Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll said yesterday he was not worried about the performance of the British and Irish Lions after they fought for a 37-25 win against the Royal XV in their South African tour opener.
Writing in the Observer, O’Driscoll — who is on tour but was not playing in Rustenburg on Saturday — said mistakes were made, but this was inevitable for a team made up of players from four countries in their first match.
“Most of the mistakes were minor, the result mainly of jitters and unfamiliarity. They will reduce in number the longer the tour goes on,” he wrote.
PHOTO: EPA
O’Driscoll — who this season led Ireland to the Six Nations Grand Slam, their first clean sweep in 61 years — said Saturday’s match was “a far better and more meaningful match” than against Perth in Australia eight years ago.
“There is no place in a short tour for weak opponents and the Royal XV were anything but that,” the center, overlooked for the Lions captaincy in favor of Ireland team-mate Paul O’Connell, explained.
“There were areas we clearly have to work on, but there were also significant positives, not least bouncing back after we went 12 points behind with 12 minutes left,” added O’Driscoll, whose time as Lions captain on the 2005 tour of New Zealand was cut short by a controversial “spear tackle” involving then All Black captain Tana Umaga.
O’Driscoll singled out Keith Earls for praise, despite the young center from Ireland having a debut in the red jersey he may want to forget.
“He tried to overcompensate after an early slip, but his defense was always strong and he never tried to hide from the ball. He remains a young man with a huge future,” O’Driscoll insisted of his fellow Irish midfielder.
The tour continues with a match against the Golden Lions in Johannesburg on Wednesday and there are a further four fixtures before the British and Irish Lions play the first of three Tests against world champions South Africa in Durban on June 20.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS