Apart from the career Defining fining brilliance of Dan Carter, the 2005 Lions tour will always be double spear tackle and Keven Mealamu O'Driscoll in the first Test that left with a serious shoulder although in that lightly. Mbered for the tackle of Tana Umaga Mealamu on Brian the first minute of the left the Lions skipper shoulder dislocation, respect he got away
Ultimately it was considered so serious spear tackle law was IRB, but at the time the All Blacks went denial and lockdo officer scuttled bac Africa on the dawn ing morning. The appalling enough was shameful. Was an incident serious that the entire was changed by the time New Zealand and ent into complete kdown while the citing back off to South dawn plane the followhe tackle was enough but the cover-up
The incident first. We had seen on New Zealand's Autumn Autumn tour of 2004 reinvent the ruck Blacks were trying to area to speed up the ck and breakdown release their world the game and introducing ‘counter rld class runners by the ‘clear out'. Neither Neither situation is specifically cover ered in the laws so it was new territory ritory and the All Blacks tested each referee eferee as to what they could get away withith.
The result was – and indeed remains – the bar room brawl and free-for-all that now ensues with players well behind the ball – and in fact often now here near the ball whatsoever but legally bound on – being taken out by opposition players diving in off their feet or lifting their legs while a wide range of wrestling manoeuvres come into play. So far only the neck roll has been specifically banned. Anything else it seems is permissible in the pursuit of quick ball.
Come the first ruck of the first Test in 2005 and just such a situation quickly developed. Look at the video footage – some new angles went up recently – and you will see that Justin Marshall has the ball comfortably in his hands and is winding up to pass to Richie McCaw standing at first receiver when Umaga and Mealamu go to work on O'Driscoll.
The leg lift and slam dunk onto his shoulder and lower neck is completed as McCaw takes the ball into contact fully 20 yards away. It was neither counter rucking nor clearing out. The ruck had been completed as had the clear out. It was, pure and simple, an opportunity to have a pretty gratuitous pop at the opposition captain and star player.
I doubt if either of the assailants intended to cause quite as much physical damage to O'Driscoll as occurred …but equally there is no sign at the time and subsequently that they were actually overly bothered what the outcome was.
“It was just an opportunity to have a gratuitous pop at the opposition star player”
Marshall, to his eternal credit, was the only All Black I recall making any effort to enquire as to O'Driscoll's health as he left and although he wasn't moved to speak out in the week that followed he and Mils Muliana did subsequently address the tackle in the excellent Behind the Silver Fernwhich was published last year.
“At the time I didn't think the incident was too bad but when I saw the replays later I thought that's not good,” wrote Marshall. Muliana agreed: “Brian did have a case and was right to be annoyed at what happened and how it happened.” That is as close to an apology from an All Black you are ever likely to get.
After the match the wall went up. I and other journalists – both that night and at the Press conferences that followed that week – asked Graham Henry for his view on the ‘incident' and if Umaga, who shared the same big name sponsor as O'Driscoll and was reportedly on friendly terms with his rival, had apologised in any way. Nothing, not a flicker and this from the man who had coached the 2001 Lions that had relied so heavily on O'Driscoll's stellar talent.
What incident? What injury? What citing commissioner? It had clearly all been a figment of our imagination despite the fact I saw the whole incident through my binoculars.
In media terms the Lions were counter-rucked off the park that week. It was apparently O'Driscoll's fault by moving and twisting the wrong way and, wait for it, smiling during the haka and throwing the straw proffered to the wind as he had been advised to do prior to the game.
Surely the rugby world at large must also be aware that a New Zealand captain would never, ever, commit such a heinous act of foul play? At one utterly ludicrous Press conference Umaga was paraded in Hollywood style and seated on what looked like a golden stage throne borrowed from the nearby Wellington Opera House. Dutifully all his young squad filed in to gather admiringly in a pre-ordained order at the Lion tamer's feet for one of the most cynical photocalls in sporting infamy. Pass the sick bucket.
The cover up continued all week although even the Kiwis were shaken a little when a couple of All Black fans slipped into training at Wellington waving a ‘shame on you Tana' banner.
Remarkably some of the travelling media also persuaded themselves that the ‘O'Driscoll incident' was all a ploy by Alastair Campbell to detract from the Lions miserable performance at Christchurch. Detract from what? I can't recall a single report saying anything other than that the Lions were totally outplayed and borderline rubbish. End of story. It was not a display, even taking into account the Lions' injuries, that could be dressed up in any other way.
The appointment of Campbell was controversial and had simmered throughout the tour and now it came back to haunt the Lions. Just when the fate of their maimed captain and the All Blacks' collective myopia should clearly be the only story in town Tony Blair's spin doctor and his role on the tour was suddenly projected to centre stage.
The presence of Campbell had the effect of ensuring that the O'Driscoll incident became a sideshow. That bizarre week in Wellington before the second Test was nobody's finest moment. It defies rational analysis.
O'Driscoll conducted himself with much dignity but it changed him as a player. From that point on he decided he would never be the victim again and became the complete boss of the tackle and contact area and to that extent almost redefined 21st century centre play. Never again would he allow his physical well-being to be threatened like that.
He put on a stone of muscle during his rehab and with his low centre of gravity became the king of the jungle at the breakdown. The slight downside was that a little of the attacking elan went out of his game although that adaptation was always going to come at some stage once his blistering pace off the mark waned with age.
O'Driscoll's Test career wasn't even halfway through and there was no way he was ever going to allow it be defined by New Zealand 2005. It drove him on, manically so at times, and he would write his name in rugby's history books for other reasons.
2005 Lions
Forwards: John Hayes (Ireland), Gethin Jenkins (Wales), Graham Rowntree (England), Andrew Sheridan (England), Matt Stevens (England), Julian White (England), Gordon Bulloch (Scotland), Shane Byrne (Ireland), Steve Thompson (England), Andy Titterrell (England), Danny Grewcock (England), Ben Kay (England), Donncha O'Callaghan (Ireland), Paul O'Connell (Ireland), Malcolm O'Kelly (Ireland), Neil Back (England), Martin Corry (England), Lawrence Dallaglio (England), Richard Hill (England), Michael Owen (Wales), Martyn Williams (Wales), Lewis Moody (England), Simon Taylor (Scotland.
Backs: Mark Cueto (England), Geordan Murphy (Ireland), Josh Lewsey (England), Gareth Thomas (Wales), Shane Horgan (Ireland), Denis Hickie (Ireland), Jason Robinson (England), Shane Williams (Wales), Gordon D'Arcy (Ireland), Will Greenwood (England), Gavin Henson (Wales), Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland), Tom Shanklin (Wales), Ollie Smith (England), Charlie Hodgson (England), Stephen Jones (Wales), Ronan O'Gara (Ireland), Gareth Cooper (Wales), Chris Cusiter (Scotland), Matt Dawson (England), Dwayne Peel (Wales)
Replacements: Simon Shaw (England) for Malcolm O'Kelly; Simon Easterby (Ireland) for Lawrence Dallaglio; Ryan Jones (Wales) for Simon Taylor; Brent Cockbain (Wales) after the banning of Danny Grewcock; Jason White (Scotland) for Richard Hill
Results
V Argentina drew 25-25;
V Bay of Plenty won 34-20;
V Taranaki won 36-14;
V New Zealand Maori lost 13-19;
V Wellington won 23-6;
V Otago won 30-19;
V Southland won 26-16;
V New Zealand lost 3-21;
V Manawatau won 109-6;
V New Zealand lost 48-19;
V Auckland won 17-13;
V New Zealand lost 19-38
