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Twelve years on, Brian O’Driscoll nonetheless remembers the scenes in the run-down ready room at Pretoria Hospital. A queue of Lions players gathered for treatment. Closely bandaged limbs, blood loss and damaged bones. First up within the working theatre was Adam Jones, who had suffered a dislocated shoulder. Gethin Jenkins was next, ready to see a specialist about his fractured cheekbone and Tommy Bowe had an X-ray on his elbow. O’Driscoll arrived individually along with his fellow centre Jamie Roberts. All battered and bruised by South African muscle. ‘When you seemed round and saw how many individuals have been in hospital for specialist verify-ups, you realised the magnitude of the physicality,’ recalled O’Driscoll. ‘I was coping with a fuzzy head however it was a fairly downbeat place. Let's lay down the Lawes! ‘The physicality was an actual throwback to yesteryear. We misplaced each props and both centres to injury and it simply felt actually old fashioned. Every shot in that game was so tough, so physical and so uncompromising. In that sort of combat, you had to seek out one other level. ‘At half-time, the adrenaline’s still pumping and also you don’t really really feel it. You’ve always obtained knocks and bruises however they don’t come to the fore until a few hours after the game, and even the following day. I used to be 30 then and I was beginning to really feel it a bit extra. The physique felt battered and on top of that I had my concussion. I was dominated out within 24 hours. To this present day, the second Check at Loftus Versfeld is one of the vital punishing Checks rugby has ever witnessed. Jenkins had a plastic plate inserted into his face, O’Driscoll was ruled out of the tour and Jones’ shoulder was ultimately manipulated back into its socket. It's protected to say they weren't prepared for the crew safari on the Monday, with the three players all flown home early. South Africa have been unrepentant. Lock Bakkies Botha was banned for 2 weeks for the shoulder cost that ended Jones’s sequence, before his staff-mates wore ‘Justice 4 Bakkies’ armbands the following week. Their head coach, Peter de Villiers, defended flanker Schalk Burger for eye gouging Luke Fitzgerald inside the primary minute with flippant remarks about ballet and tutus. ‘They had been attempting to get crazy bodily with us from the off,’ stated O’Driscoll. ‘I remember Bismarck du Plessis standing over me in a ruck and pretending to throw punches at me. We don’t want a rehash of the Burger incident however he acquired away with blue homicide. If that happened now, it could be a sending-off. Despite shedding the match - as effectively as the sequence - the Lions rolled with the punches. When Kyle Sinckler was known as up by Warren Gatland last month, the prop referenced the battle of Pretoria as a fixture that ignited his love for rugby. He even referenced O’Driscoll’s crunching hit that left Springbok lock Danie Rossouw unable to stand back up. ‘The thing about people who attempt to bully you is, once you stand as much as them and bully them again, they settle down,’ mentioned O’Driscoll. ‘That’s how you get their respect. When you succumb to that, they’ll never respect you. You’ve bought to give nearly as good as you get. ‘When I’m going to take on a second row, I’ve obtained to catch them off guard. I’ve received to pre-empt the place the collision goes to be and hit them before they see an eyeline of me coming in. If we both see it equally, there’s only going to be one winner. I had to blindside Rossouw, not let him see me coming and launch myself as exhausting as I may. It was about attempting to make a mark and set a tone. ‘That Springbok staff in ’09 - Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield, John Smit, Jean de Villiers, Jacques Fourie - had been all large, uncompromising guys. Despite the fact that I acquired concussed and went off, I look back on it very fondly. It was nice Lions rugby. Yeah, it might have been better if we’d managed to win or draw. However we had been a tight group and there were no passengers. Over time, the Springbok method has not modified. Illegalities have been stamped out, but the mantle has now been passed on to the likes of Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Damian de Allende, who still possess the same authentic strands of DNA. ‘The Springboks still do this physicality finest,’ mentioned O’Driscoll, talking on behalf of Land Rover, an official sponsor of the Lions Tour to South Africa. ‘It’s their recreation and they’ve honed it for years. Once they get it proper, they’re unplayable. ‘Their coaching ticket, Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber, are priming the workforce to bring a physicality the opposition can’t deal with. They’ve not played a Take a look at match because the World Cup closing so they’re not going to be enjoying a giant, elaborate broad recreation plan. They’re not going to play like Japan. They’ll do what they do finest. Land Rover is an Official Sponsor of the Lions Tour to South Africa. Land Rover is an Official Sponsor of the Lions Tour to South Africa. Let's lay down the Lawes!
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