jhc99 wrote:At the moment I'd be surprised if out of form ROG started the tests and since the inclusion of Hook, if he was even on the bench for the test series. The thought of Spies running at O'Gara is truly frightening.
Did you see Pierre Spies on Total Rugby? He eats people Ronan for breakfast. His physicality is frightening. But as they said on the Rugby Club, defensively, he will be less obvious (working mauls etc) but off the back of the scrum, Ronan will be picked off like an easy target. if Spies has a poor time of it, the Boks ONLY have bloody Ryan Kankowski is reserve. Another extraordinary footballer.
jhc99 wrote:At the moment I'd be surprised if out of form ROG started the tests and since the inclusion of Hook, if he was even on the bench for the test series. The thought of Spies running at O'Gara is truly frightening.
Did you see Pierre Spies on Total Rugby? He eats people Ronan for breakfast. His physicality is frightening. But as they said on the Rugby Club, defensively, he will be less obvious (working mauls etc) but off the back of the scrum, Ronan will be picked off like an easy target. if Spies has a poor time of it, the Boks ONLY have bloody Ryan Kankowski is reserve. Another extraordinary footballer.
I fear for the first tackle ROG must put in
O'Gara was targeted but we still won the grand slam. He mightn't tackle but he'll still dust himself off after getting knocked on his arse. There's always the Worsley factor, if necessary.
I'd be surprised if Spies was able to get past Wallace and Heaslip to even reach O'Gara without SA doing damage in the scrums -- which they don't look like doing.
we'll never hear the end of this now that he gets a cap to be honest johnno should be or darcy should be on that tour not earls ![/quote]
Oh dear... Small-timery dude.
Can we not back the Irish guys and put provincial biases aside for a couple of months. ROG will be grand, he'll miss a tackle or two sure but so will Stephen Jones. Spies is the Andy Powell of Saffa rugby - himself and Kankowski revel in S14 rugby but neither have been steller when it comes to test rugby. Wallace, Heaslip and Ferris will take care of him. Poster backing Hook over ROG on form is hilarious.
garr17 wrote:all i can say is why in gods name is earls in there????
Class. Did you only take up following the rugby a couple of weeks ago? How are you finding it? There's plenty of good lads on here who can tell you how to conduct yourself at rugby matches if you need any help, as it's not the same as soccerball.
Comer Toes wrote:Can we not back the Irish guys and put provincial biases aside for a couple of months. ROG will be grand, he'll miss a tackle or two sure but so will Stephen Jones. Spies is the Andy Powell of Saffa rugby - himself and Kankowski revel in S14 rugby but neither have been steller when it comes to test rugby. Wallace, Heaslip and Ferris will take care of him. Poster backing Hook over ROG on form is hilarious.
Think that's fairly harsh on Spies. He has far more to his game than Powell who is a bosh merchant. There isn't a single player in the Lions squad that could match Spies for flat out speed. His performance against England pre-WC was a perfect display of his ball carrying. Broke through about 4 tackles on his way to the line. Coming off the back of a good scrum with a wheel the Lions backrow will struggle to reach him.
Comer Toes wrote:
Can we not back the Irish guys and put provincial biases aside for a couple of months. ROG will be grand, he'll miss a tackle or two sure but so will Stephen Jones. Spies is the Andy Powell of Saffa rugby - himself and Kankowski revel in S14 rugby but neither have been steller when it comes to test rugby. Wallace, Heaslip and Ferris will take care of him. Poster backing Hook over ROG on form is hilarious.
Eh, no he isn't. He's much better than Andy Powell.
Agree with you that Hook isn't in better form than ROG, in fact Hook has done nothing this season, but due to Jones and ROG being similar enough players if Hook can have a decent outing you might see him on the bench for the first test.
Comer Toes wrote:
Can we not back the Irish guys and put provincial biases aside for a couple of months. ROG will be grand, he'll miss a tackle or two sure but so will Stephen Jones. Spies is the Andy Powell of Saffa rugby - himself and Kankowski revel in S14 rugby but neither have been steller when it comes to test rugby. Wallace, Heaslip and Ferris will take care of him. Poster backing Hook over ROG on form is hilarious.
Eh, no he isn't. He's much better than Andy Powell.
Agree with you that Hook isn't in better form than ROG, in fact Hook has done nothing this season, but due to Jones and ROG being similar enough players if Hook can have a decent outing you might see him on the bench for the first test.
Good summary there Dan, exactly what I think. Also Spies is a very effective player and alot more to his bow than Powell does. Btw what time is kick-off? Will be in Wesport on a stag so need to know when to frequent the pub
"Munster could join the French League, or an expanded English / British league."
Comer Toes wrote:
Can we not back the Irish guys and put provincial biases aside for a couple of months. ROG will be grand, he'll miss a tackle or two sure but so will Stephen Jones. Spies is the Andy Powell of Saffa rugby - himself and Kankowski revel in S14 rugby but neither have been steller when it comes to test rugby. Wallace, Heaslip and Ferris will take care of him. Poster backing Hook over ROG on form is hilarious.
Eh, no he isn't. He's much better than Andy Powell.
Agree with you that Hook isn't in better form than ROG, in fact Hook has done nothing this season, but due to Jones and ROG being similar enough players if Hook can have a decent outing you might see him on the bench for the first test.
I was exaggerating for effect but point remains that he hasn't made the impact in the tighter nature of test rugby than he has done in the S14.
Well a significant reason for that is the fact he missed a season with blood clots on his lungs, he's only 23 I think so hasn't been around all that long. The guy is absolute class imo.
tones wrote:
Good summary there Dan, exactly what I think. Also Spies is a very effective player and alot more to his bow than Powell does. Btw what time is kick-off? Will be in Wesport on a stag so need to know when to frequent the pub
Can we not back the Irish guys and put provincial biases aside for a couple of months. ROG will be grand, he'll miss a tackle or two sure but so will Stephen Jones. Spies is the Andy Powell of Saffa rugby - himself and Kankowski revel in S14 rugby but neither have been steller when it comes to test rugby. Wallace, Heaslip and Ferris will take care of him. Poster backing Hook over ROG on form is hilarious.[/quote]
I think if you read my entire post rather than taking two sentences from it you'll see there is no provincial bias. Surely every Munster fan can acknowledge that ROG is weak in the tackle. I'd be delighted if he and as many of the Irish players as possible make the team. Yeah Ireland got away with his weak tackling to win the Grand Slam by cleverly moving him around the pitch but Ireland had no other realistic rival to ROG at the time. In Stephen Jones the lions have a very similar player to ROG who is more solid in the tackle. In Hook they have a different type of OH who can cover several other positions and has the ability to turn a game around. I think because of these factors Hook coming on the tour is a serious threat to O'Gara's place in the test squad, particularly since O'Leary's injury means that Phillips is a cert to start in the test team.
I think from memory that Spies looked fairly handy in the international games he had before having multiple pulmonary emboli. As I said before, I hope Earls has a stormer on Saturday.
Not good. It will put a huge load on Heaslip. Powell is a good player. I hope to God they don't bring Ryan Jones, total waste of space.
Short term I would promote Wallace to the bench and put Ferris in at 8 but that will depend on how they plan to use players over the next 2 games.
Well I have no idea if it's true or not anyway. Anyway you can't bring in Ferris and Wallace for Powell. I'd just start Wallace at 8 and leave it at that, Ferris is a 6.
Not good. It will put a huge load on Heaslip. Powell is a good player. I hope to God they don't bring Ryan Jones, total waste of space.
Short term I would promote Wallace to the bench and put Ferris in at 8 but that will depend on how they plan to use players over the next 2 games.
Well I have no idea if it's true or not anyway. Anyway you can't bring in Ferris and Wallace for Powell. I'd just start Wallace at 8 and leave it at that, Ferris is a 6.
Ferris is already on the bench so might be a little bit more prepared for tomorrow's game. Ferris can play 8.
Wallace can be the starting 7 or the midweek 8. I'd prefer to see him get a run at 7 against Golden Lions so he can stake a claim for a test spot.
A run at 8 wouldn't hurt Ferris's test chances. If it doesn't look like Powell, Heaslip or Wallace on the bench it would actually boost them.
To my mind the provisional starting backrow is Ferris, Wallace, Heaslip with one of the other 4 on the bench, 2 if Croft gets picked as the backup 2nd row (not actually that unlikely).
Worsley could well be the guy on the bench but there's a good case for Powell too.
Powell, who has been selected to play No 8 in the starting XV tomorrow, is struggling with a hand problem while Ferris, who has been named among the replacements, is receiving treatment for a calf injury.
Powell is suffering from an insect bite that has become infected while Ferris picked up his injury during a heavy training session on Wednesday.
Lions forward coach Graham Rowntree said the pair would be assessed tomorrow morning before a final decision is made.
"We have a couple of niggles," Rowntree said. "Andy didn't train fully this morning while Stephen has a calf injury and they will both have fitness tests tomorrow.
"We have a great medical team and we are certainly not ruling people out the day before the game. We will see how they are in the morning.
The Royal XV are largely second-string invitational side largely drawn from Vodacom Cup winners the Griquas but Rowntree warned against any sense of complacency for the tourists.
"There is a trap waiting for us there if we think they are the weakest team of the tour," he added.
"You are not on tour until you have played a game and we need to get a game under our belts and see how good we are. We have prepared really well. I have been on a lot of tours and have a couple of years experience as an international coach, and we have prepared really well.
"It is our first outing as a forward pack together and we have to see how combinations gel against what will be a fired up team. I am expecting an onslaught from them. They will be licking their lips about facing us.
"It doesn't matter that they have been thrown together. This will be an opportunity of a lifetime to play against a Lions team and they will fancy their chances because this is the first game of our tour.
"It will be important for us to start well and make an impression.
Powell, who has been selected to play No 8 in the starting XV tomorrow, is struggling with a hand problem while Ferris, who has been named among the replacements, is receiving treatment for a calf injury.
Powell is suffering from an insect bite that has become infected while Ferris picked up his injury during a heavy training session on Wednesday.
Lions forward coach Graham Rowntree said the pair would be assessed tomorrow morning before a final decision is made.
"We have a couple of niggles," Rowntree said. "Andy didn't train fully this morning while Stephen has a calf injury and they will both have fitness tests tomorrow.
"We have a great medical team and we are certainly not ruling people out the day before the game. We will see how they are in the morning. As an aside from his injury, Powell's facial hair is absurd.
The Royal XV are largely second-string invitational side largely drawn from Vodacom Cup winners the Griquas but Rowntree warned against any sense of complacency for the tourists.
"There is a trap waiting for us there if we think they are the weakest team of the tour," he added.
"You are not on tour until you have played a game and we need to get a game under our belts and see how good we are. We have prepared really well. I have been on a lot of tours and have a couple of years experience as an international coach, and we have prepared really well.
"It is our first outing as a forward pack together and we have to see how combinations gel against what will be a fired up team. I am expecting an onslaught from them. They will be licking their lips about facing us.
"It doesn't matter that they have been thrown together. This will be an opportunity of a lifetime to play against a Lions team and they will fancy their chances because this is the first game of our tour.
"It will be important for us to start well and make an impression.
A cellulitis like this from an insect I'm sure would be picked up early by the lions doctors who are both very experienced and if started on anti-banties quickly enough should lead to a swift resolution.
