Since we were last with you...

DESPITE my absence of just over two months from the journalistic front-line, so much has happened since the conclusion of the Lions test series in July that has brought nothing but shame, ridicule and much negative comment to a sport loved by many all over the world.

Once the game took the soup in 1995 and went professional, it was inevitable that the win-at-all-costs mentality preached ad nauseum by players and coaches alike would eventually lead to a compromise in standards. Dean Richards and Harlequins clearly stretched the boundaries to the absolute maximum when introducing toy shop fake blood capsules in their efforts to secure a semi final in the Heineken Cup last season. Even Richards admitted that their efforts bordered on the farcical.

On the international front, unsavoury eye-gouging incidents perpetrated by such high profile back row forwards as Schalk Burger and Italian captain Sergio Parisse further tarnished the image of the game with Burger, in particular, ruining what should have been a very special occasion for him in leading out his country on his 50th cap in that epic second Lions test in Pretoria. It set a trend for a game that bordered on the reckless at times with a level of physicality displayed by both sides which was manic. Unfortunately the Lions came off second best on that front with five of their starting team spending the night in the local hospital. That said, it was one of the most thrilling and engaging contests I have ever seen at international level.