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John Smit, the South African captain, was in angry mood this morning as he discussed the dismissal of the appeal of Bakkies Botha against a suspension for an offence in last Saturday’s Test in Pretoria which left Adam Jones nursing a serious shoulder injury which could keep him out of rugby for nine months.

Botha raced into a ruck situation, smashed Jones off the ball with his shoulder and immediately afterwards, Jones was led off. Botha was cited and received a fairly miniscule suspension of two weeks, which basically keeps him out of no games he would have played in.

Smit’s point was that Botha was merely driving in legally to clear out a Lion, just as millions of people have driven in to clean out players trying to turn the ball over in millions of rucks for a long time. There is a stipulation in law that there must be some semblance of binding on your own team and on the opposition at the clear-out but in common with a great number of rugby laws, this one is never applied.

Another point to bear in mind is that Botha has been involved in incidents of this type on several occasions. We were shown a clip of him in his ruck mode on television the other evening, and it is clear that other opponents of Botha in domestic rugby were fortunate not to suffer the same fate of Adam Jones. Botha really must decide whether he wants to be a hard international forward, for which he clearly has the capability, or some kind of silly and rather dangerous pantomime villain. Frankly, you would not give tuppence for his chances had he been born just a little earlier and had to try his tricks on someone like Martin Johnson.

Having said all that, I do have a certain sympathy for what John Smit was saying. Botha’s act has been replicated so many times, it does fall within the basic description not so much of what is meant to be allowed, but what is actually allowed by referees. For me, what he did is not remotely as horrible as those ludicrous charges we see when the team not in possession at rucks send individuals to thunder into the backs of members of the opposing team, often smashing into them and catching them unawares.

One good outcome of the Botha incident might be that the game will cut down rapidly on incidents of defenceless forwards being blindsided. It is not any sort of technical advantage; it is a thoroughly dangerous and petulant act. Indeed, the sooner the game returns to proper rucking with bound forwards driving over the top of the ball, the sooner we will herald the return of dynamism, quick ball and safety.

Smit may be right in that it was Botha’s past reputation that brought about this suspension. Let him cop it, but let’s ensure that safety gets back onto the agenda.

Lions deserve more respect

The final Rolling Maul of this almost endless season will appear on Monday with a look back at the final Test in Johannesburg. As I said yesterday, it is a fantastic prospect and Lions’ followers will be desperately hoping that, with possible exhaustion looming, nothing particularly bad befalls the touring party on Saturday.

But even before the conclusion to the tour, we can draw conclusions for the future of the Lions. Far too many players, far too many travelling fans, far too many influential figures in the media and far too many rugby followers back at home want the Lions to exist and to thrive, so that any doubt over their future has been triumphantly removed - and perhaps ironically removed in defeat, by the heroism and ill-fortune of the two amazing Tests which have been played on this tour to date.

And the emphasis now switches emphatically to Australia, who will host the next Lions side in four years’ time, and to the domestic game in Britain and Ireland, responsible for delivering the Lions on that tour rested, fit, and together.