The British and Irish Lions roared but did not make the kill and so the series against the Springboks is already lost 2 – 0. Big sport is all about momentum and driving home the advantage so that the opposition cannot come back to snatch away a victory.

The Lions played superbly against the Springboks for the first 60 minutes of one of rugby’s great Tests.

The lead of 16 – 8 should have been enough to finish off the Springboks.

But the altitude and injuries got to the Lions. Right on time a nerveless Morne Steyn booted over a huge penalty from 55m out. The ball sailed well over the crossbar and virtually from the time it left his book Steyn was jumping around with joy.

South Africans have a word ‘Isiphiwo’, a Zulu word for destiny which was invoked by the spin doctors in 1995 during the Rugby World Cup tournament to sell the Springboks and the notion of the Rainbow Coalition to a deeply divided nation.

That sense of destiny, it was once explained to me by Bryce Courtenay (who played on the wing as a youngster for the Transvaal Colts), goes hand-in-hand with the Afrikaner notion of a ‘sacred covenant’ between the nation and the Springboks that Tests must be won as a gesture of collective self-assertion against a hostile and unsympathetic world.

Often in their quest for the necessary victory to fulfill their destiny, the Springboks (and their referees up to the 1980s) do anything necessary to win. This almost religious fanaticism can be the only explanation for the blatant and vicious eye-gouging by Shalk Burger on Luke Fitzgerald in the opening maul of the Test.

The match had been in progress 55 seconds. Bryce Lawrence the New Zealand touch tried to coach the referee, Cristophe Berdos, into giving Burger a red card by saying ‘it is at least a yellow card’ offence. Burger deserved to be given a red card, for seeing red seemingly.

Berdos did not take this option. Perhaps there was something of a square off when Ronan O’Gara was penalised right on time for taking out Fourie du Preez in the air.

As for Burger he should be out of rugby for the rest of the year.

Eye-gouging is a cardinal rugby offence against a defenceless player for obvious reasons. It is also a potential criminal offence.

Burger’s cause has not been helped by the inane comments by the Springbok coach Peter de Villiers: ‘It’s sport, man … I don’t think it was a card at all. There was a lot of needle and, if you dissect the whole game, you will see yellow cards that were missed.’

At the kick-off I wrote in my note-book a comment to the effect that I wondered if Ian McGeechan would revert to the nasty, vicious, player-baiting tactics of the Lions against Australia in the second Test in 1989 after they’d lost the first Test. The Lions won the Test and the series.

But I was wrong to even think this. The Lions played with ferocity. But it was fair aggression.

Their scrum lifted the Springboks. Their lineout was secure.

And the backs, led by Stephen Jones who was magnificent, continued on from the last 20 minutes of the first Test to make great breaks against a tough Springboks defence.

So let it be recorded: Ian McGeechan is a great coach.

The Lions played a style of expansive and dangerous rugby that was beyond the capabilities of the Springboks. The alignment of the backs and the cleverness of the attacking ploys were a credit to McGeechan’s coaching.

This was modern rugby at its best.

With the scoreline of 16 – 8 and only 20 minutes of play left, it looked all over for the Springboks. But then the props Geithin Jenkins and Adam Jones were injured in the same movement. The game was reduced to uncontested scrums.

Later on, Brian O’Driscoll and Jamie Roberts, the two Lions destroyers in mid-field were injured. This saw O’Gara, a pathetic tackler, come on. While these injuries were taking the star players from the field, the altitude was tiring the Lions players.

Isiphiwo. A terrific move from an uncontested scrum saw the great du Preez run wide and pass the ball to Bryan Habana, on his outside and on the burst. The flying winger was over the tryline in a flash. 19 – 15 to the Lions.

Isiphiwo. After an exchange of penalties from Steyn and Jones the Springboks mounted an attack, from another uncontested scrum, that saw Jacque Fourie, admittedly a big player, run over O’Gara and plant the ball over the try line while somehow not going into touch in a crash of bodies near the corner post.

Isiphiwo. Steyn, who replaced Rian Pienaar who missed a number of penalty attempts, belts the conversion from the sideline right over the middle of the crossbar. 25 – 22 to the Springboks.

Then the Lions get a penalty which Jones kicks. 25 -25.

And then O’Gara puts up a bomb from outside his 22 and charges at the catcher, du Preez …

For drama, excitement, brilliant play, shocking play, for confrontations, for huge tackling, brilliant running, for controversy and for the heart-ache and the exhilaration of the finish, this Test had everything.

In four years time, we should be so lucky to see a similar sort of Test here when the Lions tour Australia in search of their first series win in the 21th century.

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