2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia

@Catogrande

Just finished Ian Foster's book (@His-Bobness recommendation) and he makes some interesting comments on refereeing consistency.

Was told by a referee it was felt the AB's had got off lightly after an AB game had been reviewed by a panel and should have received 4 yellow cards. Lo and behold in the next Test or two the ABs had more decisions going against them - inc. 2 YCs - than was normal.

He's not one to moan, unlike some, and isn't in his book - but makes a valid point about Refs being influenced by peer pressure and it causing serious problems for players and coaches. Subtext was refereeing has become a bit of a mess and the whole structure needs to be looked at for the good of the game.

@Victor-Meldrew

I'd like to say that surprised me but the reality is that referees are now subject to an incredible level of scrutiny with slo-mo footage from God knows how many different camera angles and this backed up by aggressive comments and accusations from some of the coaching teams. It is bound to happen that they react to all this. What the answer is I don't know but I'm guessing that some of those wonderful marketing guys will be telling all the suits that the TMO interference etc all adds to the drama and leads to more bums on seats. In which case we can expect more rather than less.

@Catogrande

Yep. It isn't the Refs that are the problem, it's the system that they work under.

The point being made is Refs are human and are being influenced by how refs as a group manage games and how they are assessed. Foster's thinks this maybe inadvertently leads to a group-think approach to how certain teams are judged which exacerbates problems and makes their job so much harder.

Group think can and does work the opposite way too though

You only have to look at RWC matches where underdogs are refereed differently if the score is close

Minnow upsetting a giant
Minnow must be cheating

@sparky Nation in decline. Simple as

@sparky I think the concept is about as bulletproof as a money spinner gets for lots of reasons. But at the same time the recent tours have been so incredibly dour with very little memorable ‘rugby’.

@game_film said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:

@sparky I think the concept is about as bulletproof as a money spinner gets for lots of reasons. But at the same time the recent tours have been so incredibly dour with very little memorable ‘rugby’.

It’s not a celebration of rugby flair

It’s a chance at rugby immortality

And for the hosts possibly their only chance

@Catogrande said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:

@nzzp said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:

@Victor-Meldrew said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:

too much gamesmanship and shit-stirring has developed with Lions tours causing a sour taste

This.

2017 was the start of my disconnection from rugby - there was no 'phew, Lions got away with one at the end' from their fans, it was 'Kieran was offside' 'ref was 100% right' etc. You saw it in this series with the cleanout at the end of the second test. Blaming the Aussie for not coming through the gate, banging on about simulation - it's all distraction from a critical call. You can argue about the ruling, but it's the shithousery around it that left a bad taste in my mouth. Holier than thou, with a plank in the eye.

Media, Woodward, Alastair Campbell, Gats, Farrell all have plenty to answer for, but the end result is a bit shit.

Re the bolded bit, I'm right with you here, such whining and so on should have no place in the game, but do not pretend that it is one sided. Rassie is the past master here (maybe he has a poster of Woodward in his bedroom)? Schmidt and the Aussie media and pundits have had an ongoing whinge about the Morgan clear out. And we still hear from Kiwis all over the place about that decision in the deciding test in 2017 and of course barnes in teh French game. And don't forget, Deans did score!

We've all got stuff like this going on in our camps.

I think once you step away from certain social media it gets a lot better. Really the Aussie media I consume moved on from the Morgan thing pretty quickly, there was a bit of ongoing coverage of the Tizzano injury but nothing I'd call hysterical.

I'm not disputing your overall point but the gnashing of teeth seems to be a relative minority of internet voices. Spending too much time in that echo chamber just fries your brain and saps your love of the game overall. Away from it my mates discussion has been a bit on the Morgan thing but more on how the players have been going, we love Skelton, hate Itoje etc. etc. etc.

And I'd imagine that goes for everywhere, every sport, every fan base.

Except Springbok fans. They are actually all pricks. Every last one of them.

@antipodean

Unfortunately the Needle was retooled himself when it was totally unnecessary.
Dont think he lost a test as coach.
Coached a great brand of rugby too!

@MiketheSnow said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:

Group think can and does work the opposite way too though

You only have to look at RWC matches where underdogs are refereed differently if the score is close

Minnow upsetting a giant
Minnow must be cheating

Not noticeable in the second Japan v Wales game. I thought Wales won fair and square and were reffed fairly.

Sorry. Not sorry.

@mohikamo said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:

@antipodean

Unfortunately the Needle was retooled himself when it was totally unnecessary.
Dont think he lost a test as coach.
Coached a great brand of rugby too!

Needle coached rugby that was played in early 60s, which if any AB team played now we would want him sacked. But the game was so different those days, and in reality there wasn't a real lot of running etc. But it was what it was , rugby of the era, I loved it, but not sure it would get many eyeballs today.

@nzzp said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:

@Victor-Meldrew said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:

too much gamesmanship and shit-stirring has developed with Lions tours causing a sour taste

This.

2017 was the start of my disconnection from rugby - there was no 'phew, Lions got away with one at the end' from their fans, it was 'Kieran was offside' 'ref was 100% right' etc. You saw it in this series with the cleanout at the end of the second test. Blaming the Aussie for not coming through the gate, banging on about simulation - it's all distraction from a critical call. You can argue about the ruling, but it's the shithousery around it that left a bad taste in my mouth. Holier than thou, with a plank in the eye.

Media, Woodward, Alastair Campbell, Gats, Farrell all have plenty to answer for, but the end result is a bit shit.

Yeah, was the beginning of the "end" we now find ourselves in for me.

The play acting from fans has extended to coaches and now the players.

I dont mind people disagreeing with a call, but dont do it in a disingenuous fashion.

Jamie Roberts was on Stan sports saying Tizzano was contacted on his upper back, when the green of his collar was visible above Morgans head....It could only be neck.

It's that sort of skullduggery that drives me mad. Its infuriating.

@Jet anyone who think it's the Lions fans only etc are being very selective. The biggest frustration is probably what we are on. Every Joe blog who watches about 20 minutes of rugby a year, can watch parts of games and decide what they want about results, and scream about it on the internet. Backed up by tv stations and comments people who love controversy to get people watching or listening. Pointing out only Lions supporters when we saw the absolute whinge fest we had from us kiwis after 2007 WC , or any other supporters means perhaps you are missing a lot. You remember the French ref stopping Wallabies for taking to long to kick ball out in test a couple of years back, but in general were pretty quiet with Tupaea's knee getting wrecked in same test. Mate it's almost all sports, and teams that I have seen.

@Dan54

Spot on. We all have them and it and which echo chamber you choose to inhabit. will inform your view about other fans etc. Which is the thing that keeps me coming back to this place -

1. We've got fluffybunnies from all over the world on here and

2. For every OTT, one eyed, jingoistic, we have 10 fairly level headed blokes and

3. We get a level of dialogue that sometimes actually changes a person point of view or at least softens it somewhat.

Although that is probably us all just getting older.