In response to Bosvark. The Botha challenge was illegal­ because he hit the man at a charge without binding­ first. This is the law. It was dangerous but not­ intentional therefore sin bin. You can see Botha bind­ seconds after hitting Jones out of the way so I believe­ it to be an issue of getting his timing wrong hence­ shouldn't have been a citing as non-intentional. If­ you are going to go into a ruck like that you have to­ get the timing exactly right.

The SA management­ believe that this shouldn't have even been a­ penalty because he did exactly the same earlier on and­ didn't get penalised. To me that just says he got­ away with cheating the first time.

I don't speak­ for the whole rugby world just report what I believe to­ be public opinion. I didn't get to read the Backy­ article but if balanced then it was the first of the­ week. Every other article I read reported that the­ lions could consider themselves unlucky since Burger­ shpuld not have returned to the pitch. There was­ ugliness from both sides (eg BOD should have been­ binned)

Re Ricky Ponting. He is undoubtedly a great­ talent and he can be admired for that but he is no­ sportsman. He is the sort of bloke who would bowl­ underarm to win a test match, the sort of bloke who­ claims catches when TV replays clearly show they hit­ the ground first, the sort of bloke who doesn't­ walk when clearly out (I believe he is responsible for­ this growing aspect of the game). I speak for the­ aussies because I am half aussie. I was living in­ Sydney when the press turned on him so all I am doing­ is relaying facts.

Today was a great day that­ vindicated all of the gripes by the Lions fans about­ the first 2 tests. It showed that when SA are forced to­ play within the laws of the game (they had to because­ they'd made such a fuss about Botha) they get­ thumped. Good and proper. What was it about try count­ that matters. 3-0 must hurt a lot then. Lions came out­ of series winners. Despite the series win (yeah

Tonypearce189 - Don't know whether it's a­ country difference but I was always taught "Rugby­ is a thugs' game played by gentlemen and football­ is a gentlemen's game played by thugs" hence­ my quote. I agree that you should brace for impact but­ that's not my point; if you break the law and get­ caught, shut up, take your punishment and get on with­ it. It'll be interested if Lion's 8 cited or­ an identical entrance into a ruck. If it was down to­ me, I'd cite him because it too broke the same law­ as Botha.

Well Sean, it was "A game for oafs, played by­ gentlemen". The reverse was footy. Bosvark, I­ agree, Rugby is a contact sport; but you should be able­ to anticipate the contact,( like Os when he went to­ tackle Scot Gibbs!). Off the ball, unexpected foul play­ should be punished. As for The Sloop, pay no heed, how­ he can equate the Springbok with racism is beyond me.­ That lovely "Black Pearl", Chester Williams­ was proud to wear the emblem, as was Errol Tobias.

I­ think Botha is unlucky, but should have been binned-it­ was after all an illegal tackle.

Let's hope this­ afternoon will have no "99", just good,clean­ and hard Rugby.

The only VICTIM was Adam Jones, from a COWARDS­ challenge.
Lucky to only get a 2-week ban and not to be­ charged with unprovoked assault.
Same old South Africa­ who come to fight and not play Rugby, and gutless­ referees and touch judges.

Jeez, Bosvark said it well enough.
My view:­ Burger's probably out for much longer that 8 weeks,­ since Brussouw won't leave him a place in the team.­ It might even be the end of him. I would be fine with­ that, although I respect Burger's freaky genetics,­ and even his off the field intelligence (he's very­ articulate, I would recommend watching him being­ interviewed), I have no respect for his short fuse. He­ has a crazy switch somewhere. I remember when he gave­ the middlefinger to an assistant ref here in SA. I­ never thought I's see the day...
Apparently, once­ he steps on the field, it's all a matter of­ flipping that switch (or he flips it himself).
So, what­ a waste of talent.
But, I (and a whole bunch of people)­ draw the line in regards to Bakkies Botha's­ citing.
It happens in every game I watch (and I watch­ ENOUGH). The only difference is: When Bakkies does it­ there will invariably be a higher chance of injury on­ the recieving end. Someone got hurt.
Oh no. Jeez. You­ mean to tell me someone actually got injured playing­ rugby?!
I always thought it was a game of grace and­ beauty, of people skipping and jumping on a field­ tossing an egg shaped ball to each other, sometimes­ hugging each other for fun!
How could I have been so­ wrong?! I say: Stamp out the evil!
Ban all physical­ contact!
Not even touching should be allowed, wait! Not­ even looking at each other in a hurtful manner should­ be allowed.
Let's be REAL safe.

Its funny that no one mentions the Lions 99 call to­ attack every Springbok by Willie Johns Lions. ­ Selective memoriy or what??????????
Apologies to all­ out there about our damn racist coach.

John B PE­ South Africa

Boris: I thought is was the 6 nations? Or doesn't­ Italy count?

That has got to be the best excuse so­ far!! We shouldn't play the Boks because "The­­ BOKS name also has overtones of racism and apartide­ for­ many Brits".
LOL.

Well, you are going to­ have a hell of a time finding anyone to play then once­ you have taken that moral high ground, mate. Why then,­ you shouldn't play footy with Italy or the Germans,­ because of the world wars; or Argentina, because of the­ Falklands; or the Scots, because of the battle of­ Falkirk; or the Aussies, because they make fun of you­ all the time and thrash you at cricket; and of course­ you could never play the French at anything...

I am­ sorry that you are such a sensitive bunch, and that the­ Springbok name offends you so. But if the Springboks­ are truly a symbol of apartheid, don't you think­ that free post-apartheid South Africans have more right­ to decide on what they want to call their national­ rugby team than anyone else?

What a pompous load of­ horsesh..!

(It's Apartheid, dude-­ "apartide" sounds like washing powder).

John B: You speak for a lot of people- the whole rugby­ world, fair playing Australians, the whole cricketing­ world... I would be very careful about being such a­ universal self-appointed spokesman. Ponting may not­ particularly liked in South Africa either, but boy, he­ is well respected and admired as a superb and skillful­ competitor. The theme that I get from your post is that­ you seem to confuse high level competitiveness and hard­ streetwise play with unsportsmanship. I think we can­ safely all agree that Burger's play disgusting and­ unsportsmanlike.

You concede that Botha should­ not have been cited. Yet why do you think he should­ have been binned? Can you state what was illegal or­ dirt about his challenge?
Even the Lions management,­ to their credit, support Botha (just read "Lions­ offer solace to Springbok Botha over ban" on this­ website).
I disagree with your interpretation of the­ second test: yes,the Lions front row was decimated by­ injury- one by Botha, the other self inflicted- that­ forced the uncontested scrums but not by devious­ design. I think the significant turning point of the­ match was not the uncontested scrums, but the blood­ binning of Danie Russouw (from an un-penalised­ dangerous tackle by BOD), that allowed Brussow to take­ the field. Neil Back in his article today writes a­ balanced piece that compliments the Boks passion and­ desire to win, and three superb tries to one speaks­ volumes to me.
I reject your conspiratory theory that­ the The Boks are coached and instructed to ­ deliberately take players out of the game, and the­ notion of a "win at all costs" nation.
Lions­ pride vs. Bok arrogance? You see what you choose to­ see.

No. 22. I guess thats the difference between brits and­ the south africans. When we see injustice we speak up­ and tell people we are not happy about it. If you want­ to call that winging, then, yes we are wingers.

By­ what you say you'd be happy to let a team cheat­ their way to a win over you and you'd say nothing­ about it. Isn't that cowardice?

When a team­ deserves the win we don't give excuses just praise­ where it is due. You didn't hear any excuses when­ you thrashed England in the world cup. I'm not sure­ anyone in their right mind praises a side that­ doesn't deserve it.

To no:16. First you call the boks "bully­ boys", then in the next sentence you call the­ lions "too soft, not enough hard men in the­ team". Rugby is a tough game and is played around­ the world by equally tough boys. Players get injured,­ full stop. If you watched the last game you would have­ seen many lions players going in just as hard as the­ boks, BOD etc etc. There have been many unlawful­ intentions in all the games and I think it is just sour­ grapes from some lions supporters because the bokke­ have won the series, even with a game to go. Your once­ great nation who ruled the world now have people who­ whine and whinge about every soppy little thing. Curse­ and shout when the game is on, but when it's­ finished do as we do; shake everyone's hand, light­ the fire and we all get pissed together. Yes it's­ more than a game, but we all love it!! Roll on no.3­ & hope you all have a great game tomorrow!! UP THE­ BOKKE!!

Smit is deluded if he thought that decision was gonna­ be overturned, whether it was or was not a fair charge.­ From what I saw he deserved to be binned but not cited.­ The Burger gouging incident was worse but it was the­ Botha incident that ruined the game, effectively ending­ the Lions dominance in the pack. You can't dominate­ an uncontested scrum.

In my view the Boks were getting­ a pounding by the Lions forwards and instructions were­ to take as many out of the game as possible. For some­ on this forum, these tactics would seem justified. they­ certainly achieved their objective but without the­ dirty handed tactics the Lions would have cruised the­ win. Gladly the whole of the rugby world knows this,­ only the deluded believe otherwise.

These incidents­ have further stained the Springboks reputation as a­ nation who must win at all cost. They are heading the­ way aussie cricket went and will duly receive a­ backlash from their own just like Ricky Ponting did.­ Not only do the whole cricketing world hate RP but so­ do fair playing australians who hounded him in the­ press for being unsportsmanlike.

For those that say­ 'rugby is a hard game, if you can't take it­ don't play it'. I totally agree. I used to­ enjoy nothing better than dishing out a good battering­ on a Saturday afternoon but it was all legal and no-one­ went out to maim or deliberately take people out of the­ game. It was a thing we used to call sportsmanship.­ Perhaps they've never heard of that in South­ Africa.

Bosvark, well said friend. Lets play rugby

Keith:
No, of course I don't endorse Burgers'­ actions. Nor does Smit nor the SA rugby public in­ general.

I think some things go without saying.

No 15 "John Smit is pure class. This guy­ represents what the­ spirit rugby is all about"­

He didnt look too classy when he was askin the­ referee to show Simon Shaw a yellow card in the 2nd­ test like some petulent footballer!

Comment 15, I agree Smit is class, but no comment on­ Burger or do you endorse that kind of rugby?????

Good luck THE LIONS, let's win the last test­ playing rugby. Show the BULLY BOYS how it's­ done.
Pity we had no one like Fran Cotton or Willie­ John, this tour party seems to be a bit too soft. Not­ enough hard\men to sort out the opposition. But­ we've taken it now lets give it and finish on a­ high.

John Smit is pure class.
This guy represents what the­ spirit rugby is all about.