Lions Tour

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It was a Northern Hemisphere referee! How more neutral do you want? A martian?!

 

What does that matter? It was still a terrible decision. And an even greater mistake to not investigate such a grossly horrible tackle, well out of the rules of the game. Umaga and Mealamu should be be banned for 6 months, to compensate for O'Driscoll missing 6 months after that, not only career threatening tackle, but LIFE threatening tackle. His neck could have been broken after that.

 

It matters because you were moaning about always getting a raw deal in NZ, as if it was NZ's fault.

 

Well, going on what I have presented, I think it's fair to say that we do tend to get a raw deal down there. Whether or not that is a fault of NZ's, the referees, the governing body, the NZ players, the RU board over there or whatever is a jump in logic I'll leave to you. Oops, looks like you've already made the jump. Not to worry.

HF in the rest of the boring and precitable whitewash. I'll keep my attentions on the cricket if you don't mind.

 

So long as the rain stays away from the cricket.....

Shane Williams must surely be in the next Lions team. OK, so Manawatu were not that flash, but Williams has been great for the last few years and he has given headaches to many top teams, including the All Blacks. His speed off the mark is incredible.

 

Simon Jones cobbing the ball at Matty Hayden was absolutely brilliant .

Shame that rain called off the game as we were shaping up for an easyish win against the old enemy.

Not to worry, we have won the table anyway, so that's 1 of the 3 things in the bag for the Summer .

COME ON BOYS

 

All that matters is the Ashes.

Good luck for the rugby tomorrow. The Lions look a much better chance with Shane Williams and Ryan Jones on board. Plus the All Black lineout is weakened without Carl Hayman's power lifting skills.

 

We're having to put Easterby and O'Callaghan in, because of injuries.
With Henson and Williams we might stand a better chance (you might notice I had them in my side well before the tour). I still predict a mega yawm inducingly boring game with a comfortable win for the cheating All Blacks.
What's the weather looking like anyway? God help us if it is dry.

Explain to me why the All Blacks haven't won anything in ages? They've seemed to have consistently had by far the best squad in the last decade.

 

Ah, thus you come to the sore point for All Black supporters.

If world rugby was like a Premier League, where you played everybody and got points for winning, the All Blacks would probably win the league most years. But, unfortunately for us, the cup that matters works more like the F.A. Cup where losing one game means its all over until next time.

In 1987, we were great and won
In 1991, we were below average.
In 1995, we lost the final by a drop goal
In 1999, we smashed England twice but were blindsided by a rampant French team playing the game of their life (who turned around and were useless in the final)
In 2003, we were out-thought by the Aussies who then lost the final by a drop goal

No excuses, we just need to find a way to peak better for the World Cup semi finals and finals.

 

We need to pick a squad and stick with it! None of this chopping and changing crap. Occasional backline changes are understandable, the forwards shouldn't be touched. Henry has got it right at the moment. The pack remains the same, and most of the backs as well.

 

The main reason why we have had to change the squad this year is because we had so many great players to choose from who were hard to leave out due to their impressive form (like McDonald, Gear, and Sivivatu).

 

That was the most amazing game of rugby I have ever seen.

 

Seriously? I missed it this morning, wasn't up in time.
It looks like we got skooled again though. It was expected.
This tour has been a bit of a nightmare from start to finish. From the moment DOL got injured it just went downhill. From Henson being treated shockingly to Wikinson at centre. To picking out of form players, to O'Driscolls injury and then to today.

Nothing has really worked out, the team are not playing to their strengths and at the end of the day the All Blacks are just too good. When you can afford not to pick Rockocoko aguably the best finisher on the planet aswell as Carlos Spencer then to be honest nobody should be that suprised.

 

The rugby itself was nothing compared to the excitement of the town. The entire city was.. well, in party mode. The entire morning trucks and trucks full of booze was arriving, one after another. The entire wharf and CDB were all closed off to traffic, fulled with buskers, tents, massive screens and bars. Walking down the streets, you only see waves of red and black (more red than anything), singing songs completely out of tune as one does. It's not often you see an entire town partying!

 

Wow, I'm amazed with how big rugby union is in New Zealand to be honest.
It is massive! The Lions tour is such a big event over there, it's unreal.
Over here, it's something that fills up a half of the third sports page, making up the roome until the football season starts again. Only the big RU fans are actually bothered to be honest.

The cricket today was incredible though!!! Anyone see it? What a game!

 

Well, for a sport that you claim is not much news in the UK, there sure are a LOT of you boys over here at the moment. Auckland is full of red shirts and there hasn't even been a game in this city yet. I can't imagine what it will be like this week when all the real fans roll into town.

But what a game. I thought the Lions played really well - miles better than last week, but the All Blacks were even better. That was one of the best All Black performances I have seen ever. They were unstoppable. Dan Carter and Richie McCaw were awesome.

As for the cricket - the coverage was nice and delayed over here so I got to spend a leisurely Sunday morning watching it. Tied game - great stuff for the neutral observer. Bring on the Ashes.

 

That's British sports fans for you mate. Whatever the sport, wherever it is, there is always tremendous support.

 

I'm sure the British fans are having a great time. That's the cool thing about following your team to a foreign country with a load of others. Even if your team is losing, you still get a great holiday and you know there's going to be a party in every city you visit.

I wonder what the Lions will have for the third test. Maybe they will let their hair down and get stuck in.

 

Yeah, definitely Harbs. I can't wait for the day when I can afford to follow the Barmy Army half way across the world. There are guys who only work jobs in the time when there is no cricket on. When a test series starts, they quit their jobs and bugger off. THAT'S serious fanatisism.

I just hope they will be more physical. Even after the first tests happenings, the Lions still tackled like old women. We missed far too many first time tackles, to be able to win an international rugby test match. Dallaglio's aggression and bite was badly missed in the middle of the park. And if Martin Johnson was still playing (and dare I say, about 4 or 5 years younger), we'd have given that NZ side a better game.

To be fair though, what the All Blacks displayed there was something close to rugby perfection (I've seen the game replay - immense).

 

That was one of the best All Black performances I have seen (and I've seen plenty of All Black matches now). I think any team would have struggled to win that game. If only we'd done that two years ago!

We seem to have a load of injuries for the third test so I wonder what sort of team we'll wheel out.