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What AWJ pulled out of his luggage on the 2017 Lions left CJ Stander gobsmacked

(Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Ireland back row CJ Stander has revealed a quirky 2017 Lions story to highlight the ultra level of professionalism which has enabled Wales skipper Alun Wyn Jones to become world rugby’s most capped Test player. 

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Jones played his 149th Test match last weekend, lining out for Wales in the defeat to Scotland. It wasn’t the result the lock would have wanted from a match which allowed him to overtake New Zealand’s Richie McCaw on the list of most-capped internationals. 

The outing was the 140th appearance by Jones for Wales which, added to his nine Lions Test games, pushed him past the McCaw benchmark. 

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    Dylan Hartley and Jamie Roberts on speculation that Saracens could rejoin the Premiership without kicking a Championship ball

    But reflecting on the level of professionalism that has taken the 35-year-old to record Test level heights in the game, Stander recalled a story from the Lions tour to New Zealand in 2017 to illustrate why Jones is out there on his own in terms of caps.

    Guest-starring on the latest episode of RugbyPass Offload with Dylan Hartley and Jamie Roberts, Stander was asked for a Jones story and he quickly chipped in: “I actually roomed with him for a week. I just remember my boots for some reason didn’t want to fit me. In the room I was, ‘Oh Alun Wyn, I’m struggling with these boots’.

    “It’s probably not the best story but it shows you how professional he was. He had this massive bag in his luggage. He pulled it out. He had shoe stretchers – I had never seen them in my life. This man pulls them out of his bag as if it is nothing. That bag was a bag of tricks… it just showed the professionalism of the man. I had never seen a guy who brings shoe stretchers with him overseas. Well done.” 

    Explaining how they are used, Stander added: “You put them in and you turn them. You need to put them in hot water, put them in and then turn it. I used the thing for the whole tour and I actually broke one. He’s probably going to see this and go, ‘Well, you own me a beer’ but how unlucky mate, you’re never going to get them back.”

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    Ex-England skipper Hartley loved the insight. “Maybe that is the secret, the atomic habits, it’s the small things every day that he is doing, not the big things.”

    Stander replied: “That’s probably a fair point. I never thought about that. I need to get myself a pair of those (shoe stretchers).”

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    Comments on RugbyPass

    J
    JW 16 minutes ago
    Andy Goode: Aussie comments didn't cover them in glory

    Yes I was happy with the refs ruling of arrival (and that the tackled player wasn’t obligated to release the ball immediately) but if you see the wide angle you can note how Morgan dives to get there in time.


    I don’t mind your (or the refs) view, but what Morgan said is accurate. Both Mils and Beaver agreed on the breakdown, and you will also get the same view from Aotearoa Rugby Pod guys for a pretty unanimous NZ view.

    Sometimes when both players are low its a rugby collision and this is one of those times.

    Not recently. In the SR finals and AB v Arg series weve seen players clearly bent 90 at the waist still be penalised, only when the attacker does something the ref sees immediate mitigation and rules a rugby incident. Tizzano didn’t offer that he was always in the position Morgan aimed to collect him in.


    Happy to not throw the rule book at these situations but the precent is that they are in these situations.

    many tries out wide the player is allowed to be tackled while diving

    They are diving for the line, not to avoid being tackled.

    “In principle, in a try scoring situation, if the action is deemed to be a dive forward for a try, then it should be permitted. If a player is deemed to have left the ground to avoid a tackle; or to jump, or hurdle a potential tackler, then this is dangerous play and should be sanctioned accordingly.”

    You can read Nicks article for an updated discourse on this though.

    30 Go to comments
    J
    JW 54 minutes ago
    New Zealanders may not understand, but in France Test rugby is the 'B movie'

    But he was wrong, he had to take back what he said. But maybe this only happened because he came out and was honest with his initial plans?


    He’s simply in a position where he should be far more professional.


    I don’t really follow much media, especially SM, but again, I’ve not seen anyone complaining. Plenty of ridicule and pointing out things like it being disrespectful to the game, but as far as the English language goes, that’s not complaining. Nick Bishop for instance hasn’t been complaining, he’s simply saying Galthie made a bad decision for France’s prospects (which when the common reply is ‘thats how it is’).


    Complaining would be views expressing that the FFR should have put the tour back a week so that all T14 finalists could attend. Complaining would be saying they’ve been robbed of seeing the worlds best stars. Complaining would be saying players can simply take extra weeks off from T14. I’ve only seen advice and suggestions that these are things France need to look-at-for-the-future.


    Basically I tried to communicate with French fans because they don’t understand what’s being communicated. ALL reactions I have seen shared here by French supports have all seemed way over the top compared what I’ve seen expressed about this tour.

    the players are expected to play in too many matches, for too many minutes, and need more rest and recovery time.

    This is the message I have been sharing. So something needs to happen, whether thats France pull out of more Internationals or rest players from more domestic games, who knows, but I also don’t think what they have now is working. It’s obviously much better than 3-4 years ago, but they appear to want to work even harder at it like you say. Personally I’ve only seen LNR be reasonable, I hear much less of their other internationals being denied/influenced not to play, so I imagine that they will give even further (as I can’t really see France pulling out the other international windows as well).

    147 Go to comments
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