Conor Murray: If Jac Morgan’s clear out was foul play, then rugby, as we know it, no longer exists

“After the second Test, whether we win, lose or draw, we go on the beer.”

That was the blueprint on the Lions tours in 2013, 2017 and 2021. All three series’ were tied at 1-1 after the second Test.

In 2013, we went to Noosa, and spent three days on the piss. In New Zealand, we had a “recuperation camp” in Queenstown. Four years ago, we rocked up to a vineyard before losing the decider in Cape Town.

A release valve is necessary at the end of a 13-month season. Ever since Hugo Keenan’s goose-step settled the series in Melbourne last Saturday, I know the lads have enjoyed themselves.

It is possible for 40-odd players to celebrate into Monday morning, while staying out of trouble, as they made their way from Melbourne to Sydney, and still perform in the third Test.

I have a fair idea how Andy Farrell motivated them this week – they are chasing history now.

The last Lions group to go unbeaten on tour were Willie John McBride’s “Invincibles”. The 1974 Lions were only denied a 4-0 whitewash of the Springboks because the referee blew up on 76 minutes for a draw.

It looks like the loss to Argentina in Dublin, before the current Lions set sail, did enormous work in terms of motivation.

Gary Keegan also helped immeasurably. I cannot overemphasise Gary’s value to Irish sport going back over 20 years when he worked with Irish boxers at the Olympics.

High-performance coach Gary Keegan. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho

Call it sports psychology, but Gary does not have a rule book. Some “performance coaches” I’ve encountered are preaching straight from a university manual. Others bring a wealth of life experience to elite sporting environments.

Gary is in the second category.

Caroline Currid deserves to be mentioned in the same conversation. Gary and Caroline have different approaches, but successive Limerick hurling captains have mentioned Currid’s contribution from the steps of the Hogan Stand.

In Munster, we could not understand why the higher-ups parted company with Caroline after she played such a significant role in our 2023 URC success.

Point being, the players are at their physical peak, well able to guzzle a belly-full of schooners before Aled Walters, the Lions and Ireland fitness guru, fine-tunes them for the third Test.

The idea of picking players on sentiment would not have crossed Farrell’s mind, which is harsh on those who have performed so well on this tour – Josh van der Flier springs to mind.

Tom Curry and Jac Morgan would not be willing to hand over a Lions jersey simply because the series was settled at the MCG. Farrell will pick his best team for this game.

The players celebrated but – to a man – they would see the importance of reaching their full potential Down Under. And that means a 3-0 whitewash.

On the other side, as recently as Thursday, the Aussie media and Joe Schmidt were still complaining about Morgan’s clear out of Carlo Tizzano, leading up to Keenan’s try.

[ Owen Doyle: Why Jac Morgan’s clear out of Carlo Tizzano was not obvious foul playOpens in new window ]

Carlo Tizzano of the Wallabies receives medical attention following a contest in the final moments. Photograph: Morgan Hancock/Getty

Tizzano’s injury rules him out this week, and that is genuinely unfortunate, but if the match officials decided that Morgan’s removal of Tizzano was foul play, then rugby union, as we know it, no longer exists.

We may as well abolish rucks and join the NFL, with big Line Men going toe-to-toe from upright stances.

Watch any game, at any level, and you will find replicas of how Morgan removed Tizzano from the Lions ball. Even World Rugby, through CEO Alan Gilpin, has spoken: it’s play on, all day long.

Rugby is a violent sport. Player safety is increasingly prioritised, after decades of it being an afterthought, but from grassroots to the pros, dominance at the breakdown is what differentiates union from American Football and Rugby League.

I was surprised by the amount of ex-Wallabies queuing up to cry foul. Even the great openside flanker Michael Hooper leant towards Morgan “going off his feet”. We could find dozens of examples of Hooper doing exactly what Morgan did to shunt Richie McCaw or Malcolm Marx off Aussie ball.

The breakdown is a dangerous place. Reffing it will never be an exact science. Morgan had a split second to remove Tizzano – “the jackler” – before he locked on to the ball.

It was legal. The alternative was to penalise Morgan and the Wallabies would have forced a deciding third Test in Sydney. But we either prioritise sport or entertainment.

Sure, the series deserved a grand finale following Australia’s forensic dissection of the Lions defence, but Farrell’s team earned the series win.

It was exactly what we expected a Joe Schmidt-coached team to do. In the first Test. Turns out they needed tune-ups against Fiji and the Lions after not playing together for seven months.

Jake Gordon of the Wallabies celebrates scoring a try with Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii. Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty

They finally got their Rugby League star Joseph Suaalii in space and he ripped up the Lions midfield to create Tom Wright’s sensational try.

At 23-5, and a half-hour played, it looked like we had ourselves a classic. But the Aussies were visibly spent. Tom Curry and Huw Jones tries before half-time reminded everyone that the Lions are, by some distance, the better team.

Curry’s 55th-minute hit on Suaalii, from behind to loosen the ball, felt like the decisive moment on tour. That “forced error” led directly to a 14-point momentum swing as Tadhg Beirne crashed over in the corner four minutes after Suaalii’s knock-on.

The third test is a dead rubber, but nobody inside the camps will feel this way.

The two coaches who have had the biggest influence on my career use distinctly different methods.

If Schmidt treats his players like PhD students cramming to complete their final dissertation, Farrell sees grown men with the mentality of elite athletes. Joe provides positional instructions that are down to specific blades of grass, whereas Faz empowers the individual to think for themselves.

Neither way is wrong. They dovetailed so effectively as Ireland coaches, cherry-picking from each other’s philosophy.

Farrell will have targeted 3-0 as much as Joe will be doing everything in his power to avoid a whitewash.

The result will colour the series.

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