Lions star accused of 'criminal' act as damning image emerges
Fans were left in disbelief at what they were seeing in the third Test in Sydney
Andrew Porter of the British & Irish Lions has found himself in the firing line after a controversial outing in Sydney in the third and final Test
(Image: Getty Images)
British and Irish Lions star Andrew Porter has seen his methods pulled under the microscope again by furious Australia fans, after the Wallabies saved a series whitewash with in an eventful victory in Sydney.
Tries from Dylan Pietsch, Max Jorgensen and Tate McDermott proved enough to seal victory for the hosts, with the Lions responding with touchdowns from Jac Morgan and Will Stuart.
On a day where play was delayed by severe weather, there were several key talking points to emerge from the contest. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
Loosehead prop Porter was just one such topic of discussion, with his scrummaging technique called into question by fans online.
The Irishman's angle in driving the scrum has been called out by fans before, but reached an apex on social media during this defeat, with some onlookers in disbelief at what he was able to get away with by referee Nika Amashukeli's whistle in the loss, but fans online are still dismayed by what he was able to get away with.
Just hours after the match, one user on X shared an aerial image of Porter's scrummaging, which appeared to demonstrate his unusual driving angle.
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'Porter up to his normal tricks again yesterday," they wrote. "And the most astonishing thing is? It was the Aussies who got penalised in this scrum!'
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This post sparked plenty of healthy debate, with another user musing 'Not even Shane Warne got that much turn in Australia!'
Another fan wrote: 'How Porter is allowed to scrummage at that angle is beyond me. Should be a penalty almost every scrum."
"Andrew Porter would never win a scrum if he was forced to scrum straight," said another. "Nika allowing him to scrum skew just to get the ball out.'
'I'm sorry but Andrew Porter on those aerial views is a ****** criminal for the way he binds down to scrum," was the view of another fan. "WOW. And they are all in front of the referee!!!'
But despite the fume from some, there were a few onlookers that did offer some support to Porter.
Former referee Nigel Owens wrote: 'Although I am not disputing either way with you on this image, you can only make an accurate call if you see the whole sequence in motion, not just a still image.'
Porter was eventually taken off just after half-time and was replaced with Ellis Genge, but some felt even his replacement was guilty of attempting to manipulate the scrum laws.
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"I noticed it consistently across all three games from both Porter and Genge. To the point where it felt like they'd been deliberately coached to do it."
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