Deans: Horwill verdict huge boost to Aussies

Australia head coach Robbie Deans insists having captain James Horwill available for the final Test will not give his side an edge but admits his players have received a massive boost after the skipper’s stamping acquittal was upheld.

Horwill, 28, faced an IRB appeal after he was cleared of stamping on the Lions’ Alun Wyn Jones during the first Test by the world governing body’s initial independent judicial officer (IJO), Nigel Hampton.

Yet a second IJO, Canada’s Graeme Mew, yesterday saw no reason to uphold the IRB’s appeal and cleared the Australian second row to face the Lions in Saturday’s series decider in Sydney.

For the Wallabies, who won the second Test in Melbourne last weekend to level the series and then learned that Lions captain Sam Warburton was ruled out of the third Test with a hamstring tear, the Horwill decision is clearly another huge fillip in their quest to retain the Tom Richards Cup they won in 2001.

“The energy lifted when we got the verdict,” Deans said yesterday. “You want clarity and we have that now. It won’t give us an edge — it is how you use your group. From our group’s perspective, they will be stoked to have James back. He is at the heart of what we do and you see what it means to him and that flows onto the group. It’s good to have him out there with us.”

Deans believes Horwill’s presence would act as an inspiration to his team-mates heading into the finale. “He is a very forthright man and a man of integrity. His team-mates all respect him for that and his ethics are good. His work ethic in a game is huge. He will play himself until he can’t play any more and from a player’s point of view that’s the kind of team-mate you want alongside you.”

Horwill had heard his good news during a gym session yesterday morning and admitted he had not slept the previous night following his video conference hearing between Sydney and Canada. The decision was clearly a huge relief to the second row.

“I tossed and turned last night,” Horwill said. “I watched the Tour de France, which had a good finish, then a bit of other TV. I tried to sleep but it was difficult. Maybe I got one or two hours.

“It’s Tuesday though, we have four days, and I know I’ll be sleeping well tonight.

“The IRB were entitled to take the process they did, but I believe the right decision has been made.

“I know what happened, it was completely accidental and there was never any malice at all.”

For the British & Irish Lions, who brought the alleged stamping to the citing officer’s attention after the first Test but denied any involvement in the IRB’s decision to appeal the initial verdict, team manager Andy Irvine said the issue was closed as far as the tourists were concerned.

“Once the judicial officer gave his decision last week, we were of the view that it was done and dusted and let’s move on. It’s irrelevant as far as we’re concerned,” Irvine said.

“Just purely personally looking at it, my view is it didn’t look very clever, the ball wasn’t close to it, but I’ve seen a hell of a lot worse in my time and it’s up to the judicial officer, he looked at all the different angles and replays. He’s a very decent guy, Nigel Hampton. I was involved in the Cian Healy incident with him, he’s a very experienced individual. If that’s his decision, then we’re happy to accept it.”