Rugby
news, Lions tour, Paul o Connell, british and irish lions, munster rugby
Paul
O’Connell has emerged as a real injury concern for the British & Irish
Lions after he sustained an arm injury in the first test win against Australia
yesterday.
The
Munster captain needed treatment during the second half but continued until the
end, turning in a typically influential performance as the Lions prevailed
23-21 in Brisbane.
And
the Lions management revealed today that the second row continues to be
“treated and assessed”.
The
85 times-capped Ireland lock is an integral part of Lions head coach Warren
Gatland’s plans as they head to Melbourne 1-0 up in the series. England forward
Geoff Parling would be the obvious replacement if O’Connell is sidelined.
Court
will go straight on to the Lions bench for Tuesday’s clash against the
Melbourne Rebels.
Away
from the injury situation, Gatland today questioned Kurtley Beale’s choice of
footwear as a potential reason for his failure to kick the Lions’ first test
hopes into oblivion. The Lions held on for a 23-21 victory at Suncorp Stadium,
but it would have been different had substitute Beale landed a last-gasp
penalty instead of it drifting wide after he slipped on impact.
“If
I was a coach looking at Kurtley Beale coming on, I would be looking at the
boots he was wearing,” Gatland said. “He came on to the field wearing
‘mouldies’ and he slipped over taking that last kick. He slipped over on a couple
of occasions. Why has he come out on the field wearing that sort of footwear in
those sort of conditions?”
“We’ve
had these issues a lot with our players with Wales at the Millennium Stadium.
It’s quite a slippery surface, and on a lot of occasions we’ve said to players
to make sure they have the right footwear because it is a slippery surface and
you have to turn up with the right tools. It’s part of your job, making sure
that you are prepared.”
The
Lions prevailed through tries in each half by Wales wings George North and Alex
Cuthbert, whilefull-back Leigh Halfpenny kicked five from six shots at goal. In
contrast, Wallabies kickers Beale and James O’Connor saw 14 points go begging
as the Lions ultimately repeated their opening win in Brisbane of 12 years ago
and also overcame some erratic refereeing by New Zealand official Chris
Pollock.
“A
few players came off the field feeling a bit frustrated. They found it
difficult (to understand) a couple of times when they were penalised,” Gatland
added. “Mako Vunipola was penalised for coming in from the side, but he was
part of the tackle, and that could have cost us the game at the end. One of the
strengths of Brian O’Driscoll is his ability to get on the ball and create
turnovers, and he just felt he wasn’t able to do that as part of his game
because he had been penalised on a couple of occasions.
“He
knew if he got penalised again he would get a yellow card, so he stayed away
from the ball. Craig Joubert (second Test referee) is a very experienced
referee. We’ll put last night behind us and it will probably be good for him
(Joubert) having been an assistant referee in that match, on the sideline, to
know about the pace of the game.
“I
thought he was good in terms of the support he gave the referee, and I am looking
forward to the number one referee in the world doing next Saturday.”
While
Australia come to terms with a crippling injury list — they called three
players into their squad today, including veteran flanker George Smith —
Gatland initially had a full roster to choose from today before news of
O’Connell and Corbisiero was released. Ireland wing Tommy Bowe is set to be
available following a rapid recovery from a broken hand, while Jamie Roberts
(hamstring) is also on course and his fellow centre Manu Tuilagi will line up
against the Melbourne Rebels on Tuesday after putting a shoulder problem behind
him.
And
Bowe’s successful injury fight allowed Gatland to take a punt on North
yesterday following his build-up to the opening test being affected by a hamstring
complaint.
“Tommy
is one of the best players that we have got available to us and one of the
reasons we took the risk on George North,” he said. “If Tommy hadn’t been fit
and available for this week, we probably wouldn’t have put George North in at the
weekend because the medical staff were saying there was a reasonable chance
that his hamstring wouldn’t last for 80 minutes.
“They
have done a magnificent job because we found ourselves in the situation where
we could take the risk on George knowing that Tommy would be fit for the second
Test. If Tommy wasn’t fit, we probably wouldn’t have started George.”
