Itoje & Furlong approach nine Lions Test caps
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
30 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Brian O'Driscoll interview: I took two years to get over Warren Gatland dropping me from Lions
'I avoided going on the piss on the Sunday with all the other lads,' recalls Brian O'Driscoll. 'I knew if I went on the piss, I wouldn't be right until Thursday. So, I went and had an ice cream instead. I trained Monday, trained Tuesday and when the squad was picked on Wednesday, I thought I might be captain, because Paul O'Connell and Sam Warburton were injured. I was making a cup of coffee when I got a tap on the shoulder, and I knew immediately it was not the kind of tap on the shoulder that a captain gets…' O'Driscoll is back in Sydney for the first time since that fateful moment, 12 years ago, when his world fell apart ahead of the British and Irish Lions' decisive third Test against Australia, the first time in his glittering career that he had been dropped, sparking furore among supporters and pundits back in Ireland. We are sitting in the 32nd floor of a high-rise building with a stunning view of Sydney Harbour below as the Ireland and Lions legend goes back to the darkest moment of his career, the sharpness of his recall revealing just how devastating a blow it was for a player who when fully fit had never been dropped before in his career. Just three days earlier he had been put up by the Lions management to do a press conference, heightening speculation that the veteran of the 2001, 2005 (when he was tour captain) and 2009 Lions tours, would be asked to captain Gatland's side following their 16-15 defeat in the second Test in Melbourne that had levelled the series. After defeat in Melbourne, the squad had travelled up to Sunshine coast resort of Noosa, in south Queensland. Without any warning, suddenly he found himself not even in the 23-man squad, with Jonathan Davies switching to outside centre to accommodate his Wales team-mate Jamie Roberts, who had recovered from a hamstring injury, in the midfield. The rugby world was about to explode. The tap on the shoulder had come from Lions assistant coach Rob Howley and a short meeting with him and head coach Warren Gatland followed. 'It was a quick conversation,' he adds. 'The only thing I said to them was that they should not have put me up for media if they were going to drop me, but they hadn't had any of their coaches' meetings by then. 'At the time I didn't even ask if I was on the bench or not, so when the squad was read out later it dawned on me that I wasn't going to be involved at all. But I got that. I was not a bench player, Manu Tuilagi [who was named on the replacements] had played a bit of wing too, and I had never really played there. 'But the thing for me, is that Foxy [Davies] and Jamie had gone so well together with Wales in the Six Nations. We had beaten them, but they had won the title. So, for me, the best chance of playing in the Test series was also with Manu. We played well together in the first match but then he got injured. Myself and Foxy were not a good partnership, we were both out and out 13s trying to make it work because the other two were injured. We weren't cohesive.' 'My wheels were not the same as they had been on the previous tours, but I had a greater intellect and understanding of seeing the game and timing the pass. I think I was seeing the game as better than ever.' O'Driscoll went to training and vowed not to let his aching disappointment affect his commitment. 'The big thing that I'd always said when I was captain of Ireland was that the strength of the squad was the non-playing 23 because they're the ones that prep the team,' he adds. 'All of a sudden, I was like, 'Whoa, I'm that guy. You can't be a poacher turned gamekeeper just because it doesn't suit you. Being a good team player can involve selflessness, and you can't be selective on that. It's when you find yourself in it, you gotta live it. And I was proud of my reaction. On the same day that I heard the news, I went to a community event, coaching some kids. They didn't know if I had been picked or not, so I had to make sure I was high on energy and gave them a good day, even though I went back to my room and was crying on the inside. I also did a bit of video work with Foxy and Jamie. I tried not to throw my toys out of the cot.' 'That really wounded me' He went out for dinner with his family on the Thursday night but was mindful not to drink, just in case he got a late call-up in the event that Roberts' hamstring injury recurred. 'I just wanted to be a good pro and be ready to play if I was needed' Yet when he came down to breakfast on the Friday, there was a message on the whiteboard saying that the non-23 players were not needed at training. 'That really wounded me,' he adds. 'They don't even need me to hold the tackle bags. It knocked me for six because I wanted to still feel part of it, to feel like I was still adding value in some shape or form. That Friday was a long day.' The match day itself also felt a weird experience. The Lions clinched the series with a thumping victory, but O'Driscoll did not feel part of the celebrations. 'I didn't want to be walking around with the trophy or be in photographs. I only had two-thirds ownership of it. I couldn't force it. If you are not on the field even for a couple of minutes, you feel a bit of a fraud. You have to have had an involvement; you have to have added value. Cheering from the stands was not something I had been used to doing 14 years before that. It was an unusual feeling. The lads went on and won well and the selections were justified. He hasn't been back to Noosa. 'It is a beautiful, a stunning place so I still have good memories of it. But less so of that team meeting room in our hotel. I don't know if I would want to go back there, where I got the tap on the shoulder.' 'Like anything, it takes a bit of time,' he adds. 'I had considered finishing after the tour but I am glad that I didn't. I went for one more year and had great memories to finish with, we won the URC with Leinster and the Six Nations title in the final game in France. 'But like any disappointment it stays with you for a while. There is nothing you can do. You can't change it. 'When I look back now it doesn't sting any more, but it probably took a couple of years for me to stop thinking 'I really wanted to have been part of that. Now it has zero impact, but jeez you would want it to be like that 12 years later.' 'Andy Farrell is infectious' O'Driscoll will be in the stands again this Saturday as Andy Farrell's Lions side attempt to make history by completing a clean sweep of victories against Australia, something that has not been done in the professional era. O'Driscoll believes that Farrell should be given the head coach job again in four years' time. 'Three-nil would be real throat on the stuff and Farrell will want that,' he adds. 'From all the sound bites, the players have loved this tour. Faz is infectious with creating a great environment, a fun environment and a competitive environment, and so if it ain't broke, why would you go and try and reinvent things and find an alternative if he was interested again, which I'm sure he would be.' Brian O'Driscoll is ambassador for Howden Insurance, the principal partner of the Lions Tour. He was speaking as part of their 'Insuring Greatness' campaign
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Warrior Itoje joins pantheon of Lions captains as McBride pays tribute
They were speaking hours apart and from different ends of the world but a few things united Maro Itoje in Sydney, New South Wales and Willie John McBride in Ballyclare, Antrim - both were/are locks and, as of last Saturday, both know how it feels to captain the Lions to a series 85 years young and leader of the immortals of 1974 in South Africa, is the oldest surviving victorious Lions captain. That merry band numbered just four before the weekend - Finlay Calder (1989 in Australia), Martin Johnson (1997 in South Africa) and Sam Warburton (2013 in Australia) being the others. Now there are five."What message would I send to Maro?" says McBride. "I'd say well done, son. Well done. It's never easy to win a series in the southern hemisphere and they've achieved it."I watched it at home on Saturday morning. I couldn't be doing with listening to all the rubbish down the club, all the experts giving their opinions."The game was tremendous. The best I've seen in a very long time. There's lots about modern rugby that I don't understand. I don't understand line-outs any more. I haven't a clue why they bother having scrums because nobody knows what's going on."We had 32 players, a coach and a manager when I was captain. They have more than 32 people in the backroom staff now. We had 22 matches. Everything is different, but I'd imagine something that hasn't changed much is the feeling of having won."It's the biggest honour you can have in rugby - winning a series with the Lions." 'An honour to join such esteemed company' Generations divide them but in their own way they are deeply fascinating men with stories that transcend rugby. McBride played through The Troubles, an Ulster protestant and an Irish captain who used rugby to try to build bridges between two warring communities while others were trying to blow them admiration for Itoje comes in a different form - in his work in giving severely disadvantaged kids from Nigeria, the land of his parents' birth, a proper education. Through his Pearl Fund, he is making a difference in the lives of orphaned, fatherless and poverty-stricken young doesn't understand the game Itoje plays, but he knew how he would have felt on Saturday night. "I'm very grateful and it's obviously a tremendous honour to be in such esteemed company," says Itoje when asked about the select band of captains he's now joined."When I'm old and grey these occasions and these tours are going to be the experiences I look back on with extreme fondness."I would be surprised if you can find a British and Irish rugby player who says they don't want to be a Lion. It's something that each player holds dear to their heart. This is something the players want and the players will continue to want for decades and for as long as rugby is being played."You don't have many shots at it. The next tour is never guaranteed. There's a rarity to it. If you miss one, you may never have another opportunity. "It's been said before but in many ways, it shouldn't really work. You have four different nations, four different ideologies, several different ways of how to play the game and how to think."It is not a homogenous group at all, but people buy in and you forge great relationships and you build bonds. That's what makes it special." 'Power, nous and strategic brilliance' Itoje is one of the greats now. He has played in eight straight Lions Tests (seven as a starter) and that will become nine on Saturday when the Lions face the Wallabies in the last dance in captaincy is low-key, almost gentle. When he wants some fire and brimstone in the dressing room he tends to call on others to deliver it. He once described himself as "deeply thoughtful, prone to overthinking, actually" - but that's part of what makes him a rugby player but also a Christian, a collector of African art - "it speaks to my soul" - a philanthropist, a strong voice on anti-racism - "it has happened so often in my life" - and a lover of politics. When asked what was the coolest message he's received since wrapping up the series last weekend, he says it was from foreign secretary David is also in the pantheon - a lock who wreaks havoc with his power, his nous and his strategic brilliance. His durability is astounding. He's played every minute of every Six Nations game going back six years. In 37 of his past 38 games for England and the Lions he's gone the distance. Softly spoken, he's as hard as they come. A player who came to rugby late and to captaincy later still, but who's left his mark on the game and with years on his side - he's only 30 - to make that mark even will he remember of this trip - the rugby or the people? "It's hard to differentiate it. Ultimately, it's going to be the people but the rugby makes it sweeter," says Itoje."There is a verse that I can't quite remember what book it is from in the Bible [Mark 8:36], but it says 'What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul?' If we won every game and we absolutely hated one another - I think life is more than that." Can the class of 2025 match 1974's Invincibles? There is one more step to take and that's turning 2-0 into 3-0, which would be the first time the Lions won three Tests in a row on tour since McBride's Lions of 1974."We want to be part of something very special," said Itoje. "Winning a Lions Test series is obviously extremely special, but what would be an absolute dream would be to go out there and perform to the level that we think we can perform and win the third game."While the first two games have been great because we got two wins, there's still a feeling that we haven't put it together in a way we know that we can. That's the exciting thing for us - we want to chase down the performance we've been searching for."That would make it an unbeaten tour in Australia, again a first since 1974. You put this potential slice of history to McBride and he can't help but pull you up. "Unbeaten? They were beaten in Dublin [against the Pumas], weren't they? That was part of the tour, wasn't it?"More than half a century on and the great man is still protective of his boys and their place in Lions history. Once a warrior, always a warrior. Itoje has now joined that class."I think we owe it to ourselves," Itoje said about the need the finish the series 3-0."The squad has worked incredibly hard for coming up to the last two months. We owe it to ourselves to give the best account of ourselves. We owe it to each other to give the best account of ourselves. Part of that is going for the win. This will already be a memorable tour, but we want it to live really long in the memory."
Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
How to watch Yokohama FM vs Liverpool for free: Live stream and kick-off time for pre-season clash
Liverpool return to action on Wednesday as they face Yokohama F Marinos in their pre-season preparations, and there's a way that UK-based Reds fans can tune into all of the action for free Liverpool are set to face Yokohama F Marinos on Wednesday, as the Reds' pre-season tour of Hong Kong and Japan rolls on. The Premier League champions will hope to defend their title as the season gets underway next month, and have spent the summer getting match fit. Arne Slot's side ran out 3-1 winners in their friendly with Preston at Deepdale earlier this month, courtesy of goals from Conor Bradley, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo, before securing a 5-0 win over Stoke at the AXA Training Centre. Liverpool hit their first stumbling block of the pre-season tour when AC Milan beat them 4-2 on Saturday at the Kai Tak Sports Park, with Dominik Szoboszlai and Gakpo's efforts overshadowed by goals from Rafael Leao, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and a Noah Okafor brace. The Reds will now turn their attention to Yokohama FM before returning to UK soil for a clash with Athletic Club at Anfield before facing stiff competition in Crystal Palace for the Community Shield at Wembley. Here's how UK-based fans can watch Liverpool take on Yokohama from the comfort of their own home. Where is Liverpool vs Yokohama FM? Liverpool are set to clash with Yokohama FM at the Nissan Stadium in Yokohama. The 72,327-capacity ground also plays host to the Yokohama Eagles rugby union side and the Japan national football team. What time does Liverpool vs Yokohama FM kick off? Liverpool and Yokohama FM take to the pitch at 11.30am on Wednesday (UK time), which translates to 7.30pm local time in Yokohama, Kanagawa. How to watch Liverpool vs Yokohama FM for free If you haven't booked flights and accommodation in Japan, fear not. The pre-season friendly between Liverpool and Yokohama FM will be shown live for free for football fans in the UK. Liverpool's All Red Video is showing each pre-season friendly this summer, and new users can currently sign up to get a free month of access, which will see them through until the start of the Premier League. Coverage of Liverpool's clash with Yokohama FM will be broadcast from 10.30am, with the match getting underway an hour later. The friendly will also be available to watch on LFCTV. Liverpool's pre-season schedule Here's a run-down of Liverpool's pre-season schedule this summer: Liverpool 3-1 Preston North End - At Deepdale on July 13 Liverpool 2-4 AC Milan - At the Kai Tak Stadium on July 26 Liverpool vs Yokohama FM - At the Nissan Stadium on July 30 at 11.30am Liverpool vs Athletic Club - At Anfield on August 4 at 5pm Liverpool will play Crystal Palace for the Community Shield on Sunday, August 10, at 3 p.m., before turning their attention to Bournemouth in their Premier League opener at Anfield on Friday, August 15.
