Last week it was Jac Morgan, and this week, Dan Sheehan.The Lions player’s effort resulted in a citation by Adrien Menez, from the independent body of World Rugby, on Sunday morning.The Lions couldn’t complete the sweep against the Wallabies, falling 22-12 to a committed Australia that didn’t allow a 15-0 lead to vanish. Joe Schmidt’s team got the job done on a wild night at Accor Stadium.A 38-minute delay due to adverse weather, with lightning threatening the Olympic venue, could have derailed Australia’s quest for victory when they were leading 8-0. First, James Ryan was taken off the field due to a hard blow to the head, and then the game was stopped. However, the Wallabies seemed to use the pause better and headed again towards a morale-boosting victory.
They achieved victory after losing another young number 10, this time Tom Lynagh, due to what appeared to be a dangerous action by Sheehan, the Lions’ hooker, which only added satisfaction.Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt later praised the tenacity of his young number 10, but this time, the New Zealander chose not to add fuel to the fire, unlike last week, when he criticized the decision not to penalize Morgan’s action.The way the incident was overlooked by Television Match Official (TMO), Marius Jonker, should be a priority for World Rugby and match review officials, as the images of Sheehan impacting a defenseless Lynagh with his right shoulder quickly spread on social media.Lynagh was removed from the field for a head injury assessment just before halftime and did not return.1:47Australia played the better ‘wet weather rugby’Sam Bruce breaks down how Australia were able to handle the wet conditions better in their 22-12 victory over the British and Irish Lions.“I haven’t really seen it properly. The game finished, I have a huge amount of respect for Dan and there are some things like that that will happen in a very physical encounter,” Schmidt told reporters after the match.”Because you had nowhere to go tonight. With the rain falling, we tried to play a bit, I felt in those first 30 minutes and we did well a couple of times, but it was very difficult to play simply because of how difficult the ball was.”For us, with Tom, he’s still a kid and we’ll try to take care of him and make sure he’s fully fit after taking that hit.”While TMO Jonker didn’t see Sheehan’s hit on Lynagh, even though the number 10 was taken off the field for a HIA, the South African chose to intervene after several other much less necessary incidents.Tom Lynagh departs the third Test in Sydney for an HIA that he did not return from
Cameron Spencer/Getty ImagesOne of them was to highlight a loose ball from a Lions turnover, not long after the game resumed due to the weather, when Wallabies scrum-half Nic White was able to disrupt the visitors’ backline movement.The players, the fans and even referee Nika Amashukeli seemed puzzled about exactly what Jonker was trying to highlight.”Yes, again, I take out the fine-tooth comb and review the game afterwards [for another look],” added Schmidt when asked about the role of the TMO in rugby.”Live, we didn’t see Tom’s incident and it was probably a little later that we saw it, and that’s all I’ve seen so far, so I prefer not to comment on it until I’ve seen it [properly].But there’s always a difficulty for a TMO, I suppose. He’s watching the main television broadcast and then, if he doesn’t catch it there, then he doesn’t access the other angles because everything is happening very quickly.”Lions coach Andy Farrell said he “hadn’t seen that” when asked about the Sheehan incidents and then pointed out that there were “all sorts of rugby incidents we could analyze”.Sheehan’s citation will be heard on Sunday [AES], in accordance with World Rugby’s “accelerated off-field sanction process”.
