Former Scotland head coach Matt Williams has slammed the British and Irish Lions yet again, after the touring team blocked Pete Samu from featuring in the final midweek match.<\/b><\/p>\n
The Wallabies back-rower was set to play for the First Nations and Pasifika XV outfit on Tuesday but was blocked from doing so by the Lions, citing that he hadn\u2019t played in Super Rugby this season, which was a contractual requirement for representation.<\/p>\n
Classless Lions<\/p>\n
The decision angered FNP coach Toutai Kefu as well as Australian<\/a> fans, particularly after Lions<\/a> CEO Ben Calveley warned Rugby Australia that top players had to be released to Super Rugby teams<\/a> for the games before the Test series.<\/p>\n \u201cThe agreement is very clear,\u201d he said last month. \u201cTest players have to be released to play in fixtures leading into that series. That is our expectation.\u201d<\/p>\n But in the case of Samu, the back-rower who starred for Bordeaux-Begles in the Champions Cup and Top 14, the Lions blocked him from playing the pre-Test series fixture, an act that Williams dubs as \u2018classless\u2019.<\/p>\n He believes that the loose forward was being lined up to potentially feature for the Wallabies but was denied much-needed gametime by the tourists.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the start of the tour, the Lions management were unhappy that there weren\u2019t enough Wallabies players being made available to lift the standards in the provincial teams. Yet this week, the same Lions management objected to the selection of the former Bordeaux player Pete Samu<\/a> for the First Nations and Pasifika,\u201d he wrote in his Irish Times<\/a> column.<\/p>\n \u201cSamu has returned to Australia to play with the Waratahs next season. As the former Australian international did not play in the Super Rugby competition this season, he fell outside the guidelines of the pre-tour agreements.<\/p>\n \u201cAnother way of looking at it would be that the Lions don\u2019t want Samu match fit for the third Test. In Australia, this has been seen as the Lions acting with all the vestiges of imperialists touring their convict colony. It was a classless act. The many Samu masks being worn in the crowd on Tuesday night tells you what the locals thought of the Lions\u2019 decision.\u201d<\/p>\n Maro Itoje addresses \u2018pub team\u2019 claim as Lions sit on verge of \u2018special\u2019 series win<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n