ozbash
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Otago rugby coach and former All Black Wayne Graham has fired a broadside at Sir Clive Woodward's decision to cancel his team's public appearances in the region around Saturday night's DHL Tour match at Carisbrook.
Woodward has backtracked on his earlier decision to allow members of the larger Lions touring party to make various public appearances in the region of matches, starting from their visit to Dunedin this weekend.
And it is a decision, made in a clear response to the growing pressure on an under-performing team, that has stunned the people of Otago who had gone to a lot of trouble to arrange a series of visits to schools and hospitals in the region this weekend.
The Otago Daily Times led their newspaper with the story under the headline "Lions shun Otago fans". They catalogued a series of disgruntled people who had put a lot of work into arranging visits throughout the region. This included one group that had organized a helicopter to fly players to Alexandra.
Now there is to be only a token autograph signing session at Carisbrook on Sunday.
Apparently Woodward's ruling is to apply for the remainder of the tour and it runs in stark contrast to the message he delivered on a January visit and again on his arrival in this country that these type of community visits were a vital part of the success of this tour.
He repeated this mantra over and over and over. And has now reversed it in the blink of an eye.
"We've been told they need to concentrate more on just the rugby and we're bitterly disappointed," Otago rugby boss Russell Gray told the ODT. "Maybe they bit off more than they could chew, I don't know."
Graham, who met the Lions three times for three different teams on the 1977 tour (including a victory with New Zealand Universities), said his team was concentrating on preparing for the match but he had been aware of the issue.
"Personally in this part of the world it's not how we like to do things," Graham told us today. "It seems a long way away from real life, especially in Otago and Otago country.
"From that point of view it's very disappointing."
Graham, who played over 100 games for Otago, felt the public weren't the only ones being short-changed by Woodward's closing of the doors. He has also erected a screen round their training facility too keep out "prying" eyes and stepped up security around the team hotel.
"My memories of touring are very much about mixing with people and that was a big part of what we were about," said Graham.
"But I guess in the year 2005 in professional rugby it's changed to such an extent where you lock yourself up in a hotel and prepare for the next game."
Added the Otago coach, looking to guide the blue and golds to their fifth win over the Lions in their last seven meetings: "I think it's a shame personally.
"There must be a lot of people in that camp who are thinking 'what did I come here for?' There's a big, wide open country that some would like to see at some stage but I guess they will have to come back after the tour to see it."
It's a decision Woodward clearly felt he had to make as his team lurches unconvincingly towards the opening test. But it's yet another unpopular one for these 2005 Lions.
))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
wonder what would happen if jonah did this in britain,, thered be an uproar.
Woodward has backtracked on his earlier decision to allow members of the larger Lions touring party to make various public appearances in the region of matches, starting from their visit to Dunedin this weekend.
And it is a decision, made in a clear response to the growing pressure on an under-performing team, that has stunned the people of Otago who had gone to a lot of trouble to arrange a series of visits to schools and hospitals in the region this weekend.
The Otago Daily Times led their newspaper with the story under the headline "Lions shun Otago fans". They catalogued a series of disgruntled people who had put a lot of work into arranging visits throughout the region. This included one group that had organized a helicopter to fly players to Alexandra.
Now there is to be only a token autograph signing session at Carisbrook on Sunday.
Apparently Woodward's ruling is to apply for the remainder of the tour and it runs in stark contrast to the message he delivered on a January visit and again on his arrival in this country that these type of community visits were a vital part of the success of this tour.
He repeated this mantra over and over and over. And has now reversed it in the blink of an eye.
"We've been told they need to concentrate more on just the rugby and we're bitterly disappointed," Otago rugby boss Russell Gray told the ODT. "Maybe they bit off more than they could chew, I don't know."
Graham, who met the Lions three times for three different teams on the 1977 tour (including a victory with New Zealand Universities), said his team was concentrating on preparing for the match but he had been aware of the issue.
"Personally in this part of the world it's not how we like to do things," Graham told us today. "It seems a long way away from real life, especially in Otago and Otago country.
"From that point of view it's very disappointing."
Graham, who played over 100 games for Otago, felt the public weren't the only ones being short-changed by Woodward's closing of the doors. He has also erected a screen round their training facility too keep out "prying" eyes and stepped up security around the team hotel.
"My memories of touring are very much about mixing with people and that was a big part of what we were about," said Graham.
"But I guess in the year 2005 in professional rugby it's changed to such an extent where you lock yourself up in a hotel and prepare for the next game."
Added the Otago coach, looking to guide the blue and golds to their fifth win over the Lions in their last seven meetings: "I think it's a shame personally.
"There must be a lot of people in that camp who are thinking 'what did I come here for?' There's a big, wide open country that some would like to see at some stage but I guess they will have to come back after the tour to see it."
It's a decision Woodward clearly felt he had to make as his team lurches unconvincingly towards the opening test. But it's yet another unpopular one for these 2005 Lions.
))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
wonder what would happen if jonah did this in britain,, thered be an uproar.
