Warren Gatland is ready for a Lions-Boks 'cup final'

So now you are saying that overall he was out of order. So actually we're agreed. I really don't understand what all that was about!

Mmm, right, just like "people" did not want SA anywhere near the Pro14, European Rugby Champions Cup or the European Rugby Challenge Cup. Speaking of which, I hope you enjoy the new URC competition.

Mate people don’t want SA anywhere near the six nations,they would destroy the very fabric of the tournament. They are an embarrassment to the sport.

Gatland implied that the TMO would not be impartial (being a Saffer), Being non-neutral, you mean. There's an important difference there

Gatland implied that the TMO would not be impartial (being a Saffer), that feeds a perception. People's perceptions are their realities.

He commented before the game that he wished the TMO would be from a neutral country, that's clearly dastardly, What he should have done was release a video on social media picking apart every aspect of Jonker's previous games, and then implied he was racist. That's what heroes do

Why on earth would you assume that I was specifically talking about one act? Yet you still specifically addressed one act, which was the tweeting. You assumed that I was specifically talking about the tweets. No? Why on earth would you assume anything in the first place? You could have asked me to clarify. Seems easy enough. You picked the tweeting because you saw an opening to start an argument. Limiting the discussion to one act? Last I checked you did the very same thing by focusing on the tweets. Was the video direct? What are you trying to prove here? What's got you so upset? So what if the video was direct, you ask? Well, so what if he was duplicitous with the twitter account? How does stop the video being direct? He went on twitter first and then stupidly decided to go the direct route. Either way, he was out of order. I don't understand how my calling Rassie's video direct has got you talking about coaching, waterboy. You seem upset that I'm not blindly backing a fellow Kiwi in Gatland. You seem desperate to gloss over his briefing against the TMO.

Why on earth would I assume that you were specifically talking about one act? "Rassie is more direct" clearly reads as a statement about a person, not a specific act of that person. In any case, limiting the discussion to one act cherry picked to make a point proves nothing. So what if the video is direct when he was so duplicitous with the fake Twitter account and the "I'm not coaching I'm a waterboy with no water" nonsense?

You are allowed to have your opinion, I never said you couldn't. I just don't agree with it. "so don’t play the big boys card: there’s NZs record and then there’s everyone else." Firstly I did not not try play the big boys card, I was just pointing out that your comment - "this lions team doesn’t have a better chance of beating SA/NZ than the individual outfits of Eng/Wales/Ireland (maybe Scotland)" was absolute nonsense which can be shown by data. England have won 4 out of 16 for a 25% win rate. Wales have won 0 out of 10 for 0% win rate Ireland have won 1 out of 10 for a 10% win rate Scotland have won 0 out of 7 for a 0% win rate Together they have won 5 games out of 43 in South Africa for a win rate of 11.62%. Really impressive stuff. The B&I lions have won 18 of 48 for a 37.5% win rate. Regarding your comment "To finesse my original point, had we not had covid, then would 30,000 NH fans have been as keen to trawl round SA when it’s on fire, again?" Nice ignorant comment. Had we not had COVID, South Africa wouldn't have been on fire and the tourists would have had a lovely time just like they did in 2009 which landed up being an iconic tour.

Gymnastic logic? This is getting ridiculous. Why do I have to specify that I am talking about the video? What else could I be alluding to? There were tweets and a video. One of them is direct. Figure it out. Between the tweets and the video, why would you assume that I'm referring to the tweets? You're a smart person, clever enough to deduce what I was referring to. You chose to ignore it in order to start an argument. What did Gatland do wrong? Seriously? How did the quotes get into the English press about his displeasure regarding Jonker? Did you expect him to leave his fingerprints all over the 'leaks'? My fellow countrymen are bending over backwards trying to paint Gatland as some sort of saint. I'm not buying it.

Of course he denied it JN, see Highlander's post. What we have here is a journalist finding out about behind closed doors anger at an unprecedented development - we don't know how - being used as whataboutary by those defending a bloke who first hid behind an anonymous account and then posted a one sided whinge about a referee's performance. When we all know that many many decisions go either way in every match. Where's he going to take us - both teams making such a video after every game?

I reckon there will be a public debate, or petition to keep em out as they have proven themselves to be a devisive bunch. SA start throwing the racist card about & just causing all sorts of trouble,the whole six nations would start to lose any integrity & cohesion they have. It’s just what SA do. We don’t need em & i along with heaps of others don’t want anything to do with em

Talk of leaving Cape Town because the scrums have torn up the playing surface speaks volumes for the direction Rugby is travelling and it is the wrong direction. The game has to be seriously de-powered. Reducing the number of replacements would be a good start. I was looking forward with great expectations to this series but it has been a yawn-a-thon. I actually fell asleep in the first half of the second test. It seems to me to be little more than an 80 minute melee where the Referee is the main player on the field called upon every thirty seconds or so to redirect play. In the last test he gave 26 penalty's. That is almost three times as many penalty's as in your average NRL game. The only initiative the British Lions showed in the second test was the up and under hoping I suspect that rather than risk making the play themselves the South African's would make a mistake and that they would eventually capitalise. More fool them, the South African's didn't make enough mistakes for the Lions to profit from the negative strategy. Tough and uncompromising the tests may have been but how dreary a spectacle they truly were. The Olympic Seven's by contrast, despite the, at times amateurish performances of some teams was at least fun to watch and gave viewer's some excitement. It was entertaining. Isn't that the business that Rugby is in. At the end of the day isn't it the viewer that is paying the players and the administrators salary's. I am paying my $20 for Stan each month but if that kind of dribble is on offer it might not be for much longer.

The TMO position is a joke anyway. It should just be someone that collates all the footage for the referee to assess, like VAR in soccer. It's far too political now, with someone who wields a lot of influence (that clearly shouldn't!), and can seemingly intervene at will.

That's a question Highlander posed to me earlier JD.. For me It's kinda obvious what his intentions were regarding Marius Jonker.. Yes he didn't say it publically but his anger at Jonkers selection as TMO was published globally including The Mail and Guardian, The Telegraph, Wales Rugby online etc.. These are sympathetic media outlets to the Lions.. Oh.. He didn't deny that either. .its mischievous to suggest he didn't target Jonker.. he did.. He knows he did...

Yes a poor assumption based on your gymnastic logic. For instance you said "Rassie is more direct" not "the video is more direct." When you're getting personal you can't just pick out one act and ignore another. By the way, what exactly did Gatland do wrong that you can point to as a fact?

Or maybe Outiniqua Park in a town called George on the Garden Route.. 3 Hours drive from Capetown.. Nice stadium, why not.. I mean how much wierder can this series get..

I never said there was. The video was very direct though. That’s what I was alluding to. I am a Kiwi. Wonder what makes you think that I am South African.

What exactly did Gatland do wrong?

No need to get personal - it's an opinion from a paying fan, if you buy the content and the merchandise you're allowed an opinion. If you're a SA fan then I get why you'd enjoy the result and the second half but both games have been awful to watch from neutral or an aesthetic point of view, constant aerial tennis, the pitch is tearing up under the scrums, and some absolutely God awful refereeing affecting both sides. As for recent records, Wales Ireland and Englands records against SA over the last few years or so haven't been too bad, Ireland and England have both won games in SA with depleted squads in very competitive series, Wales have a good record when they've played SA recently, no one has a particularly good record against NZ but SA have won 3 games in 9 years out of nearly 20 so don't play the big boys card: there's NZs record and then there's everyone else. To finesse my original point, had we not had covid, then would 30,000 NH fans have been as keen to trawl round SA when it's on fire, again? As opposed to NZ and Australia which are universally safe. Only NZ offers high level rugby and the quality and amount of teams that constitute a 8-10 tour, SA club sides are of low quality compared to NZ. My point about the Aus French series is that it was a closely fought more enjoyable spectacle using lesser quality teams, they were much better games to watch than these two.