The sight of poor Phil Vickery trudging off the park last weekend was enough to make this Welshman cry into his beer. Vickery is a proud player, and may have seen this tour as his swan song. But the lasting memory of this test match, and perhaps of Vickery, is the sad, confused shake of the head.
Any front row forward under pressure is an excruciating sight for the armchair fan, but the pincer movement performed on Vickery's spinal column by The Beast and the giant hooker DuPlessis was gruesome indeed. Crucially, he was afforded no protection by the ref, who blamed him time and again for the collapse of the front row. Not once were the Boks even spoken to in this regard. If we get nothing else right this weekend, it would be great to see us spinning some solid scrum ball, because those centres could do some damage...
