'If the B&I Lions want to play touch rugby that would be nice for us' - Mzwandile Stick

August 06, 2021
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Ultimate Rugby

The Springboks have rejected suggestions that they were slowing the game down during the second test of the Lions Series.

The second test in Cape Town exceeded two hours with the British & Irish Lions suggesting that the South Africans purposely ensuring that the game was very stop-start with injuries and handbags.

Courtney Lawes highlighted the Lions' concerns over the Springboks time-wasting saying:

"They can throw the handbags around as much as they like as long as we can get that ball out and play some rugby. We can’t get too caught up in the niggle and scrapping because it just slows down the game and it doesn’t really help us." said Courtney Lawes.

He added that the Lions enjoy high-tempo rugby and said that they will be looking to speed the game up.

"We like a high-tempo game – we are a fit team, we want to run around, we want the ball in hand so we need to try and speed the game up as much as we can.” he said.

The Springboks have since refuted the idea that they were at fault for slowing the game down.

"I’m not too sure when you say we were trying slow the game down but once again remember the person in charge of the whistle is the referee" said Boks assistant coach Mzwandile Stick.

"So if the TMO and the refs need more time according to what they see on the screen, that’s got nothing to do with us. When the ball is in play, all our players give their best and I don’t recall any of our players doing anything to slow the ball down. People must understand that the TMO is part of the game also and if it takes two minutes to make a decision unfortunately that’s not in our control.

🗣️ 'If the British & Irish Lions want to play touch rugby, geez that would be nice for us and they are more than welcome to do so' - Mzwandile Stick#BoksvLions #LionsSA2021 pic.twitter.com/VwPRRPqEZn
— Jared Wright (@jaredwright17) August 6, 2021

“The best we can do as a Springboks team, we control the ball in play, we control the tempo and how we want to play the game. If they want to lift the tempo up, that is their plan. If we want to slow the game down and make it boring, we’ll do that, as other people are saying ‘boring rugby. But from outside we don’t go into a game intentionally trying to slow things down and if the British and Irish Lions want to play touch rugby that would be nice for us and they’re more than welcome to do so.

“But from outside we don’t go into a game intentionally trying to slow things down and if the British & Irish Lions want to play touch rugby, geez that would be nice for us and they are more than welcome to do so'.

“We’re not going to decide what they must do and also they’re not going to tell us how to play the game.”