Possibly the only interesting subplot of the final five minutes of All Blacks win over the Lions was the verbals between Johnny Sexton and Jaco Peyper. In past eighteen months, the South African ref has overtaken Wayne Barnes as Ireland's least-liked rugby ref. Peyper memorably swallowed his whistle during the brutal France-Ireland game in Paris in 2016 (which saw Sexton nearly decapitated) and then came in for more criticism from Irish fans during the Ireland-All Blacks game last November at the Aviva.
So when Sexton arrived on the pitch as a replacement for Ben Te'o, he might have been entitled to have his biases already formed. Sexton has never been shy about expressing his opinions to referees but it was interesting to see just how frustrated he was with Peyper after the All Blacks made the score 30-8 and the Lions went searching for tries that might flatter the final scoreline.
Around the 75:00 minute mark, Jack McGrath was penalised for collapsing after an All Black lineout. Keep an eye out for Sexton in the bottom corner of the screen throwing his hands up in indignation.
As the All Blacks set up for the next lineout, Peyper can be heard on the ref mic scolding Sexton for further remonstrations.
"Twenty-two keep your arms down, don't wave at us."
Then two minutes later, Sexton complained that Peyper had incorrectly whistled the All Blacks for a knock-on when Barrett broke up a pass from Sexton to Eliot Daly. Sexton wanted a penalty and then stood in Peyper's path complaining, which lead to Peyper to say the following:
"Move. Please move, you're not the ref. Come on"
Ruaidhri O'Connor of the Indo would also spot Sexton and Sean O'Brien continuing to complain to Peyper after the full-time whistle went.
O'Brien and Sexton remonstrate with Peyper at the final whistle. 'You give them everything' says Sexton.
— Rúaidhrí O'Connor (@RuaidhriOC) June 24, 2017
Sexton's sentiments towards Peyper were generally shared by British and Irish rugby fans and journalists on social media, who mostly were critical of the South African's performance (as losing fans often after defeats).
Jaco Peyper is a threat to rugby, the amount of absolute filth he let's go is ridiculous.
Another missile clearout not picked up— The Champ Champs (@GifsRugbyNStuff) June 24, 2017
Lions excellent for 50 mins and I think with either Garces or Poite, they'd have been in the lead. Don't violently backlash to that last 30.
— Alex Shaw (@alexshawsport) June 24, 2017
Peyper however has been backed in both the New Zealand and British media. The Lions conceded 11 penalties to the All Blacks seven and Gatland knows his players will need to flip that figure if his team are to have any chance of winning this series.
