Lets have a good, hard but clean game tomorrow. Yes,­ Botha was maybe a bit unlucky, but it gives someone­ else a chance to shine. Anyway he probably got away­ with it in the past when he shouldn't have. I­ shall be there and supporting the Boks. To the Lions­ supporters, your chaps have played great rugby and the­ 2 tests have been epic encounters. You have been a bit­ unlucky not to get at least one win, but the players­ have done you proud.

Delighted to see such fair and gentlemanly comments­ from the springbok captain, he and his team deserve­ their victory. And I quite agree with him when he says­ that the ban to bakkies botha was harsh.

law 16.2 (b) states "A player joining a ruck must­ bind onto the ruck with at least one arm around the­ body of a team-mate, using the whole arm.
Penalty:­ Penalty Kick" and as it's an act of foul play,­ carding and banning is reasonable.
Yes it's a­ contact sport and "it's only illegal if you­ get caught" but he did get caught and should take­ his punishment without whining. That would show he was­ a true rugby player. Whatever happened to "A­ Thug's Game Played by Gentlemen"?

Donal d is one of these clever arse*s that likes to try­ and put a monkey boy spanner in the works on every­ site.
I think he comes from the f1 site and posts these­ snidey little remarks to give hinself a cheap thrill.­
Dont worry he knows as much about rugby as he does­ f1...(nought)

My allegiance is London Irish. Well done Exiles for­ last season but please, silverware is needed this­ season. As for South Africa v Lions, the gouging was­ disgraceful and the defence of it, equally disgusting.­ The ban should have been much longer but I guess the­ Board felt 8 weeks is enough for blinding someone. The­ Botha tackle was unlucky and maybe mistimed but I have­ seen mistimed tackles at every Premiership game. I­ think Botha should be reprieved and Burger banned for a­ year.

A serious injury sustained on the pitch moes not stay­ on the pitch - the victim may have to live with it for­ the rest of their life.

i've just watched the botha tackle again and to be­ honest i don't see too much wrong with it. fair­ enough it was a bit late but the challenge itself­ didn't look too bad. it was unfortunate that jones­ got injured but i think the ban could be a reaction to­ the burger incident, i.e a yellow card, 8 week ban etc.­ burger should have had a much more severe punishment­ for intentional gouging while personally i think­ they've been a bit @#$% botha. i'm english by­ the way, not that it matters but for some reason you­ can't comment about rugby anymore without stating­ what country you're from and where your allegiances­ lie.

It's simple, what happens on the pitch stays on the­ pitch. It is one of the reasons i have played this­ game for a long time and watched it with admiration. ­ That last game was nothing more than a brilliant epic­ encounter between two excellent teams, i for one­ can't wait for the next one.

i am a little tired of people having a go a English­ fans being vicious and vile etc. It a small minority­ that are morons, but in the main we enjoy a good game­ of rugby, whoever its against. I have watched in pubs­ and watched live many internationals , seven­ tournaments and and have never seen any trouble between­ the fans.
I for one will support any of the home­ nations when playing teams from around the world and I­ love the the whole concept of the lions. Its a shame­ the supporters cant find the same togetherness.

100% agree we need to protect the game from the pc do­ gooders. There is no reason whatsoever to have cited­ Botha, it was a good hard clean tackle and the injury­ to Adam Jones was pretty much self inflicted by his own­ poor positioning. However, on the other hand Burger­ deserved everything he got. There is no place in this­ glorious game for such cowardly and dirty play.­ I've always rated Burger as a good strong no­ nonsense player and respected him for that. But now?­ Hes just a chicken who has to gouge the eyes of a­ player half his size and from behind? Despicable and I­ hope that next time he's touring in the northern­ hemishpere he gets what should be coming to him. Not a­ gouge, just a bloody good smack in he teeth. Anyway­ he's not playing tomorrow so lets have a really­ good, hard uncompromising but fair end to the series.­ Well done the Boks, you've deserved the victory.

During my Rugby playing days in the 1950's thru­ 1960, in the UK and Northern Rhodesia, I have been­ Bashed, Battered in virtually every game, but Rugby is­ Unique, after the game everybody is Pals and we join­ and have A Few (quite a Few) Beers, thats what makes­ Rugby Union the best game in the world "Off the­ Field" all is forgiven over a Drink, TomVumba ex­ Nchanga

Well,i/we have supported over 500 games in various­ parts of the world and have only experienced anything­ but camaraderie,
HOWEVER recently returning to England­ have been on the receiving end of vicious and vile­ behaviour from English supporters for being perceived­ as not supporting the English teams.
I believe that­ some of the barbaric behaviour can be blamed on the­ still tribal,"little mentality" fermented in­ pubs across the country.!!!

Whatever happenned to the civility and cameraderie of­ Rugby Union. It is what set us apart from all other­ sports. Hard, physical contact on the field but mutual­ respect and comradeship off the field, with no­ recriminations whatsoever. In over 500 games of senior­ rugby I witnessed only two off the field acts that­ would be regarded as unacceptable behaviour. But,­ nowadays the games are increasingly being watched by­ people who have never actually played the game and­ experienced that unique on field/off field experience­ and those people show no respect to the game and its­ traditions. How long before supporters start to fight­ with each other. We are on the precipice of a dangerous­ slope and we must all pull together to make sure we do­ not start the irreversable slide into the abyss. Rugby­ officials have a responsibility to encourage players,­ fans and particularly coaches to set an example of very­ high propotion.