Reply With QuoteYep, can't wait. Not sure how we'll get on, I think we'll do ok in the provincial games but come up short in the tests. If we don't win the first Test then it'll be a 3-0 black wash!
Less than 24 hours to go until my favourite sporting event starts. Any other fans here?
Yep, can't wait. Not sure how we'll get on, I think we'll do ok in the provincial games but come up short in the tests. If we don't win the first Test then it'll be a 3-0 black wash!
Massively excited. Favourite sporting event and the only one my wife and I are on the same side for!
A nervous fan here too and I agree with Badger. let the party begin!Originally Posted by badger1
I suspect the B&I Lions may only win 3 or 4 games out of ten. No Test victories.
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Jim.
Would love to watch the games, but off to Turkey now, so will be missing them.There is one English bar that does show rugby locally, but is difficult to get to.
Yes: can't wait for the action to start
Gut feeling says nz will be to strong but hope I'm Proven wrong
I feel Warren, can find the right 20 then I think the Lions have a chance. I saw NZ at Twickers a couple of years ago and England ran them close.
Its a big ask, especially for a scratch team, but who wants it easy
go in hard, or go home
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
I love! the Lions tours......
Always wanted to go on one..........Im not sure if I ever will...but they must be great. Its brilliant just watching on the telly..to be "there" must be amazing.
History very much against them on this one.
3-0 All Blacks but hopefully wrong.
I'm looking forward to all 10 games and will enjoy them regardless of the result, and if Jack Nowell can score a few I'll be delighted.
Poor thus far. Rubbish delivery from Laidlaw and Sexton unable to control the game. Phenomenal try saver from Faletau.
I know it was the first game, but that was very disappointing. Farrell made a difference, as did most of the bench.
Roll on the Blues on Weds
I think it was what I expected from the first game with only a few days to acclimatise/prepare.
It's a tricky path to the first test, avoiding injuries and not giving away your tactics.
They'll get sharper with each game, if not then we're stuffed!
Agreed!
Not the best of games.....
True, they have only been there for a few days, the Baa Baas, were REALLY! fired up for this once in a life-time experience too!
Im sure there is lots more to come from these Lions!
I'm looking forward to all 10 games and will enjoy them regardless of the result, and if Jack Nowell is anywhere near the starting 15 i'll be very disappointed ;)
Game day vs The Blues. Was away for the first match so looking forward to watching this one.
*ETA - Nowell's lack of pace already showing :(
Check out the final try by the Blues - proper class.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
NZ rugby seems too fast for the Lions trundlers .I don't like rubbishing players who may well be doing their best but their best in a turgid 6 Nations may not be good enough on this tour .Round the corner ain't going to work here although the stats tell us Warrenball has been successful at home . Let's see what Saturday brings .
Nowell was painful to watch. Way out of his depth it appears.
I didn't comment on the first match as it was basically a 'leg-stretcher' after travelling (and a victory, despite a poor, poor performance).
I expected too see a different Lions today from Saturday's match against the NZPBs. I didn't though.
The back three were dreadful & Williams didn't improve it one iota when he came on (and off & on again). Halfpenny did zero in open play.
Webb & Biggar/Sexton? No control.
Haskell? He was worse than AWJ in the first match.
There also seems to have been a total lack of on-field leadership from both Warburton & Owens in the first two matches.
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Jim.
The tight five had a reasonable game, but an overall poor effort and without a ball carrier to step in for Billy Vinipola, I can't see it improving dramatically.
My view is that they will lose two thirds of the regular matches. The Super 12 teams would beat any of the Home Nations sides! As for the tests 3-0 to the All Blacks. Gatland has made the same mistake that Woodward made in 2002. He's picked out of loyalty to the players he knows rather than form. A long tour for this lot..
Last edited by ronin; 7th June 2017 at 18:15.
Blues outplayed the Lions today. Our squad always looked like it lacked flair and it showed today as we offered very little coming forward.
I struggled to see us pushing the All Blacks close at all before the tour started, and the first 2 games haven't filled me with optimism!
I note Gatland has announced AWJ as captain for Saturday's match. Is it just Welshmen that are going to get a shot at captaincy?
British & Irish Lions S Hogg; G North, J Davies, B Te’o, L Williams; O Farrell, C Murray; M Vunipola, J George, T Furlong, AW Jones (capt), G Kruis, P O’Mahony, S O’Brien, T Faletau. Replacements K Owens, J McGrath, D Cole, M Itoje, C Stander, R Webb, J Sexton, A Watson.
No place for Warburton in the matchday 23!
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Jim.
Im Welsh myself.....
while I think the choice of Warburton for captain was a good choice..........it does seem "strange"! the other 2 captains are Welsh?!
Im "hoping" they will play better from now on......Not totally convinced though. I dont think Sexton is looking that good at the minute either? It would have been great with an in form Sexton and Farrell as centre would have been great..
But..............maybe Farrel will be used as a 10? Who knows...........certainly not me!!
There have been a few good signs, Moriaty looking good , Sinckler too.............Time for a few centres and wings .......well most! of the backs really! To start hitting good form.!
Hogg will be better....hopefully!..............Hope George North can produce the goods?
Teo and Joseph have looked good.........Im a big fan of Liam Williams.........(I know he didnt do much yesterday...hope the yellow card doesnt "mess with his head!).
Apart from that? It may have looked a good squad.........I think it was...but these are Kiwis!!
NO ! Bad sides over there......"Hopefully"! a few more days and matches will get them "sorted/together"!
they certainly need to be for the Tests...............(well ALL the games really!),
Perhaps it's for a test of their character? He knows them well enough but I'd like to think he's giving them a run at it to see how they handle it. IT'll be Sam for the tests without a doubt - surely!
No idea why he hasn't put Kruis and Itoje in the same pack so far, best pairing in the Northern Hemisphere.
AWJ seems the most obvious choice for captain out of that team, only other real option would be Farrell.
Is O'Mahony not worthy of captaining the Lions?
Three games & three different Welsh captains only feeds into the 'Taffia Conspiracies' that are floating around the selections for the tour.
AWJ was rubbish against the NZPBs. Will the added pressure of captaincy make him play better? I suppose we'll find out on Saturday.
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Jim.
Fair point, forgot he captained Munster.
Not as much experience though I guess.
Much better performance. Just a shame about the white line fever which they'll need to deal with before the test matches.
Massive difference with Murray and Farrell in. Thought T'eo carried well and the back row looked a bit more balanced with O'Mahoney and O'Brien on the flanks. Liam Williams needs to be no where near the test team.
At present think that is looking like:
1) Vunipola
2) Owens / George (prefer George but think WG will go for Owens)
3) Furlong
4) Kruis
5) AWJ (but think Itoje is very unlucky)
6) O'Mahoney
7) Warburton
8) Faletau
9) Murray
10) Farrell
11) North
12) T'eo
13) Davies (though would love to see Daly in there)
14) Watson
15) Halfpenny (for want of a better option, as Hogg looked poor and Williams can't deal with the high ball)
Anyone else thinking differently?
Much better performance.
Looks like they are starting to gel a lot better too.
I thought it a bit "strange", to arrive just a couple of days before the first game though?
All down to money and sponsorship etc I suppose?!
I think they had a massive sponsored leaving dinner and then had flights sponsored by Qantas so had to do a double stop and overnight in Sydney prior to the first game.
That sounds about right.
I did "hear", that as part of the tour/deal/sponsorship, that they had to stop overnight in Australia.
The forwards are looking very good....Some very hard decisions for Gatland to make in that department!
The backs, Sexton had a much better game.
Farrel is class, Murray had a great game.
The wingers didnt get too many chances, when half chances did occur, not much was made of them....though Im sure with time (yeah! I know we are running out of time!) The chances will be taken.
The defence, and line outs and scrums are looking very very good though!
Im sure the tests will be a different kettle of fish though!
Really looking forward to the tests now.
(even though I wont be able to see the first test!).
I agree with your selection and think it's close to the starting 15. However I would put AWJ on the bench (he looked better today in comparison with the first game but I still don't rate him)
Itoje starting at lock and Tipric on the open side, Daily in at full back.
Hogg has been poor so far and 1/2penny is not the player he once was. Williams should be no where near the test team he couldn't score in a brothel. He put in a shift but lacked the finishing instinct.
I thought CJ looked good when he came on, he and O Brian made some good yards as did Mako and Faletau. The forwards look good the backs need work.
North looked like he suffered a bit of concussion today again, he needs to be careful.
Better this morning. Still not convinced by AWJ though.
Far too much unpunished offside from both teams rather strangled the game IMHO.
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Jim.
I think when anyone but Tigers do it it's called 'line speed'...
Just watched the England Vs Pumas game. Bloody excellent. If you get the chance watch it.
Why Ford, Lynchbury and George were not selected for the Lions is a mystery to me.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Couldn't agree more on both points!
Cracking international, and Argentina were brilliant off turnovers, with some awesome handling.
Thought England had all round good performances, and fronted up despite the lack of size in the team.
- without a doubt Launchbury should have been in NZ. The other 2 would have been close. I'm not particularly a GF fan, but he was good last night. Thought Genge was excellent too.
What England desperately need is a good attacking fullback - never been a fan of brown.
Can't wait to see a full England squad play in good conditions - some really good players starting to perform.
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The England game was fantastic. It was more like Sevens.
Whilst at the same time it became very clear why Mike Brown wasn't selected!
Ford had a good game last night, but has been off colour for the last year or so, so I can see why Biggar, Sexton and Farrell were selected ahead of him. I think the England of the next few years will see a 10,12,13 axis of Farrell, Slade and Te'o. My understanding is that Launchbury was left at home as he is not a line out caller. George was selected!?!?
I think we'll see the first test with a midfield of Sexton, Henshaw, Davies with Te'o as an impact sub - I would prefer Faz at 10 on current form though.
I only caught the last 20 minutes of the England game.......it looked like a cracking game though!
Back to the Lions...............
I honestly (I know Im Welsh too) cant believe people saying that Alan Wyn Jones isnt a good player?
To me , he is pure class, does lots of work too.
Ive never seen him have a bad game?!
The first two tour matches werent great .....understandable I guess.
I think Watson could be a good/surprise? choice as full back too.. Shame Hogg was injured yesterday....As Ive mentioned, they werent great in the first two games...Hogg included.
Lions need an inside centre who can execute a good pass off either hand and a proper open side .Then they'd be in business as the front five seem very good in the tight .They can win games by hammering down to the oppo 22 , mauling and winning penalties .I know that's not Gatland's way but it worked on Saturday and England won a World Cup using it .
Hi, I'm not a great rugby aficionado, but I do enjoy the international games. Could you please tell me why you believe that Mike Brown wasn't selected? I though that he was one of England's best players
Thanks
John
There are no doubt plenty of theories as to why Brown did not tour .Only Gatland can give the true reason though .Tourists are selected not only on their playing ability but also the perception of their value as a person on a tough tour away from their home country when things are not always going their way .I'm not suggesting that Brown is unsuitable since i don't know him .There are many examples of good tourists chief among them being Farrell ,for obvious reasons , and perhaps less obviously Haskell .
I don't believe that Mike Brown should be selected for England, let alone the Lions!
Long story short, Mike Brown is great under the high ball and will generally beat the first man when running the ball back - which looks great. Unfortunately he also takes the ball into contact pretty much every time and it appears that he won't/can't make the pass - so many attacking opportunities are butchered because of this lack of passing. Some, who know him a lot better than I, say it is due to selfishness others say that he simply doesn't have the passing skill so doesn't back himself to draw the man and time the pass. He also frequently drifts left into the wingers channel when he runs the ball back, crowding space so that on the odd occasion he does make the pass, the winger has little to no room to manoeuvre - Jonny May has been the unlucky recipient of this problem recently for England. Browns defensive positioning can be suspect at times (although he's not the only attacking fullback to have this issue), and his temperament (he is often referred to as 'Mr Angry') may also explain why Gatland decided not to tour him.
As for England I would have Goode, Watson, Foden, Abendanon, (although he isn't currently eligible for England Selection) or Marshall ahead of Brown - I actually think Daly will be Englands long term fullback - he has everything the role could require and more and I would love to see him play there.
I watched the '97 South Africa series yesterday. It was the first professional tour and the Springboks were world champions. It's still my favourite Lions series, with the Dawson dummy, Guscott's drop goal and Gibbs' tackle on Oz Du Randt. It's only 20 years ago but the game was so different then. No TMO, no scrum caps, cotton shirts with cut down sleeves, instant scrums and kick off from a tee.
Oh dear!
Another poor performance from the Lions.
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Jim.
Poor kicking, poor decisions by the ref and still conceding too many penalties. Farrell looked spooked when took the kick (he must have been made aware of the booing beforehand?) and there was obstruction for their first try.
On another day it could have gone the Lions' way quite comfortably but it's those margins that win at this level.
Last edited by bonzo697; 13th June 2017 at 13:53.
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