Lions Tour

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@ barmy: sheridan was out for TRYING to hit a player. would have nailed the man to ground, I`d say... funny innocent face afterwards.

Sin bin is always 10 min, someone told me...

I`m not that much into rugby but traveling in NZ at the moment... could anyone tell me why the lions played without the kicker from the game against taranaki?? he played awesome!

 

The Lions will get murdered in the loose. Our loosies are just simply amazing. You have guys like Holah, Kaino, and Blackie who can't even make the All Blacks. Better to focus on their strength which is in the tight.

 

Tillix - the Lions squad has over 40 players and there are only 15 on the field so they have to give everyone a go so they can work out who will the best 15 to play in the main test matches against the All Blacks.

By the way, hope you're enjoying the trip.

Tassadar - I agree the Lions scrum should be strong.

 

@ Harbourboy
Yeah, bit worried with the scrum to be honest. Sheridan was killing Hayman till he got binned. Seemed like it anyway.

 

Well, we get another look tomorrow when the Lions take on the, um, Lions. Although Wellington will be a bit underpowered with their All Blacks, so the British and Irish Lions should clean up. Could be their biggest win so far unless something goes really wrong.

 

Has anyone seen the team to face the All Blacks??? What's happening!

15. Jason Robinson
14. Josh Lewsey
13. Brian O'Driscoll ©
12. Jonny Wilkinson
11. Gareth Thomas
10. Stephen Jones

9. Dwayne Peel

1. Gethin Jenkins
2. Shane Byrne
3. Julian White
4. Paul O'Connell
5. Ben Kay
6. Richard Hill
7. Neil Back
8. Martin Corry

Bench:
Steve Thompson, Graham Rowntree, Danny Grewcock, Ryan Jones, Matt Dawson, Will Greenwood, Shane Horgan.

Knowing that Wilkinson will play 12 (why centre for Gods sake? He'll get crucified by Umaga there), GH is likely to play Tana Umaga at 12, with Muls Miliani at 13, then allowing Leon McDonald to slot into the full back role.

Coaches need bottle. On this occasion, CW has shown none. It was a simple choice, Jones or Wilko? They are both number 10's, both big tacklers, both great kickers, but can't really change a game with ball in hand.

Choose 1. If Wilko had been picked, the Welsh would be annoyed, vice-versa, and who's to blame them?

Gavin Henson is a player who can change a game. A little flash of magic, he's very capable. He's also got a very reliable boot on him, has played International Rugby at 12 for a while now, and has a monster of a tackle.

Or... you could give the most on form centre playing on the wing a chance! Tom Shanklin, the best centre in the 6N hasn't been given a chance in his favoured position, 13, or even his 2nd best position, 12. This is an absolute disgrace, even the English/Irish/Scottish agree that this team is a joke!

Oh well, expect a severe drubbing gentlemen...

 

Actually, Umaga is at 13 and Mauger is at 12.

Interesting stuff about Wilkinson. Guess Woodward was never going to leave him out.

Can't wait for Saturday.

 

Only two hours to go. I'm so excited, I need to sit down.

 

Rubbish. Absolute rubbish.
Woodward is really going to be in the firing line after this debacle...

 

Wow. What happened to the Lion's lineout? That was supposed to be their strength. I'd have to say that the Lions lost the game in the lineout, and everything else fell apart from there. Without being able to rely on ball from that set piece, they seemed to have no other plan. Damned shame losing O'Driscoll so early. I'd have liked to have seen him and Dallaglio playing, but then again, that is supposedly why Woodward brought so many players.

I thought the All Black defence was fantastic, but really it was the lineout that decided this game.

I'm very relieved that Woodward did not in fact have any secret tricks up his sleeve after all and that the performance of the midweek Lions was an indication of what their test side would come up with.

But I'm sure some big changes are required for the next test so we'll see what happens. Other than sorting out the lineout, you're going to have to look to some of those Welsh boys to at least provide something a bit different in the backline.

Final word, that try to Sivivatu was fantastic.

 

Holy sh** that was amazing stuff. I didn't expect the Lions pack to fold like that, hell I expected Ali Williams to get cleaned out by O'Connell and Ben Kay! Our loosies destroyed theirs, but that was pretty predictable. They were late to every breakdown, failed to stay on their feet, coughed up pill. I bet the Wallaby pack is crapping themselves right now. Conditions were atrocious though. Hopefully next game we'll see more running rugby in good weather.

 

Gee the Lions are crap, what a surprise I seem to recall posting that weeks ago. Now Woodward will make heaps of changes and the result will be the same- the lions will get smashed. As for the AB's the fowards went great the backs were a bit meh although the weather did not help them. Fine weather in Welly and they could rack up 40 odd

 

We got caned, but I didn't like Umaga and the other guy's (can't recall his name...) tackle on O'Driscoll. It was an abnsolutely atrociously dirty tackle, designed to injure him in my opinion. Jesus, they double speared him.

 

I have to say that the whole O'Driscoll thing is a real shame because it has soured the tour somewhat. I know that Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu would never have gone out deliberately to do Brian any damage because they're not like that and have never been noted as dirty players in their career (unlike a few other players we've had over the years). It's just really unfortunate and I can well understand the ill feeling that is now brewing.

 

I think they were just clearing out the ruck. Pretty poor way to do it, but there was no way it was malicious. Unfortunate really. Very sad to see O'Driscoll go, he is one of my favourite players.

 

I see that the British press has not held back in their criticism of Sir Clive after that game. Such merciless scathing of the man they adored as their saviour less than two years ago.

 

Are you two having a bath? Of course that tackle was malicious. They waited for an opportunity and nobbled the biggest danger in our side. I was expecting the same to come to Wilko sooner or later.

And criticism is justified in this case, Harbs. Some of the decisions in team selection for this g ame were absolutely baffling.

 

The touch judge was right there and didn't see anything wrong. I thought Chris Jack's taking out of one of the Lions locks was worse to be honest. Or Corry's head stomp. Or Grewcock's biting. Or Tana's attempted leg trip. There were a lot of things that went unnoticed, but O'Driscoll's incident gets blown up out of proportion.

 

Barmy, you're suggesting two things:
1) That the All Blacks would deliberatley try and take O'Driscoll out of the game. That's rubbish because they want to prove themselves against the best. Anyway, getting rid of O'Driscoll would have done nothing to alter the fact that the Lions forwards underperformed in their specialty areas.
2) That the ref, the touch judge, and the independent match officials are all on some sort of conspiracy against the Lions to ensure that this sinister All Black plot was successful by ruling that no further action is required

Both of these suggestions are ridiculous and insulting. It is a gravely unfortunate incident and there's no need to look for any deeper plots behind it.

 

Grewcock is being done for 'biting' when he says he never did a thing, yet gets banned for 2 months.

O'Driscoll gets seriously nobbled and is out for at least 6 months, yet there's suddenly not even an investigation. You honestly expect people to believe that there were no camera angles to show that the tackles made ere well out of the rules of the game? They nearly broke his neck for christ sake.

I don't think that anyone is disputing that the Lions got outclassed, but there is never any consistency in the refereeing when British sides visit Australia and New Zealand.

The situation should at least have been investigated.