'Finish on a high' - Russell seeks 3-0 Lions clean sweep
Did he know that theirs was the biggest comeback - from 23-5 down to winning 29-26 - in Lions history? He did not. Did he know that this was his 15th consecutive victory this season? He didn't know that either. His previous best was seven for Glasgow and Scotland - and that was a decade ago."Everyone here has been gunning for this for their whole career," he said. "To get to the Lions is one thing and then to get a series win is another. This is my third tour and I'd not won one, so it's so special to get this, bringing four nations together to be a family for five, six weeks."But it's not job done yet. We need to go and try and finish it off next week. Even though we've got the series, we need to go and finish on a high."Playing the most rounded rugby of his career, Russell has is having the season of his life. The sparks of genius will always be a thrilling part of who he is as a player, but his game management is world class as well. His defence, his mental strength - he's the complete 10. Folk in Scotland have known this for years. Now everybody else must know it, too.The weary old cliche of the 'maverick' is surely dead and buried to all. He's won a Premiership title and a European Challenge Cup with Bath - and now a Lions series. He is one of his generation's pre-eminent fly-halves.Saturday was his biggest high and as he celebrated it was hard not to cast the mind back to more troubling times. His initial fallout with Gregor Townsend and Scotland in the spring of 2020. His words revealed how angst-ridden he was. It was not a happy time. He went into exile.The second wave of that rancour was in 2022 when Townsend didn't pick him for Scotland's squad for the autumn, instead going with Adam Hastings, Blair Kinghorn (in what was called the Blair Switch Project from playing full-back to playing 10) and the young Glasgow player Ross Thompson.Thompson picked ahead of Russell? It caused a sensation. The feeling back then was that the Russell and Townsend relationship had run its course and that he might never play Test rugby again, might never fulfil all the things he wanted to fulfil. It was a fleeting thought, but it was real at the time. Mercifully, the pair patched things up and grew close again. From there to here has been one giant leap for Finnkind.Russell calls his Lions experience a "mad journey" that began when he became part of the so-called Geography Six, parachuted into New Zealand as midweek fodder in 2017. Four years later, he was injured in South Africa, his only Test action coming on the last day, when he made a big impression in a losing cause."You've got to appreciate every part of it. You can't look back and think, had I not been injured in South Africa, had I been called out before in New Zealand, you can't look like that. You've got to look at the positives."It's always a privilege getting called into the Lions, whether that's later on in the tour or being there from the start."This year's been very special. We've won a couple of titles with Bath - and I've not won much in my career. It's hard to appreciate it just now, because you're still in the moment, you're still half an hour or an hour after the game, so you're still riding on that wave."But when I get down time, and if I get any time away from the kids, I can reflect and it'll make it even more special. It's probably one of the best nights [of his life]."There is only one more thing to achieve in Australia and that's to leave with a 3-0 series win and a 9-0 tour. You have to go back to Argentina in 1927 to find the last time the Lions won every game in a multi-Test series.Sydney is the final destination. "Everyone wants to play in that game," said Russell. "When we come back in on Monday, we'll be ready to go again. If we can make it a 3-0 series, that's amazing. Everyone's going to be gunning for that."
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Daily Mail
26 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
James Haskell hits back at Wallabies coach's reaction to controversial flashpoint that secured the Lions a series victory against Australia: 'That is utter c**p'
James Haskell and Mike Tindall believe Joe Schmidt has no reason to feel aggrieved by the contentious last-gasp decision that has overshadowed the British and Irish Lions ' 29-26 victory against Australia on Saturday afternoon. The Australia coach lashed out at officials and World Rugby over why the Lions match-winning try from Hugo Keenan was allowed to stand after Jac Morgan appeared to clear out Carlo Tizzano, while making contact with the Australian's neck. 'In a world of player welfare… It's what they are there to enforce. A player who dives off his feet and is clearly beaten to the position over the ball, makes neck contact,' Schmidt fumed after the match. Schmidt used World Rugby's Law 9.20 to justify his point, which states that players cannot enter a ruck and make contact with a player above the shoulder line. 'You just have to read Law 9.20, then listen to the referee's description and watch the vision. A player who dives off his feet, is clearly beaten to the position over the ball, makes neck contact - it's a tough one to take,' the coach, who has previously worked as a technical advisor for World Rugby, fumed. The incident has divided the rugby community, with Tindall and Haskell both arguing on The Good, The Bad and The Rugby Podcast, that Schmidt wouldn't be making the same claim had the coin flipped in the other direction. When asked by Alex Payne if Schmidt was right to feel aggrieved, Tindall replied, 'No. The pair then jointly said: 'Absolutely not.' Haskell then proceeded to deliver an impassioned rant about the comments, with the former Wasps and England star, claiming that the real foul was Tizzano's alleged 'dive' and that if they had penalised Morgan for the clear out, they 'may as well have just disbanded the whole game'. After Morgan made contact with Tizzano, the flanker appeared to fall backwards and has been blasted for an apperent 'dive' by some members of the English media. 'The only bit of foul play nonsense in that incident was that Australian player [Carlo Tizzano] diving,' Haskell said on the podcast. 'That should have been red carded, because that is utter c**p.' He then went on to delve into the technicalities of the incident, claiming World Rugby's current laws don't allow players to remove a jackler in any other manner than how Morgan pushed Tizzano away. 'I'm telling you now, there is no physical way to clear out a player who is that low over the ball, without... the only other way that you used to be able to do it is if you put your head underneath him and go head-on-head, because when you're that low over the ball you've got a small window... You've got to get your head underneath him. 'But if you can't get any space to do that, and it would be head-on-head because you just lead with your head, you have to hit where he hit. That was a clear out I did every game, every week for 20 years...' Summarising his point, Haskell, who toured with the Lions in 2017, said the game would have serious questions to answer had Morgan been penalised over the clear out. Haskell added: 'That is the only way to do it. Because if you come in at the side at an angle, you'd end up doing a croc roll. It is utter, utter b*******. It is people clutching at straws. When a player is over the ball so low, what we used to be taught to do is I come in and I put my hand on the ground underneath him and lead up with my hands and hit him. 'All of that was just a rugby thing and the only foul was the Australian diving.' While Haskell praised the Australia coach Joe Schmidt as a 'great bloke' he fumed at how Schmidt had 'the audacity' to question the decision. Tindall replied: 'Again, if he's on the other side of the coin, it's not even a debate. He's going: 'That's what the game is'.' Haskell isn't the only person to have slammed Tizzano following the incident. Writing in his column in The Telegraph, Oliver Brown, 'Stop moaning, Australia, your player dived.' 'Tizzano clearly milked the incident, collapsing with a melodrama that could easily have persuaded some officials to chalk off Keenan's try,' he added. Andy Farrell, meanwhile, praised Morgan for securing the ball so well. 'I thought it was a brilliant clear-out, didn't you?' the Lions coach said, before admitting: 'It depends on what side of the fence you come from.' However, the refereeing decision has left one ex-Wallabies star livid. Morgan Turinui, who won 20 caps for Australia, hit out at the officials over the contentious call. 'That decision is 100 per cent completely wrong,' he said. 'The referee got it wrong,' Turinui said after the game. 'His two assistant referees got it wrong.' He then explained that the referee needed to be brought before World Rugby's Match Official Manager, Joel Jutge. 'Joel Jutge, the head of the referees, is out here on a junket. He needs to haul those referees in and ask for a please explain. But World Rugby cheif executive Alan Gilpin has claimed that they were standing by Piardi (left) and his team following the incident 'Dan Herbert, the chair of Australian rugby and if I'm Phil Waugh, the CEO, I'm sorry I'm asking for a please explain. 'He did have a good game, but the refereeing group, when it counted, got the match-defining decision completely wrong. 'It's a point of law. It's in black and white. It's not about bias. It's not about colouring. 'There's nothing there. Get away from the fact that it's a wrong call. It's a penalty sanction. It's not a yellow card. It happens. 'The try must be disallowed and we should be going one-all to Sydney.' But in a fresh turn of events, World Rugby has since made clear their stance on the matter, refuting Schmidt's claims before stating that they were throwing their support behind Piardi and his team of officials. World Rugby boss Alan Gilpin said: 'It is disappointing when the reaction is, 'this means player welfare isn't taken seriously', because everyone knows we are putting player welfare, in its broadest sense, at the top of the agenda. So, that part is challenging, in terms of the player welfare statements (by Schmidt).'
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Australia tears its hair out as it tries to come to terms with Lions series defeat
The Wallabies were brave in Melbourne but the true test of their courage comes now. Despite snatching defeat from the jaws of victory yet again, they must try and put aside the disappointment of the last-gasp 29-26 defeat at the MCG and debate over that contentious 80th minute non-penalty, and win the final Test to deny the Lions a 3-0 sweep. The Wallabies can't save the series but they can save face in Sydney on Saturday – and claw back a little of the goodwill they squandered in letting the Lions off the hook with 90,307 fans in the stands and millions more watching on screens at home. It won't be easy. All week Australians have torn themselves apart wrestling with one of the crueller defeats in the Wallabies' woebegone recent history. Moods have swung between grieving and aggrieved, despair and defiance. On one hand the wider public are mourning a gut-wrenching defeat, a once-every-12-years opportunity lost amid an embarrassing, yet painfully familiar, inability to ruthlessly close out a game they were bossing with a 23-5 lead. On the other hand they are still aggrieved that Australia's early dominance over the Lions was denied at the death by a 50-50 decision. Carlo Tizzano's theatrics – reeling from the contact with operatic passion, hands clutching the back of his head in mock-agony – have also polarised. Was this cowardly 'diving' or canny gamesmanship to catch the camera's eye? Alas, Italian referee Andrea Piardi sang only from the songsheet of officialdom. He ignored Tizzano's squatter's rights to the ball in the ruck to reward Jac Morgan's lethal clean-out a split-second later. In the chaos, the Wallabies lost possession. The Lions cleared to the left and found space for Hugo Keenan to scramble over the line. Game over. Series won – and lost. For Wallabies fans who have endured a torrid two decades of decline, it was another cruel blow. But not an undeserving one. Australia had tempted the fates when young flyhalf Tom Lynagh coughed up a kick under no pressure to spark two Lions tries that saw Australia's 18-point ascendency vanish into a slender six-point buffer at the break. Yes, Piardi's decision had denied Australia a penalty that would've secured victory and squared the series one-all. But sport is built on drama, not justice. Rugby clings to respect for the referee as sacrosanct. Both captains Harry Wilson and Maro Itoje addressed Piardi as 'sir' throughout (even though the honorary title often gets lost in a torrent of profanity afterwards). For all its wine-producing and guzzling, sour grapes are not Australia's go. This, after all, is the land of 'cop it sweet'. The real cost for the Wallabies was bottling a golden chance to win back floating fans with a famous victory at the nation's most storied colosseum. With a World Cup to host in 2027, Australian rugby badly needed a boilover victory against an all-star touring side to give Joe Schmidt's ragged band of players a jolt of confidence before another arduous Rugby Championship against the All Blacks, South Africa and Argentina starting on 17 August. Instead, the opportunity for a week of fever pitch anticipation for a decider before more than 80,000 fans at the former Olympic stadium has been lost. Worse, the largely self-inflicted calamity in Melbourne has reopened old wounds of other near-victories cruelly vaporised – Kurtley Beale slipping in the mud to gift the 2013 Lions their first series win in 16 years, Bernard Foley penalised for time wasting when the Wallabies had the All Blacks on the rack in 2022. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion Are the Wallabies cursed? Former Socceroo Johnny Warren claimed an unpaid debt led a Mozambique witchdoctor to put a hex on Australian soccer in 1970 and led to a series of bizarre losses and a 32-year World Cup exile. Melbourne Demons fans swore the sacking of legendary coach Norm Smith in 1965 sparked the club's premiership drought until 2021. Footballers are superstitious creatures. In theatre circles it's unlucky to say 'Macbeth' before a performance and apparently these Wallabies won't utter the name 'Eddie Jones' aloud for fear of ghosting by their old coach. But superstition is borne from fear. The Wallabies must banish any demons from Melbourne and set their jaws for a last stand with these hungry Lions, not for their sake as much as ours. US basketball coach Dick Motta used to tell his troops 'you cannot find victory unless you first understand defeat … but show me a good loser in pro sport and I'll show you an idiot.' Australian fans are sick of lionising brave defeats and Schmidt can't shrug off the loss in Melbourne if he's to win Sydney. As the NRL and AFL close in, winning a 'dead rubber' in front of a full house keeps Wallabies hope alive.
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Why Lions' top try-scorer Duhan van der Merwe is not getting a look-in under Andy Farrell
With just a Sydney dead-rubber left for the British and Irish Lions, those who simply study the data would be forgiven for thinking that Duhan van der Merwe has been among the stars of 2025. The 30-year-old has plundered five tries, bringing his tally to 10 across two tours. That puts him top of the tree among his squad mates. According to Stats Perform, he has amassed 336 metres with ball in hand. Huw Jones is next, with 287 metres despite seeing 46 minutes more game-time. Only Tommy Freeman and Sione Tuipulotu, with 17, have beaten more than the 16 defenders that Van der Merwe has brushed aside and the latter is also second for line-breaks (one behind Mack Hansen) with six. And yet, his prospects of repeating the three Test starts granted to him by Warren Gatland in South Africa four years ago have seemed remote since the outset. Ahead of a final meeting with Australia on Saturday, it would appear more likely for Blair Kinghorn to replace James Lowe on the left wing than it would to see Van der Merwe in action. Hansen is also back in contention after injury and likely above him in the pecking order. As a player leading Scotland's all-time scoring list with 32 tries in 49 Tests, he will be remembered with great fondness whatever else happens in his career. But the past few weeks will have been difficult. Unforgiving context Van der Merwe's chances of a fast start were compromised by ankle ligament damage that required surgery in April and meant that the Lions' opener against Argentina was his first outing in almost three months. He looked understandably rusty because of that lay-off. His next game against the Reds at Suncorp Stadium represented a blend of dangerous running and positional uncertainty. Then, four days later, Van der Merwe was drafted onto the bench for a disjointed win over the Waratahs. Henry Pollock's tight calf saw Scott Cummings come into the starting side as Tadhg Beirne shifted to blindside flanker. Van der Merwe joined the replacements and wore the No 20, a sure-fire sign of how late the decision was made and an indication that numbers 22 and 23 had been sized up for Marcus Smith and Ben White. After coming on for Hugo Keenan for the final half-hour, Van der Merwe could not impress himself on the match. On the last play, he took a looping pass from Kinghorn and was shepherded towards the touchline by several defenders before the ball squirted out of a messy ruck. The moment encapsulated both an unconvincing display from the Lions and how Van der Merwe's Test hopes were dwindling: Some have suggested that Van der Merwe was lucky to be selected for the initial squad on May 8 but his pedigree and Lions experience will have been hard to ignore. Andy Farrell evidently wanted size in the back three and Van der Merwe was particularly impressive in Scotland's 27-13 victory over the Wallabies last November. He scored a trademark try out wide… …and burst through Australia from a hidden inside pass move: This was something the Lions attempted themselves from a goal-line drop-out in the first Test, with the Wallabies snuffing it out: Good work from Nick Champion de Crespigny to get across to Hugo Keenan: — Charlie Morgan (@CharlieFelix) July 19, 2025 Indeed, with Finn Russell and Sione Tuipulotu certainties to tour, Farrell had scope to lean on the familiarity of a potent Scotland back line. Although modern wings men roam around the field, they tend to have a preferred side of the pitch that is dependent on factors such as their favoured foot to step off. Van der Merwe is a specialist left wing. Remarkably, according to All Rugby, he has only once worn a No 14 shirt in his professional career; in a Top 14 match for Montpellier against Racing 92 in 2017. In that respect, Van der Merwe was probably not competing against the unfortunate Darcy Graham for a place in the initial Lions squad. Graham, normally a right wing, could have been edged out by Hansen. Once the group assembled, Van der Merwe was up against James Lowe, a favourite of Farrell's from their time together with Ireland. Having started the past two Top 14 finals on the left wing for Toulouse, Kinghorn became another potential candidate for the 11 shirt. Van der Merwe needed to be at his most devastating. Pros and cons As early as the sixth minute against Argentina, there was a reminder of Van der Merwe's athleticism as he stepped off his left foot and carved through the Pumas: He flipped an overhead offload to Tommy Freeman a little later and slipped off a tackle early in the second half before linking with Bundee Aki: It is interesting to note that Van der Merwe has registered all five of his tries in Australia on the Lions left. Here against the Australia and New Zealand (AUNZ) invitational outfit, for instance, he is on hand to capitalise on the attack sparked by Hugo Keenan's quick line-out: Later in the same game, Van der Merwe caps his hat-trick on the end of a slick first-phase move that outflanks the defence: This try, against the Reds, was probably the most difficult finish and requires him to dot down in a tight space amid the attention of opposing full-back Jock Campbell: While it might be tempting to downplay this propensity for apparently easy tries, it is worth remembering that Lowe missed a similar chance against the Brumbies. As an outlet capable of surging into space, few are better than Van der Merwe. Scotland feed width readily to tap into that asset. Recent weeks have also showcased less assured areas of Van der Merwe's game. The Reds clearly targeted his back-field positioning. This Hunter Paisami cross-kick caused problems before Van der Merwe rescued himself… …and Kalani Thomas set up a try for Josh Flook with a grubber towards the same wing: Les Kiss, the Reds boss, also coached AUNZ in Adelaide. Forcing Van der Merwe to turn was a pillar of his strategy again, as suggested by Tane Edmed probing in behind from this early line-out: Van der Merwe loses his composure here and was fortunate that the ball bobbles into touch to give the Lions a line-out – the kick did not qualify for a 50:22 – because his actions would otherwise have conceded a five-metre scrum. As for kicking itself, a necessary skill for back three players, Van der Merwe is not a natural. Whereas Lowe's left boot has been predictably prominent, accounting for 416 metres from 11 kicks, Van der Merwe has hit a solitary strike all tour – after AUNZ had again found space in behind him: This tour, during which Andy Farrell has implemented systems reminiscent of those that characterise his Ireland team, has reinforced how coaches will back trusted individuals – and those who suit their methods – to deliver. Van der Merwe always faced a tricky task. Farrell's preferences Wings under Andy Farrell are granted licence to fizz around the field. While this table using data from Stats Perform is not bulletproof, because it is taken from multiple games and possession shares will have varied, it can broadly show us how much four Lions wings – Hansen, Tommy Freeman, James Lowe and Van der Merwe – have been around the ball. Hansen has been around the ball most, either carrying or hitting a ruck once every 2.8 minutes he has been on the field. Van der Merwe is fourth of the four: Freeman (15 defensive rucks across 390 minutes) and Hansen (13 defensive rucks in 270 minutes) have also grafted at the breakdown on the other side of the ball. This is not to say Van der Merwe has not come off his wing. The Lions have asked him to swing around from strike plays such as this one against the First Nations and Pasifika XV: However, with the best will in the world, it would be a surprise to see Van der Merwe set up a try like Beirne's in the second Test from first-receiver as Lowe did. The fact that Jamison Gibson-Park feeds Lowe rather than Keenan in the first place underscores their relationship: Kinghorn was off his wing and into the opposite 15-metre channel as soon as he had replaced Lowe. This cut-out pass to Keenan punctuated the first phase of the winning attack: Freeman, like Lowe adept at contesting high-balls, has continuously roamed. As pointed out by Kevin Millar, he burrowed into rucks on opposite touchlines in the build-up to Keenan's last-gasp try. It is not that Van der Merwe is incapable of this, just that others seem to do so more impulsively. Much earlier in the second Test, just beyond the half-hour mark with the Lions trailing 23-5, Lowe and Freeman contributed to a key moment. From a left-hand scrum, Bundee Aki attempts to launch Huw Jones but a flat tip-pass ricochets off Len Ikitau. Lowe reacts brilliantly and keeps the attack moving with a pass to Keenan, who sends Freeman charging into contact: A strong carry, with the help of Keenan's latch, ends up metres from the try-line and foreshadows Tom Curry's crucial finish. No doubt Lowe's awareness will have been heralded by the Lions coaches this week. What next? Van der Merwe's response to this tour will be intriguing. Graham and Kinghorn, one suspects, would be shoo-ins for any Scotland side. There is fierce competition developing for back-three spots, though. Kyle Steyn, exceptional in the air, is a reliable operator. Kyle Rowe, Harry Paterson and Arron Reed all had bright moments on the summer tour. Besides Rowe and Ollie Smith, Tom Jordan and Fergus Burke could be considered as potential full-backs that shift Kinghorn to the wing. Van der Merwe will be eager to begin the 2025-26 campaign strongly for Edinburgh to assure himself of action over autumn fixtures against USA, New Zealand, Argentina and Tonga. As with other Lions colleagues, how he moves on from the tour may be more significant than what has happened in Australia.
