That’s not strictly true though. The Tri-Nations begins this weekend, with New Zealand, Australia and South Africa playing each other again and again and again for weeks on end.

Last year’s tournament, plagued by the now-defunct ELVs, was one of the worst episodes of International Rugby I’ve ever seen. The event seemed to last for an eternity, so that by the end of it, most people seemed to lose interest in the outcome.

Given that the tournament refuses to let anyone else join the party, maintaining its three team format, the fact that it lasts for two months is frankly ludicrous. The last game is on the 19th September, and fortunately by then we’ll have the Guinness Premiership and Magners League to be excited about.

What do you think about the Tri-Nations? Am I just a bit grumpy because we lost the Lions?

If you’d like to make the tournament more interesting, join our predictions game on SuperBru. Head to http://www.superbru.com/trinations and enter the pool code barspoll to join the league.

The event, held prior to the final Test in Johannesburg, came about after Gullivers’ 2,000 Lions supporters were invited by the President of South Africa Rugby Union, Oregan Hoskins, to Soweto Rugby Club.

The morning began with local Soweto school children being treated to a TAG tournament and coaching clinic from South African rugby legends Peter Muller and John Allen. Then it was the turn of the seniors, when the Gullivers Barbarians took on Soweto Legends and won 25-5. The Barbarians XV were made up of Gullivers’ supporters who had volunteered to play during their tour, a Lions tradition on Gullivers’ tours, since 1989.

Off the pitch, Gullivers’ Lions fans were treated to traditional Soweto musical and dancing acts and brunch in the form of a South African ‘Spit Braai’, before a convoy of 34 police escorted coaches headed off to Coca-Cola Park to be a part of the Lions’ 28-9 win.

In way of thanking Soweto RFC for hosting the event and to give something back to South Africa’s grassroots rugby, Gullivers contributed towards the new changing facilities at the club and donated masses of kit to the players and children.

Less than a week after the 2009 Lions Tour has ended, Gullivers has already seen unprecedented interest for the 2013 Lions Tour in Australia attributed to the Lions breaking their seven Test losing streak.

Visit Gullivers’ Lions 2009 Tour to read more about the fantastic time Lions supporters had in South Africa and take a look at the photo gallery.

I’m referring to the rise of the offence of eye-gouging, a term that we are seeing far more in recent years. Once again global rugby is in the centre of debate after the actions and the sentencing of Schalk Burger. The law book states that contact with a players eyes will result in a minimum of a 12 week ban.

So why do players continue to receive less than this minimum ban?

Within the last two years we have seen roughly 13 cases of eye gouging and most of those have ended with less than the recommended ban. Why have regulations if we will not stick to them?

The most memorable incident I recall was during the 2003 world cup in a pool match between Ireland and Argentina. Reggie Corrigan felt the fingers and nails of Mauricio Reggiardo rip out his contact lens and scratch his cornea, resulting in temporary blindness.

With a moment like that so chilling and frightening we would expect an extensive ban, but instead 10 cameras only managed to capture the hand connecting with Corrigan’s face and not the fingers plunging into his eye socket, at this the situation was deemed inconclusive and the Argentine received an insignificant ban of 6 weeks.

Most recently Schalk burger ‘celebrated’ his 50th cap by connecting with Luke Fitzgerald eyes within 50 seconds of the second Lions test against South Africa, receiving an 8 week ban for his efforts after only being shown yellow for the incident. Something Coach Peter De Villiers originally stated was all part of the game. However earlier in the week he apologised for his initial comments, after vast media criticism. In my opinion, it should be far longer before Burger is able to be contest for his 51st cap.

The same weekend saw Italian captain Sergio Parisse banned for 8 weeks after contact with kiwi lock Isaac Ross. Where is the 12 week ban?

Leo Cullen will have a black spot over his Heineken cup victory as Alan Quinlan was given a 12 week ban, subsequently missing the current Lions tour, for contact with Cullen’s eye.

The IRB has announced that it will crack down on eye-gouging and is planning to introduce new regulations of ban appeals. Currently only the respective player can contest if they feel the ban is too harsh. However it is possible now the appeal should extent to the opposition and the governing body.

Whatever the IRB concludes it has to act fast to increase punishment and reduce cases of this cowardly offence. The game is put in disrepute and negative role modelling occurs as a result of these incidents. It may only be a matter of time before a career ending injury is produced from this act.

See the Schalk Burger clip here

I’ve only scanned the list so far, but spotted Jonny Wilkinson on the end of the EPS list, with Danny Cipriani in the Saxons. Nick Kennedy and Paul Sackey are also dropped to the Saxons.

James Haskell isn’t on either list…

What are your thoughts? Does this actually matter?

ENGLAND SENIOR ELITE PLAYER SQUAD:

FORWARDS (18)
Steffon Armitage (London Irish)
Steve Borthwick (Saracens)
George Chuter (Leicester Tigers)
Jordan Crane (Leicester Tigers)
Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers)
Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers)
Nick Easter (Harlequins)
Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)
Ben Kay (Leicester Tigers)
Lee Mears (Bath Rugby)
Tim Payne (London Wasps)
Tom Rees (London Wasps)
Simon Shaw (London Wasps)
Andrew Sheridan (Sale Sharks)
Phil Vickery (London Wasps)
Julian White (Leicester Tigers)
David Wilson (Bath Rugby)
Joe Worsley (London Wasps)

BACKS (14)
Delon Armitage (London Irish)
Matt Banahan (Bath Rugby)
Danny Care (Harlequins)
Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks)
Harry Ellis (Leicester Tigers)
Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers)
Riki Flutey (CA Brive)
Dan Hipkiss (Leicester Tigers)
Paul Hodgson (London Irish)
Ugo Monye (Harlequins)
Olly Morgan (Gloucester Rugby)
Mathew Tait (Sale Sharks)
Mike Tindall (Gloucester Rugby)
Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon)

ENGLAND SAXONS SQUAD

FORWARDS (17)
Richard Blaze (Leicester Tigers)
Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)
Alex Corbisiero (London Irish)
Nick Kennedy (London Irish)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)
Matthew Mullan (Worcester Warriors)
Tom Mercey (Saracens)
Lewis Moody (Leicester Tigers)
Luke Narraway (Gloucester Rugby)
David Paice (London Irish)
Chris Robshaw (Harlequins)
Will Skinner (Harlequins)
George Skivington (London Wasps)
Dan Ward-Smith (London Wasps)
Rob Webber (London Wasps)
Nick Wood (Gloucester Rugby)
Ben Woods (Leicester Tigers)

BACKS (15)
Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby)
Brad Barritt (Saracens)
Danny Cipriani (London Wasps)
Ben Foden (Northampton Saints)
Shane Geraghty (Northampton Saints)
Topsy Ojo (London Irish)
Stephen Myler (Northampton Saints)
Paul Sackey (London Wasps)
Joe Simpson (London Wasps)
David Strettle (Harlequins)
Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins)
Sam Vesty (Leicester Tigers)
Dominic Waldouck (London Wasps)
Richard Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks)
Micky Young (Newcastle Falcons)

Lovell - to celebrate their Lions stash sale - are offering a Lions Training shirt to the person that can think of the most amusing caption to the image below. What do you think is being said between Ian McGeechan and Warren Gatland?

As always, keep it clean and only one entry per person. We’ll close the competition next week on Tuesday 14th July.

“It was a little bit tight and there was a bit of persuasion involved to have the full set of players for that week but we got round that” said the Lions head coach.

The Rugby Blog readers will remember the consternation caused when Northampton refused to release Euan Murray for the first Lions get together in May.

“The only two major things on the IRB calendar are the Lions tours and the World Cup so you would hope that there is enough planning that goes into that. People need to understand just how big a Lions tour is to a player. That hasn’t changed and if anything it’s got better and bigger and I hope that the people who are associated with the players on a long term basis understand that there should be a very careful look at how you prepare for a Lions tour.”

“I think you have different people running different elements of the game and I think you want to have that co-ordinated because the Lions are an integral part of the professional game - just because the Lions have been around doesn’t mean they are out of date or out of touch. Speak to any of the players, there is nothing bigger than this - nothing bigger - and that includes World Cups in the players’ eyes. That has to be taken into account by the people who run the game - particularly the home unions and the clubs and they have to understand that there should be an integrated and coordinated process in a Lions season.

McGeechan went on to say that despite these difficulties, the standard of rugby played by the Lions was superb. “It exceeded my expectations - we knew that South Africa were in good shape they are a powerful team and at the top of the tree at the moment, but we also knew that there were certain ways we would have to play to try and put them under pressure. They do have strengths in most areas so really to pull the game we’ve put together and to keep that going for three Test matches with a change of personnel leaves me really very proud of that achievement from everybody.”

“This group of players are as tight a unit as I have ever worked with under pressure. I think last Saturday was the lowest I have ever felt, and we took those two or three days off, but they came back well and trained Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and they were superb - absolutely excellent. The players have been outstanding and were very ready for a Test match and I’m really proud of the way we’ve finished it and we can carry a winning Lions jersey for the next four years.”

Roll on Australia 2013.

The 28-9 win is no more than they deserved after coming so close to clinching the Second Test to keep the series alive. But whilst this result should be celebrated, it does enhance the pain at having come so close to a series win.

The 2009 Lions Tour is now over, and sadly we have to wait another four years to see them in action again. Having avoided a series whitewash, optimism is now high that 2013 will see the next series victory in Australia.

We’ll be bringing you more reactions and reflections on what has been a great tour, but for now, let us have your thoughts on the Third Test result and the tour in general.

It’s difficult to know how the game will be played tomorrow. Lions’ players thoughts will surely be turning to home, and a few weeks of rest after such a long season. There may be some yearning for revenge from those that featured in the earlier Tests, whilst the debutants will be playing proudly for their injured comrades.

South Africa appear to be using the game as a trial match before the Tri-Nations kicks off on July 18th. In that respect, the Springboks will be something of an unknown quantity, and the result is very difficult to predict.

I can see many different scenarios, but I’ve sticking to my guns and backing the Lions to prevent a series whitewash through steely determination.

What do you think? A Lions victory to banish the talk of their losing streak? Or a South African clean sweep?