Some of the vitriol still being poured on Gatland from across the Celtic Sea astounds me.

Including the oh-so-logical "the game was won in the forwards so it didn't matter which backs played" argument -- erm...how would the Lions Tour Management (which is more than just Gatland) have known this in advance? Crystal ball? Divining rods? Mystic Meg? Christ, I thought some Saes were one-eyed when Wilkinson was playing....

Never mind. Onwards and upwards.... Rugby Championship and new season to look forward to!

Surely he would be favourite should their be a change at the top?

Graham Henry did it and he lost his lions series!

Mike Phillips is considering retiring for international rugby.

mind elsewhere due the goings on at SW19, but well done to the Lions

I never expected that performance and glad they were able to keep going in the second half for a change.

Gat's selection choices were vindicated and he deserves all the plaudits coming his way.

Leigh Halfpenny - what a player eh?

On a more serious matter with regards the third test, was there a case for medical negligence on players from both teams.

I was pretty stunned that George Smith came back on at all after his collision with Hibbard.

Here is two GIFs of Hibbard himself. Firstly collapsing after a scrum and then following it sat on the sidelines as fellow members of the match 22 celebrate a Lions score.

http://prem0.hiboox.com/images/2713/...37930c71de.gif

http://prem0.hiboox.com/images/2713/...b50a5fc3e4.gif

He looks utterly out of it,bordering on concussion.

In both these cases, I really think each player should've been straight to the changing room for medical assessment.

I realise we deal in a macho sport where injured participants will want to stay pitchside to cheer on their team but in these cases it's a worry.

That's certainly true, I think, bar disaster, there's a very high chance he will be managing one of the two sides come 2017.

Im astonished they let smith back on, crazy decision. Hibbards was different though that was a result of pressure from the front row in the same way weightlifters sometimes black out. They forget to breath and add in the opposition presuring your neck and throat.

Ok here is my opinion of the Lions tour. I have questioned a lot of the judgement over certain things about this tour. I didn’t question dropping O’Driscol as I thought Davies was a better option at 13 anyway. I think the decision to go for a lighter pack (admittedly due to injuries) on the second test was crucial. It was highlighted in the 3rd test by the fact that they beat them up front and as a result took the test. England hasn’t done badly against Australia in 10 years because they have always had a pretty tough front 5 and haven’t been afraid to just scrum Australia off the park.

I doubted Gatland and I don’t know why I did, As a Wasps fan I have seen him overturn the odds so many times. When Wasps were given no chance against Leicester and yet smashed them, he showed he is a technical master when it comes to preparing teams for last gasp games.

Wasps Prem final

Wales Six Nations v England 2012

Lions 3rd Test

These were all games where the teams he was coaching were not favourites and not really been that convincing in the run in.

Australia are going to dump Deans and I think it’s the right thing, he doesn’t seem to suit their style of play and I imagine someone will come in who panders more to the “stars”.

The people saying Quade Cooper would have won them the games are frankly deluded beyond delusion.
Quade Cooper cannot scrum and from what I saw that is the problem not what the 10 is doing. Every now and then when a ref who knows his stuff refs the Aussies there scrum weakness gets highlighted. It isn’t helped by the Southern Hemispheres lack of attention to the set piece. Until Australia find 4 props at least capable of competing and a scrum coach at the top of his game they will always be beatable by any team wanting to take them on there.

Anyway well done Lions.

One me thing..... Leigh Halfpenny.

This guy is the best rugby player in the world right now, I dont say that lighlty.

Never seen such a complete performance as his one on Saturday. Only seen one that could be compared and that was Dan Carter second lions test 2005.

What I do not understand is people re-emphasising the importance of Lions tours continuing. I do not hear anyone saying they shouldn't! For sporting reasons they should and, importantly (these days more than ever it seesm), is there a big generator of cash?

I'd just LOVE to know the name of the idiot who let Halfpenny leave the Ospreys, saying he was "too small", and this from a region with Shane Williams on their books at the time.

Deans is out Ewen McKenzie to take over Wallabies

IRPA propose schedule changes

nice idea, if it actually happens

Simply could not agree more... Oozed class with everything he did.

Excited for Jones v Corbisiero next season.

So Henson has already been punched by someone in his new team.

Well that's a promising start. Knows how to make friends doesn't he.

Wonder what the odds are on him still being at Bath by Christmas.

Just seen this on SSN. Someone had recorded it on their phone.
More of a short right jab than a hook but he went down like the proverbial.

Jones clearly won that battle two years ago, albeit helped by a referee who let him bind on the arm.

Henson really needs to stop drinking.

He's disliked to such a level that people are overlooking the assault on him in the video. No matter what the verbal provocation likely was, you or I would be on our way out of a job if we'd sparked a work colleague in a pub, which was captured on film.

The version of events I read is that Henson, worse for wear, was putting money in his mouth and trying to get the barmaid to take it out. Fearns warned him to pack it in, Henson ignored him and continued, so Fearns decked him.

It would have been assault if he'd carried on going for him but one punch when being confronted in such a manner is not viewed as assault, it would be argued that is was proportional... it wasn't like he kept going at him like a certain England footballer did in a bar years ago

After Woodward and Beaumont butchered it in 2005, with the "anthem", the press conferences, the painting, the "mates" of Woodward getting a look in and of course the outstandingly bad performances, people really though if South Africa 09 was another whitewash we'd be done with it.

or maybe the media went overboard in it's criticism of Woodward's tenure and jumped the gun about the future of the Lions.

Before the last series in South Africa the media were saying that we had to win the series to maintain future tours. Then after the second test, it was "we have to win the final test".

I think the media likes to make out that things are all or nothing. We're currently basking the glow of a successful and well fought series, yet 24hrs before the final test the knives were out for Gatland.

I daresay before the next series in New Zealand we'll have more of the "this series is crucial to future tours" mixed in with the discussion about splitting revenues more equally.

The concept of the Lions is its biggest selling point, along with the fact it's such a revenue generator (I can't see SANZAR dumping such a huge money spinner).

The version I read yesterday said that Hensons team mates were continually taking the mick out of him for his Strictly appearences. He asked them to stop and they turned nasty.