<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>RuggaWorld &#187; British &amp; Irish Lions Tour 2009</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.ruggaworld.com/category/lions-tour-2009/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.ruggaworld.com</link>
	<description></description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:59:21 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.3</generator>
		<item>
		<title>Boks did not win friends</title>
		<link>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/12/boks-did-not-win-friends/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/12/boks-did-not-win-friends/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:40:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Boertjie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[British & Irish Lions Tour 2009]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Springboks]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/12/boks-did-not-win-friends/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was in England last weekend, eagerly looking forward to an afternoon of rugby and banter in the company of my brother, long-time resident there, and our respective sons, one born in England, the other a loyal backer of the Boks. Colin Bryden, Sunday Times For us South Africans, there had already been the disappointment of hearing the team announcement. Ten changes to a winning team? For a Test against the Lions, one of rugbyâ€™s iconic opponents? Even so, we hoped for an invigorating game and a chance to get in some verbal thrusts at moments of Springbok supremacy. It wasnâ€™t to be. My brotherâ€™s son noticed them first. â€œWhat are they wearing on their arms?â€? he asked. As soon as I saw a close- up of the amateurishly- scrawled protest about Bakkies Bothaâ€™s suspension I knew I was in for a miserable afternoon. Where was the focus of this team? Where was the discipline and the moral leadership? This was a Test, for goodness sake, the chance to participate in which a million schoolboys dream about. And, in this professional age, a match for which the public had been charged an extortionate amount to watch. When the cameras panned [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/12/boks-did-not-win-friends/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>27</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Lions want more input</title>
		<link>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/11/lions-want-more-input/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/11/lions-want-more-input/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:06:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Boertjie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[British & Irish Lions Tour 2009]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/11/lions-want-more-input/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The final duty of every Lions manager is to prepare a full report on the tour for the Four Home Unions and, judging by our last conversation in South Africa, Gerald Davies will not be pulling any punches. &#8220;Wrapping the Springboks&#8217; squad in cotton wool made a mockery of some of the provincial games and that short-changed everybody.&#8221; John Taylor, ESPN Scrum His first recommendation will be that his successor is appointed much earlier in the four year cycle &#8211; in fact the sooner the better. I expressed surprise that the match itinerary was not more sympathetic to the Lions and was amazed when he told me he had had no input because it had all been settled before he was appointed. He believes there was some discussion before it was finalised but could not tell me who had represented the Lions. He was clearly unhappy with the sequence of matches. Presumably, Davies was appointed because he is now a proven administrator and was a distinguished Lion with experience of touring South Africa in 1968. I was on the same tour and, incredibly, it seems as if SARU dictate the match calendar as much now as they did then. Our [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/11/lions-want-more-input/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Through the looking glass</title>
		<link>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/07/the-looking-glass/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/07/the-looking-glass/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:28:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Boertjie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[British & Irish Lions Tour 2009]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Springboks]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/07/the-looking-glass/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Will the Springboks still be the world champions or will the steady decline predicted after the break-up of John Smitâ€™s 2007 World Cup winners have left South Africa among the also-rans?Â  Dan Retief, SuperRugbyÂ  Will there still be room for Lions tours or would the avaricious ambitions of the money men have assured the total control of every waking moment of every top player and made international competition obsolete? By then, with the help of all kinds of medical aids and magical anti-inflammatories, Iâ€™ll hopefully be in my 70th year and probably not even be sitting in front of a keyboard. Who knows I may even be hooked up to some little cellular gizmo by pods attached to the temples and the machine will interpret what it is I want to say and send a perfect piece of spell-checked copy to a million news sites contained within peopleâ€™s wrist-watches! One would probably have to get a quote or two from those who were there. John Smit, South Africaâ€™s greatest captain, will be hard to get hold of on his game estate in Zumaland and loath to break the media silence he imposed on himself when he finally escaped from the [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/07/the-looking-glass/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>31</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Boks had no hope</title>
		<link>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/05/boks-had-no-hope/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/05/boks-had-no-hope/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:06:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[British & Irish Lions Tour 2009]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Springboks]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/05/boks-had-no-hope/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In hindsight: If one is honest, very few players wouldâ€™ve been able to remain mentally sharp the week after they&#8217;d achieved a crucial 2-0 series-winning lead in a Test series against the British and Irish Lions. Louis de Villiers, Sport24 Nothing illustrates this better than the humiliating 28-9 defeat the Springboks suffered on Saturday â€“ and which one could have predicted early in the week already. It was a week in which the players had to concentrate on Saturday&#8217;s match and play the game on merit. But instead the days preceding the match were a circus. If you talk to Peter de Villiers one-on-one, he is interesting and coherent, but it is beginning to appear as if there is some kind of short circuit when the Bok coach is confronted by a horde of journalists. Last week, he had the media spotlight thrust upon him with a series of his own proverbs about congratulations and fingers in the eyes of game park lions, which understandably got the British media excited. In addition to that, the team selection was nonsensical: if you want to test a different centre pair, what is the point of choosing a totally different back three, No [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/05/boks-had-no-hope/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>&#8216;Lions were better&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/05/lions-were-better/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/05/lions-were-better/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:51:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[British & Irish Lions Tour 2009]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/05/lions-were-better/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[South African captain John Smit and coach Peter de Villiers on Saturday both conceded that the Springboks were beaten by a better team after the touring British and Irish Lions had won the third Test in Johannesburg. Sport24 &#8220;They had more intensity and their win was well-deserved,&#8221; said Smit, and De Villiers added that he was grateful they had won the series, a goal they had set themselves. The Lions won the third Test 28-9. Although the loss was disappointing, De Villiers said that it would stand the Boks in good stead for the Tri-Nations with the Springboks playing the first of their six matches on July 25. &#8220;How would you know if you didn&#8217;t take the chances?&#8221; he answered when asked whether he felt he had done the right thing by making 10 changes to the side which had won the second Test. &#8220;We now know what we have to do for the Tri-Nations,&#8221; was his view. And, although the Boks may have missed suspended lock Bakkies Botha, De Villiers gave full credit to the Lions. &#8220;We need to honour them for how they played,&#8221; he said. Smit said the series was a great experience from start to finish [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/05/lions-were-better/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>38</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Patchwork Lions humble Boks</title>
		<link>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/04/patchwork-lions-humble-boks/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/04/patchwork-lions-humble-boks/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:34:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Boertjie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[British & Irish Lions Tour 2009]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/04/patchwork-lions-humble-boks/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Itâ€™s tempting to suggest that by wearing white armbands to protest Bakkies Bothaâ€™s two- week ban for foul play, the Springboks had things other than a rugby match on their minds here yesterday. Simnikiwe Xabanisa, Sunday TimesÂ  But the sadder truth is that John Smit and his men tried, but just werenâ€™t good enough to beat a British &#38; Irish Lions side hellbent on redemption after losing the first two Tests of the three-match series. The Springboks were outplayed, out-muscled and out-thought. The only thing the Lions didnâ€™t win, perhaps, was the fisticuffs that broke out 10 minutes before the final whistle. But even then, the Lions won a penalty that put them further ahead. The point of this game for the Lions was to salvage some pride. And, as performances go, they donâ€™t come prouder than invoking the spirit of the 1974 â€œInvinciblesâ€? â€” Ian McGeechanâ€™s men equalled their feat of inflicting the biggest defeat on the Boks in the 118-year history of contest between these two great foes. The Lions, who fielded a patchwork side of the last-man-standing variety, also equalled the record for the greatest winning margin in a performance laden with attitude. A mark of how [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/04/patchwork-lions-humble-boks/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>13</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Beaten Boks rated</title>
		<link>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/04/beaten-boks-rated/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/04/beaten-boks-rated/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:44:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Boertjie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[British & Irish Lions Tour 2009]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Springboks]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/04/beaten-boks-rated/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Springboks were well and truly beaten in Johannesburg. After 10 changes, the off-field antics of their coach, two citings with suspension and then their protest about the &#8220;ridiculous&#8221; suspension of Bakkies Botha, they were a fairly bedraggled lot, playing without cohesion or conviction. RUGBY365Â  The Lions on the other hand were filled with determination especially when it came to tackling and what happens afterwards. They did what the Lions did in 1938 and 1980 &#8211; win the last Test with the series lost. In the first Test the Springbok substitutions were not good and nearly lost the match for South Africa. In the second Test the substitutions made a great contribution to the winning of the Test. In this match it is hard to see what of the 10 changes were worth making. Only Zane Kirchner and MornÃ© Steyn came out of the match with plusses. And certainly Bakkies Botha was sorely missed. Even Victor Matfield was a lesser man without Botha. Paul Dobson rates the Springboks out of ten: 15 Zane Kirchner: 7 Playing his first Test he performed with great confidence and skill from the start. He wants to play and wants to run. Substituted 16 minutes [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/04/beaten-boks-rated/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>27</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Lions support Bakkies</title>
		<link>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/03/lions-support-bakkies/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/03/lions-support-bakkies/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:48:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>MornÃ©</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[British & Irish Lions Tour 2009]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Disciplinary]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/03/lions-support-bakkies/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Andy Sheridan and Lions coach Ian McGeechan has expressed concern over the Bakkies ruling. Stephen Nell &#8211; Sport24 Springbok lock Bakkies Botha received support from an unexpected source when the British and Irish Lions expressed indignation about his suspension. Botha was earlier in the week suspended for two weeks after he &#8220;dangerously&#8221; cleared out a ruck and in the process dislocated the shoulder of Welsh prop, Adam Jones. Botha&#8217;s appeal against the suspension failed. &#8220;The rule now is that you have to bind onto another player before you charge into a ruck but I find that very difficult. There will always be initial contact with the shoulder and I will definitely not adapt my style of playing,&#8221; said the English loosehead prop Andrew Sheridan. The formidable English looshead prop replaces injured Gethin Jenkins in the Lions starting team for Saturday&#8217;s third Test. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know if players will now be cited on the grounds that someone was injured. I am sure you can find several incidents in matches where something similar happens without anyone being injured,&#8221; said Sheridan. &#8220;Bakkies is a very physical and hard-working lock. I respect him. I have often approached rucks in the same way. It was [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/03/lions-support-bakkies/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>11</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Dead rubber? Not in your life!</title>
		<link>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/03/dead-rubber-not-in-your-life/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/03/dead-rubber-not-in-your-life/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:02:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>MornÃ©</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[British & Irish Lions Tour 2009]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/03/dead-rubber-not-in-your-life/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This series is anything but settled, there is a lot of personal scores to settle. Ken Borland &#8211; IOL Saturday&#8217;s third and final Test between South Africa and the British Irish Lions is anything but a &#8216;dead rubber&#8217; to those involved, despite the series being settled and 17 changes in the two starting teams. Morne Steyn&#8217;s last-minute, 53-metre penalty in Pretoria last week secured a 28-25 victory and an unassailable 2-0 lead for the World champions following their five-point win in Durban. Injuries, suspension and, in South Africa&#8217;s case, experimentation, have led to a raft of changes, with the Springboks keeping only five of their starting team from Loftus Versfeld and the Lions eight for the finale at Ellis Park. That might point to a devalued match but, with both sides aware that there has never been a series whitewash between them in 118 years and with a huge amount of personal pride at stake, another mighty confrontation is on the cards. &#8220;I think we can show the same intensity. Everything isn&#8217;t on the line like it was last Saturday but still, for a lot of us, it&#8217;s a chance to pull on a Lions test jersey again,&#8221; said Lions [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/03/dead-rubber-not-in-your-life/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Time for action</title>
		<link>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/03/time-for-action/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/03/time-for-action/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:40:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>MornÃ©</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[British & Irish Lions Tour 2009]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/03/time-for-action/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Wynand Olivier has worked very hard to regain his Bok spot, but he believes time for talk is over now and it is time for action. JJ Harmse - Sport24 Springbok centre Wynand Olivier has waited a long time to make it back into the national side and that is why he wants to ensure that Saturday&#8217;s third Test against the British and Irish Lions at Coca-Cola Park is a big one. Olivier last played for the Springboks in 2007, but after an excellent Super14 season this year, Peter de Villiers p[ulled him into the national squad. &#8220;I feel I haven&#8217;t really played a big Test for the Boks, so hopefully people will remember me as a player who played a very good game against the Lions,&#8221; Olivier said. He has played five times against the All Blacks and England and four times against the Wallabies but feels this Test against the Lions will be something special. &#8220;It is special because it is the Lions. But I am also determined to play for a place in the starting team.&#8221; Olivier is especially pleased to have MornÃ© Steyn on his inside and Jaque Fourie on his outside. &#8220;Jaque and I, especially [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.ruggaworld.com/2009/07/03/time-for-action/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>11</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

