A DECADE MAY have numbed the pain, but not the crushing disappointment of Irish fans.
Brian O’Driscoll wasn’t just Ireland’s iconic star player and the poster boy for a rise from hopefuls to contenders. He was Ireland’s first Lions captain in the pro era, the first since Ciaran Fitzgerald took the team to New Zealand in 1983.
Fitzgerald’s squad lost the Test series 4 – 0, and still had a better experience that the Clive Woodward expedition south.
The All Blacks showed their best and worst traits in that opening minute. A quick-tap penalty, ambitious running rugby, efficient clear-outs, aggressive attack, an almost flawless kick for territory. But somewhere mixed in between, there was the apparent ruthless targeting of their opponent’s finest player.
Then 26, O’Driscoll was a lone Lion attempting to disrupt a black ruck. Tana Umaga initially stood firm as pillar until he realised that the Irishman in fact had not been cleared out, he was behind him.
Umaga turns. Justin Marshall spins the ball clear.
Keven Mealamu heaves BOD up and back, Umaga lifts the left leg, Mealamu the right.
Man down.
With spin doctor Alistair Campbell on board the Lions tour bus, this wasn’t going to be something easily swept under the carpet.
But did the whole Lions family get a little too up in arms? Maybe we had every right to after the citing commissioner managed to decide that the hosts had no case to answer.
Kiwis certainly felt the tourists were being a little over-sensitive, the entire nation went defensive on the issue – a stance that is far removed from their rugby philosophy – nobody more so than Umaga, who detailed the fall-out from the spear tackle in his 2007 autobiography, and was still unwilling to give up any ground.
“My first thought was ‘jeez, don’t be a sook; there’s no use crying about it, man. It’s over,’ wrote the All Black.
“But it just snowballed and O’Driscoll kept going on about the fact that I hadn’t rung him to say sorry. I finally obtained his number and got hold of him but it wasn’t a warm exchange.
“He was still angry that I hadn’t gone over to see how he was and once he’d got that off his chest, he accused me of being involved in a lot of off-the-ball incidents. When he started talking about off-the-ball stuff and me not being a gentleman I thought ‘oh, you’re reaching now’.
I never went out to commit foul play: I didn’t punch guys on the ground or stomp on them. So I said, ‘Oh well, mate, we’ll just have to agree to disagree. I’m sorry for what happened to you but there was no intent in it; it was one of those unfortunate things that happen in rugby.
“He said, ‘Yeah, but you could’ve helped it’. ‘Okay, mate,’ I said, ‘all the best’ And that was where we left it.”
Until 2009.
A pre-season tip to Nice presented O’Driscoll with a decision: bury the hatchet or send it flying at the man who was his opposite number on 25 June 2005.
“I thought, “Maybe, this is the time when you need to be the bigger man and go over and shake hands,” O’Driscoll told The Telegraph.
“I went over to him and did just that. We chatted for a while and that was the end of it.”
The words ‘spear tackle’, ‘shoulder,’ dislocated’, ‘surgery’ or ‘sorry’ never really came up. Just two brilliant centres engaged in awkward conversation for the sake of it.
Should have been two red cards
Complete and utter filth. How they got away with it is a disgrace
The entire episode is still pretty shocking but anyone who has watched a little international rugby will know that the all blacks have always employed dirty tactics whenever threatened and have always received favourtism from the IRB.
BOD showed he was the bigger man and gent whereas Umaga appeared a callous, unsportsman $cumbag.
Have to lol at the “we’re not playing tiddlywinks brian” banner. Kiwi players and fans can dish it out but if anyone looks to match them they turn into a pack of rabid dogs – as they did in their pursuit of Quade Cooper a few years ago.
arrr man shut the hell up look at our win percentage clown so every game all blacks are cheats an get away with cheap shots idiots like u obviously played tiddly winks GAA wat happened shud have a red but shit happens move on cry babies yor team was shite clive was outta his depth yor team were outta there depth
Is that English?
Nobody will ever convince me that that man was able to write a book. Was it mostly pictures?
Goes hand in hand with the usual All Blacks can do no wrong attitude here in NZ. The ABs are never beaten, they lose matches by not playing well, or the ref screwing them. Bring up the 99 RWC and they literally will not talk about it. Bring up 07 and it’s all Barnes this, forward pass that. This week, on the anniversary of 1995, they are still moaning about the 95 team supposedly being poisoned by a phantom black waitress in the team hotel
Who’s upvoting this clown? He can’t even spell. Is it supposed to be a parody of a boorish jackass or something?
A personal attack instead of addressing what I said sums it up really.
Wayne Barnes 2007; karma
Carter’s performance in the 2nd test is still the best I’ve ever seen
In fairness to the guy, somebody obviously left a waffle iron running on his face as a child.
I think it should be made a public holiday in remembrance. Never forget.
I think this was the ultimate compliment to BOD.. Here we have a paddy that was so good and the all blacks feared so much that the only plan the best team in the world could come up with to stop him was to take him out..
I wonder does BOD look back and share my view☀️☀️..
The RFU were afraid to upset the kiwis.. should have been cited but then again there is no point in crying about it!