Lions team to face Golden Lions.

[Paudy]

Funny now thinking of Hook and Co on Newstalk saying Bowe shouldn't be in the Ireland squad last November!

I was thinking the exact same thing myself tonight & during the 6N - More comedy gold from the Newstalk stooges.

He's worked very hard on his speed from what I can make out, he burned Shane Williams against Wales for feck sake, he used to be Tommy Slow, was he not caught by Ali Williams last November who even managed to half stumble and still get up and catch him again. Maybe that was Trimble, can't remember

But right now, what a winger!!! Anyone seen any youtube vids of last night, torrent is on the way but won't get to watch it at work

[jezzer]

Only saw the first half and the highlights, but I have to say that the Golden Lions were shockingly bad. The tourists' performance has to be looked at in the context of not a single aspect of play where they were under any pressure. That said, on the basis of the parts i saw:

Mears was excellent. I've always rated him but would prefer if we had a more aggressive player at 2. Still, if he plays like that he'll be hard to dislodge.

POC and Hines look like the Test starters, which I think is a great combo.

The Wallace, Croft, Heaslip backrow has a very nice look to it. Didn't see much of Ferris but I think he's needed in the tests for a bit of bite 'n' bollock.

Philips and Jones will start the tests too, surely.

Our defence was very porous in midfield. Roberts and BOD had plenty of understanding going forward but as a defensive combo it wasn't clicking at all. We scrambled well at times.

Tommy Bowe was man of the match by a country mile and is a nailed-on starter. Monye looks great ball in hand and popped into the line at great times but he's a bit ragged in defence (and God knows he'll face better attacking threats than the GLs). Very tight for the left wing berth between Fitz/Monye/Williams

Kearney was quite poor. Still doesn't dominate in the tackle and very unsure going forward (a la Girve circa 2004) First game back for a while, so let's see how he improves. Thing is, if you don't look great against such poor oppo, you're facing a real uphill battle to stake a claim. Byrne will sleep well this week.

[Danthefan]

Don't see how you can say Kearney was poor Jezzer, made 1 mistake all night with a daft knockon but played well apart from that imo. Hit the line well a few times, kicked well, couple of good takes under the high ball, beat a few defenders and made ground when he ran. Still behind Byrne though. Wasn't prominant in the 2nd half really but that's because the Lions had so much ball. The Royal XV kicked at Byrne all day which gave him more opportunity to do something with it.

[jezzer]

Don't see how you can say Kearney was poor Jezzer, made 1 mistake all night with a daft knockon but played well apart from that imo. Hit the line well a few times, kicked well, couple of good takes under the high ball, beat a few defenders and made ground when he ran. Still behind Byrne though. Wasn't prominant in the 2nd half really but that's because the Lions had so much ball. The Royal XV kicked at Byrne all day which gave him more opportunity to do something with it.

He wasn't assertive enough in the tackle, didn't make the ground against a very porous defence that everybody else in the backline made, took the ball into contact when there was acres of space, got pinged for holding once in the first half (and I admit I didn't see the second half bar some highlights), I assume the knockon was in the second half cause I can't remember it. All in all, you'd expect your fullback to have an absolute field day against a defence like that and Kearney didn't look great. He fielded well and kicked from hand pretty well.

This isn't the latest chapter in my ongoing hatred of all things Kearney, as some people like to see it. He has improved quite a lot this year. He's now ahead of Girve but behind Nacewa in the FB pecking order for Leinster. I think he very rarely has a complete performance, despite which people like to eulogise him, then struggle to accept the evidence in front of their faces.

Byrne came into the tour as the hot favourite for the jersey. Given the poor performance in which he was involved at the weekend, Kearney had a gilt-edged chance to stake a claim in a match where the chance of him screwing up was small enough. He didn't grab his opportunity at all, in my view.

[eddiedempsey]

rob didnt play bad last night. as someone said before he had one silly knock on. the type of game that was played last night was never going to be a game where full backs were going to excel, the ball rarely got back that far. if he had come up the field and got a bit more involved in the play then i am sure people would be on here saying he shouldn't get the test place because he strays from position and leves us empty at the back. it was not a game for full backs to shine so hopefully he will get the chance against the tougher opposition provided by the cheetahs on saturday.

[suisse]

He wasn't assertive enough in the tackle, didn't make the ground against a very porous defence that everybody else in the backline made, took the ball into contact when there was acres of space, got pinged for holding once in the first half (and I admit I didn't see the second half bar some highlights), I assume the knockon was in the second half cause I can't remember it. All in all, you'd expect your fullback to have an absolute field day against a defence like that and Kearney didn't look great. He fielded well and kicked from hand pretty well.

This isn't the latest chapter in my ongoing hatred of all things Kearney, as some people like to see it. He has improved quite a lot this year. He's now ahead of Girve but behind Nacewa in the FB pecking order for Leinster. I think he very rarely has a complete performance, despite which people like to eulogise him, then struggle to accept the evidence in front of their faces.

Byrne came into the tour as the hot favourite for the jersey. Given the poor performance in which he was involved at the weekend, Kearney had a gilt-edged chance to stake a claim in a match where the chance of him screwing up was small enough. He didn't grab his opportunity at all, in my view.

Just a couple of things Jeezer..... you mention in the earlier part of the post that Kearney isn't assertive in defence. But you then said he is behind Nacewa for Leinster at 15. I like Isa, and he put in some cracking one-on-one tackles against Munster, but he is not very assertive either. Excluding Woods' try, he fell off tackles on Hamilton and Erinle weakly in the Final. Leinster will need to work on that with their FBs this summer.

However, I do think Kearney put in complete performances last summer, and especially against Castres at home in this season's HEC.

WRT his performance last night, I completely agree. Byrne out down a marker on Saturday, and Kearney followed him, inseatd of taking the most of last night. He offered nothing different to Byrne, and showed up as a good fielder and kicker. Byrne has those qualities too, and provides more in attack. I still think Kearney was fortunate to make the Tour.

[jezzer]

Just a couple of things Jeezer..... you mention in the earlier part of the post that Kearney isn't assertive in defence. But you then said he is behind Nacewa for Leinster at 15. I like Isa, and he put in some cracking one-on-one tackles against Munster, but he is not very assertive either. Excluding Woods' try, he fell off tackles on Hamilton and Erinle weakly in the Final. Leinster will need to work on that with their FBs this summer.

Very true Suisse - Isa can rush up and give you a serious hit but for some reason doesn't wrap players up in the tackle (it's like his arms are made of spaghetti or something). Nacewa gives you other very valuable facets of play though.

If people are going to justify a quiet Kearney night via the "safe as houses, just because he doesn't score hatfuls of tries doesn't mean he's a bad fullback" defence, then his cover tackling better be top notch. It just isn't. I have never once seen him smash a player in the tackle, regardless of their size and his considerable bulk. He inspires confidence under the high ball but not as the last line of defence with players running at him. Don't get me wrong, he usually does enough - pushes the player into touch, bumps him, or grabs him and holds on.

But we're talking Lions players here - the highest level attainable in the NH. You need to be special and i wonder what it is about Kearney that makes him special in peoples' eyes? I actually think he just about deserved to travel - on the basis that taking Armitage was riskier and Paterson would have been a retrograde step.

But last night he looked one of the less accomplished of the Lions players - which in my opinion is about right.