'I want to be here to the end'
The Edinburgh winger travelled from Auckland to Brisbane last week in time for first Test preparations, while his international team-mates Ashman, Sutherland and Brown all flew out after beating Samoa on Friday.Having that extra time with the squad has motivated Graham to perform and stay on tour.The Lions play the second Test against Australia on Saturday at Melbourne Cricket Ground, before the final Test in Sydney."I got the call and had about an hour and a half to two hours to pack my stuff and get to the airport and try to get visas sorted, which were a nightmare," he added."We finally got it sorted at the last minute before boarding and got out straight away."I was glad I did as I got two days training to spend time with the boys and really settle down, it made a huge difference."I feel a huge part of the squad and don't want it to end. I want to be here to the end now I've been in."After that game on Saturday, I was like 'I want a jersey, 'I want a cap, I want to play'. Now I am going to get that opportunity and I want to go out there and stay until the end."This is the last chance for boys to put their hand up for Test two and three, so there is that bit of added pressure."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Finn Russell urges Lions to show no mercy and hand wounded Aussies a Tour whitewash
FINN RUSSELL has urged the British and Irish Lions to end their Australian tour 'on a high' by securing a historic 3-0 whitewash over the Wallabies in Sydney on Saturday. Andy Farrell's men won the series courtesy of Hugo Keenan's dramatic late try in an epic 29-26 victory in the second Test in Melbourne at the weekend. Now Scotland fly-half Russell is calling on the tourists to show their hosts no mercy by achieving the Lions' first clean sweep since 1927. Relishing one of 'the best nights of my life', the 32-year-old said: 'Everyone here has been gunning for this for their whole career. 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. 'Sydney is the final destination, everyone wants to play in that game. 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.' Russell didn't have his finest games on Saturday but still proved influential in a match which saw the Lions launch a magnificent comeback after trailing 23-5 after half an hour. The Australians produced a strirring performance after a lukewarm display in the first Test, but Russell insisted that neither he nor his team-mates panicked. 'Surely you guys know me enough now that if I miss a conversion, it's not going to be the end of the world,' he said. 'I felt pretty chilled, pretty calm. We had a lot of momentum, we were on top of them at the end of it. We had them on the ropes when Blair (Kinghorn) broke through. 'There was no stress. The whole team was amazing. Jac Morgan's cleanout that obviously created the try, it was just sticking to what we were doing, just playing rugby.' Russell admitted he could finally appreciate his Lions experience after being parachuted into his first tour as a late call-up in New Zealand in 2017, before injury hampered him in South Africa four years later. 'You've got to appreciate every part of it,' he said. '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 my life].' Meanwhile, Australian rugby boss Phil Waugh has demanded an explanation from World Rugby about the decision to award the Lions' series-clinching try. The Wallabies were furious that referee Andrea Piardi did not disallow Keenan's 80th minute try for what they perceived to be an illegal clear-out by Morgan on Carlo Tizzano. Head coach Joe Schmidt pointed the finger at the match officials immediately after the match, questioning their ability to look after player safety. Schmidt has been backed by his bosses, although governing body officials are not expected to take action. 'We've got the utmost respect in respecting the referee's decision,' said Waugh, the Rugby Australia CEO. 'But I do think there's a level of accountability and explanation that needs to come with that. And we look forward to that. 'My response is absolutely identical to Joe's comments in the press conference. 'I played professionally for 13 years and Joe's coached professionally for 20 years and both our views, and all those organisationally, are very aligned with what Joe talked to in that post-match press conference. 'Probably the number one priority for World Rugby is player welfare and we've seen great progress made in that space, and in a lot of ways World Rugby lead world sport in protecting the safety of players. So the progress the game globally has made can't be underestimated. World Rugby should be very proud around their leadership position on player welfare.'
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Andy Farrell's victorious Lions stand on the verge of all-time greatness
It was the vastly experienced Sir Ian McGeechan who best summed it up. In 1997 the master coach told his squad that, should they return home as winning British & Irish Lions, they would have a lifelong bond; that when two old teammates passed each other in the street, 30 years on, words would be superfluous. A simple look would be enough to bring their shared memories flooding back. Be special for the rest of your lives, Geech urged his players. And, 28 years later, it is now the turn of the boys of 2025. To say the series-clinching 29-26 victory against Australia in Melbourne on Saturday was a remarkable occasion is to undersell it. Watched by more than 90,000 supporters – a record for any Lions Test – it ranked up there with the most gripping Tests of the modern era. And when Maro Itoje and co hobble stiffly into the pub in July 2055 for their 30th anniversary reunion, they will still be counting their blessings. The raucous post‑match singing in the dressing sheds, sitting out together in the middle of the MCG pitch after the crowd had gone, the unbeatable satisfaction of knowing their collective mission was finally accomplished. What a second Test it was, everyone will agree. And what a simply magnificent backdrop. At which point someone will turn to Jac Morgan, quietly sipping his beer in the corner, and say: 'Just as well they didn't ping you for that clear-out, Jaco! What would have happened if we'd lost?' No one will ever know the answer but the episode perfectly summed up the paper-thin margins in top‑level contact sport. Because let's pretend, momentarily, that Morgan had been penalised for piling into the Wallabies replacement Carlo Tizzano. Hugo Keenan's subsequent dramatic late try would have been ruled out, the series would have been tied at 1-1 with one to play and the initiative would have been with Australia. The Wallabies might have had to resurrect a few weary bodies for the final Test in Sydney but, equally, so would the dismayed Lions. Either way, the series would have been turned on its head. And while Joe Schmidt's anger after the game was understandable to some degree, given the stakes, the main takeaway from the game had little to do with the Italian referee Andrea Piardi or his fellow officials. The inconvenient truth is that rugby's lawbook contains so many grey areas that every close-run contest is, to some extent, a lottery. By the absolute letter of the law it may well be that Morgan technically transgressed. But had the clear-out occurred at any other stage of the game it is quite possible the incident would not even have been flagged up. If a referee scrutinised minutely every single offence at every single breakdown, games would last indefinitely. And that's before Tizzano's slightly theatrical reaction, aimed clearly at influencing Piardi, is factored into the equation. There is, of course, a highly pertinent precedent here. Remember the final moments of the 2017 Lions tour to New Zealand when Sam Warburton talked the referee Romain Poite into not awarding a last-minute penalty for an accidental offside and the series was controversially shared? Then, as now, rugby can ill afford its highest-profile, most exciting games to be remembered primarily for hairline refereeing decisions. If something is not clear and obvious, play on. On that basis, it is not at all controversial to conclude that Piardi got the big call right and that Schmidt should not have criticised him. Equally, though, Schmidt was right to observe that players are in an increasingly unenviable position, trapped between their coaches' demands that they make a significant physical impact and the consequences of even a marginal miscalculation. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion There is one instant possible solution: adopt rugby league's 'captain's challenge' rule that allows a captain to query an on-field decision. While the Wallabies' captain, Harry Wilson, would have been unsuccessful in this instance because the officials ultimately did not believe a penalty against Morgan was merited, he would have been potentially able to flag it up. But enough already. The recovery from 23-5 down on Saturday was the biggest comeback in Lions' history. Complete a 3-0 clean sweep and it will be the first time the touring side have won every Test of a multigame series in 98 years. In the shape of the magnificent Finn Russell, Jamison Gibson-Park, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Beirne and Itoje they have top-class performers who would have graced the best Lions teams of any era. Collectively, too, their competitive spirit and heart cannot be faulted. And in their match-winner Keenan, once a member of Blackrock College's U14C team, they also have conclusive proof that you should never give up on your sporting dreams. Andy Farrell said: 'If you're a child watching that back home, do you want to be a British and Irish Lion? One hundred per cent.' As with McGeechan before him, Farrell now ranks alongside the most exalted Lion kings of all time, with two series triumphs against Australia in his swag. Win again on Saturday and, regardless of their close call at the MCG, the 2025 vintage will be the toast of Britain and Ireland.
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Caroline Wozniacki announces major personal news one year on from ex Rory McIlroy's divorce drama
Caroline Wozniacki has welcomed her third child with retired NBA forward and husband David Lee, the tennis star has announced. Wozniacki, 35, shared the heartwarming news on Instagram three months after revealing that she and Lee, 42, were expecting another baby. The loved-up couple, who tied the knot back in June 2019 after getting engaged two years earlier, already have a three-year-old daughter, Olivia, and a two-year-old son, James. And the former Australian Open champion announced Saturday that they have expanded their family again following the birth of son Max. Alongside an adorable photo of her two other children holding the newborn baby in their arms, Wozniacki wrote on Instagram: 'Max Wozniacki Lee, born July 26, 2025! Mom and baby are healthy and our family couldnt be happier!' Wozniacki's latest child with Lee, a former NBA All-Star power forward who played for the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors amongst others, comes almost a year on from ex-fiance Rory McIlroy 's shocking divorce drama. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Caroline Wozniacki (@carowozniacki) McIlroy was in a relationship with the Grand Slam winner for three years before dramatically breaking off their engagement in 2014 after admitting he was not ready for marriage. Three years later he did tie the knot with current wife Erica Stoll. Last year, however, the five-time major champion filed to divorce Stoll after serving her with papers at their home in Florida, only to U-turn on that proposal less than a month later. Rumors suggested that McIlroy had been having some form of a relationship with CBS Sports' Amanda Balionis while they were both out on tour. None of these rumors have been proven and neither Balionis nor McIlroy have outright addressed them. By June, less than a full month after Stoll was served, the filing was withdrawn and the couple have remained together. A sporting super-couple, McIlroy and Wozniacki were together between 2011 and 2013 before he ended the relationship when he said he was not ready for marriage. The duo had sent out wedding invitations after a New Year's Eve proposal in Sydney and Wozniacki posted: 'Happy New Year everyone! Rory and I started 2014 with a bang! I said YES!!!!' But only months later, McIlroy changed his mind. At the time, he put out a statement, reading: 'There is no right way to end a relationship that has been so important to two people. 'The problem is mine. The wedding invitations issued at the weekend made me realise that I wasn't ready for all that marriage entails. 'I wish Caroline all the happiness she deserves and thank her for the great times we've had. I will not be saying anything more about our relationship in any setting.' Wozniacki has since admitted to being stunned at the way in which the break-up was handled. She previously told Graham Bensinger: 'I was shocked. I thought at least I would get a face-to-face or something, but there was nothing. It was a phone call, and I did not hear from him again. It kind of just ended.
