raising separate funds for that. "The funds on Sleapy's Day goes back to our core business, which is helping people in the community doing it tough with cancer adversity. "It's been really busy. At the moment we're getting an applicant every second day. "We're on target to help over 200 families this year alone, in the Newcastle and Hunter Valley community. "And that's the great thing about the charity, the money stays local." The foundation offers support in a range of ways, sometimes as simple funding travel costs for medical appointments. Requests for help can be made via the website. Tickets to the popular Newcastle Rugby League match day cost $100, the same price they were in 2010, and include food and drinks. "We're the only organisation in the world that never changes the price," Sleap said. "Just think, we helped a family from the country that couldn't put fuel in the car to get down to the hospital. If you can't be here, buy a virtual ticket or some raffle tickets online." Placed sixth in the men's first-grade competition, level on 18 points with fifth-placed Wests, Souths have plenty to play for against league leaders Maitland, who meet Northern Hawks on Wednesday night. Souths only have three games left to play, and may need to win all of them to ensure a spot in the top five. Wests and Central, who are sixth and also on 18 points, have a game in hand on Souths. "A very hard run home, but 'Bobcat' will definitely have them up for the game," Sleap said, referring to Souths coach Andrew Ryan. "We haven't beaten Maitland on a Sleapy's Day, but to be the best, you have to beat the best ... and we just have to match their intensity." The first of four matches kicks off at 10.15am. First grade is at 3pm. Inspecting Townson Oval on Tuesday, Sleap was confident the ground would be in reasonable shape. "The rain scared us a bit but sunshine for the next few days ... we're definitely going ahead," he said. In other men's first-grade games this weekend, all at 3pm on Sunday, Lakes host Wests, Central travel to The Entrance, Macquarie welcome Kurri Kurri and Wyong are at home to Cessnock. POINTS TABLE: Maitland (23), Wyong (21), Cessnock, The Entrance (20), Wests, Souths, Central (18), Kurri (16), Macquarie (12), Lakes (10), Northern (2). The South Newcastle Lions have been around since 1910, but they're about to achieve a 115-year first. The Lions will wear a blue jersey for the first time when they play the Maitland Pickers on Saturday, a rare deviation from their traditional red and white. The players will don a specially-designed kit for Sleapy's Day, the annual match-day fundraiser run by Souths legend Peter Sleap and his foundation of the same name. The jerseys feature photos of three late cancer sufferers. "Blue is a calming colour, so it's something we thought of to support people in cancer adversity," Sleap said. "We've got three people on the jerseys this year; Ash Smith, Stephen Gee and Hayden Moth. "Blue is a colour that we sat down and went through, and thought 'it's a little bit crazy [for Souths]', but they look great. "We try to change the colours every year. One year we had yellow, another pink for breast cancer and this year is blue. "Each year we try and change the colour so it's a special jersey for the players, and then we go back and auction them at the club. "Hopefully we get forty-to-fifty thousand [dollars] when we auction the Souths and Maitland jerseys." Since 2010, Sleapy's Day has raised tens of thousands of dollars each year to support those battling cancer. It's grown from a one-off event Sleap launched a year after battling throat cancer himself, to a foundation on track to help more than 200 people this year. "Fifteen years ago we used to help one or two people," Sleap said. "It's come a long way. "A lot of hard work, but very rewarding ... who'd have thought we'd still be doing it 15 years later." Sleap and his wife Robynn, who has battled cancer herself in the past year, got the fundraising day up and running but in 2019 the Sleapy's Foundation was formed to formalise the charity work. Several events are held throughout the year, but Sleapy's Day at Souths' home ground of Townson Oval in Merewether remains the main fundraiser. "We're in the process of building a peadiatric-care unit courtyard up at the new hospital," Sleap said. "That's been a significant job for us, raising separate funds for that. "The funds on Sleapy's Day goes back to our core business, which is helping people in the community doing it tough with cancer adversity. "It's been really busy. At the moment we're getting an applicant every second day. "We're on target to help over 200 families this year alone, in the Newcastle and Hunter Valley community. "And that's the great thing about the charity, the money stays local." The foundation offers support in a range of ways, sometimes as simple funding travel costs for medical appointments. Requests for help can be made via the website. Tickets to the popular Newcastle Rugby League match day cost $100, the same price they were in 2010, and include food and drinks. "We're the only organisation in the world that never changes the price," Sleap said. "Just think, we helped a family from the country that couldn't put fuel in the car to get down to the hospital. If you can't be here, buy a virtual ticket or some raffle tickets online." Placed sixth in the men's first-grade competition, level on 18 points with fifth-placed Wests, Souths have plenty to play for against league leaders Maitland, who meet Northern Hawks on Wednesday night. Souths only have three games left to play, and may need to win all of them to ensure a spot in the top five. Wests and Central, who are sixth and also on 18 points, have a game in hand on Souths. "A very hard run home, but 'Bobcat' will definitely have them up for the game," Sleap said, referring to Souths coach Andrew Ryan. "We haven't beaten Maitland on a Sleapy's Day, but to be the best, you have to beat the best ... and we just have to match their intensity." The first of four matches kicks off at 10.15am. First grade is at 3pm. Inspecting Townson Oval on Tuesday, Sleap was confident the ground would be in reasonable shape. "The rain scared us a bit but sunshine for the next few days ... we're definitely going ahead," he said. In other men's first-grade games this weekend, all at 3pm on Sunday, Lakes host Wests, Central travel to The Entrance, Macquarie welcome Kurri Kurri and Wyong are at home to Cessnock. POINTS TABLE: Maitland (23), Wyong (21), Cessnock, The Entrance (20), Wests, Souths, Central (18), Kurri (16), Macquarie (12), Lakes (10), Northern (2).
