Hayes called up to Lions

[Mackman15]

Hayes called up to Lions------ GO ON THE BULL......

That's the scrum and line out sorted......


PrintJohn Hayes18/06/2009 - 16:38:34
Ireland tight-head John Hayes has been called up to the British & Irish Lions squad in the aftermatch of Euan Murray's injury.

Coach Ian McGeechan said: "John Hayes has been called up to replace Euan Murray who sustained an ankle injury in the match against the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth. The medical team have now fully assessed his injury and have determined that the injury is serious enough to mean he will play no further part on the tour."

"Euan left the field because of the injury and has damaged the structures around the ankle joint. He is subject to further assessment, treatment and specialist opinion but may require surgical repair. John Hayes will be a straight swap for Euan in the squad."

"John Hayes is an experienced international front row forward who has played 94 times for his country. He was an integral part of the Irish Grand Slam win this year. He also played four provincial matches on the 2005 tour to New Zealand and won a Lions Test cap against Argentina prior to the tour."

It is anticipated that Hayes will fly to South Africa on the weekend and will meet up with the squad in Durban.

Murray, meanwhile, follows the likes of fellow injured players Stephen Ferris and Leigh Halfpenny in making an early exit.

He was hurt early in the game at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, being replaced by Wales prop Adam Jones.

[Mackman15]

Our freinds on BBC 606 are giving it welly about The Bull........


http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A53375691

[nc6000]

Who is going to keep Horan company? The call-up for Hayes means Horan is the only one from the Grand Slam XV not picked for the Lions.

[8M LEINSTAW]

Gowan The Bull. Shoulda been on the original plane going out anyway.

Downsouthdukin giving it loads of WUM on the Beeb forum. Fair play.

[thecoolfreak]

Good man John Hayes

[downsouthdukin]

Gowan The Bull. Shoulda been on the original plane going out anyway.

Downsouthdukin giving it loads of WUM on the Beeb forum. Fair play.

just doing my duty

[bootlace]

Hopefully he will get a run out on tuesday,the tight head berth will be between him and Jones,one starting and the other on the bench depending on what happens saturday.

[Sea_point]

Yeah fair dues to the Bull, he as in great form for the 6N and deserves another shot at the Lions. A big game against emerging SA and sure bob's your uncle (actually think his call out is a little too late and he won't get much if any game time sadly)....

[Hickiefan]

Delighted for him. Hope he gets a run out.

[sarah_lennon]

Hope he gets some meaningful game time. Bet POC is glad to see him

[AidanSloan]

Gowan The Bull. Shoulda been on the original plane going out anyway.

Downsouthdukin giving it loads of WUM on the Beeb forum. Fair play.

I think it's Cian Healy who kept him off the plane in the first place. Totally out scrummed him in the semi; and so close to selection. Or am I looking with blue goggles?

[suisse]

Gowan The Bull. Shoulda been on the original plane going out anyway.

Downsouthdukin giving it loads of WUM on the Beeb forum. Fair play.

I think it's Cian Healy who kept him off the plane in the first place. Totally out scrummed him in the semi; and so close to selection. Or am I looking with blue goggles?

The squad was announced prior to the semi Final. However, many in the Irish press suggested Keith Earls booked his Lions tour place after the 22-5 win over Leinster in Thomand Park. Moving in the opposite direction day was probably Hayes, who took some punishment from Cian Healy. Despite Munster winning well, Hayes was probably played out of contention by healy.

[christy]

Gowan The Bull. Shoulda been on the original plane going out anyway.

Downsouthdukin giving it loads of WUM on the Beeb forum. Fair play.

I think it's Cian Healy who kept him off the plane in the first place. Totally out scrummed him in the semi; and so close to selection. Or am I looking with blue goggles?

Blue goggles my friend Munster beat Leinster twice last season ,yes we won the one that really mattered John Hayes is a great player you don't win a grand slam and 2 Heineken cups by being out scrummed by a rookie i have full respect for the man and congrats to him he should have been there from the start IMO and i think many Leinster fans would agree with me judging by the standing ovation he got in the semi's

[Danthefan]

He shouldn't have been there from the start at all but he's the next in line and I hope he gets gametime.

Ominously, Horan is now the only 1st choice Irish player not to be called up to the Lions.

[AidanSloan]

Gowan The Bull. Shoulda been on the original plane going out anyway.

Downsouthdukin giving it loads of WUM on the Beeb forum. Fair play.

I think it's Cian Healy who kept him off the plane in the first place. Totally out scrummed him in the semi; and so close to selection. Or am I looking with blue goggles?

Blue goggles my friend Munster beat Leinster twice last season ,yes we won the one that really mattered John Hayes is a great player you don't win a grand slam and 2 Heineken cups by being out scrummed by a rookie i have full respect for the man and congrats to him he should have been there from the start IMO and i think many Leinster fans would agree with me judging by the standing ovation he got in the semi's

I stood too. Becuase I respect what he did during his career. I honestly believed that was the last time I'd see him on a pitch. But on the day I believe he was out played and didn't show enough to be a lion. The Lions team wasn't picked two years ago, it was based on this year.

[ronk]

Hopefully he will get a run out on tuesday,the tight head berth will be between him and Jones,one starting and the other on the bench depending on what happens saturday.

Adam Jones will get a run out on Saturday, probably 20-30 minutes.

It would make most sense to start Hayes on Tuesday.

[8M LEINSTAW]

I still reckon he shoulda been there from the start. Will always hold his own in scrums in big matches and the amount of work he does around the field in attack in defense is phenomenal. Wouldn't have won the 6N without him.

[hugonaut]

Absolutely delighted for him – one of the hardest working men in the history of Irish rugby, and lest it remain unsaid, a serious physical specimen.

Hayes still takes some shellacking from many quarters for his scrummaging, but the Irish scrum has been rock solid for two years. In fact, our scrummaging was one of the very few bright spots of RWC07, so huge credit should go not only to Gert Smal [who has definitely ramped it up], but also to Niall O'Donovan, who managed to turn the tide from what was recognised as a targetable weakness to a strong set-piece. We went up against three strong scrummaging packs in the group games and weren't unduly troubled, and in this year's 6 Nations we've been again effective against three of the top scrummaging nations in world rugby: Italy, France and England.

Granted we haven't seen the Springbok pack in action yet, but the Lions have absolutely annihilated every provincial set-piece: this from a country which apparently has a limitless supply of 120kg steak-fed props and 2m-tall tractor-pulling second rows. The Lions are a scratch pack [admittedly a very big one], playing against well-organised, practiced, and experienced scrums, and they're owning them. Scrummaging in the NH is obviously at a good enough level to compare with any in the world [while Australia's scrum has improved, it has been a joke for more than 6 years, so not hard to improve], so if Hayes can prosper in the 6N, he can prosper in SA.

Beyond the scrummaging, he's one of the great lineout lifters in the game: seeing as the lineout is far more of an equal contest than the scrum, and probably even more important in terms of possession, you'd think that he'd get more respect. However, people like to ignore or downplay his accomplishments in this area to suit their agenda.

Lastly, he's 35 years old, 6'4", 19st 9lbs and has 94 caps, most of them consecutively, and almost all of them for a full 80 minutes. Like I said before, he's a serious physical specimen, a phenomenon of durability. He's the same size as Sheridan, whose career has been severely curtailed by a number of injuries. It's not easy to stay injury-free when you're that age and size in the professional game, and it's a huge credit to his physical fitness, preparation, bravery and innate strength. Has he been lucky with injuries? Yeah, but you make your own luck - he plays sh¡tloads of top calibre games for Munster [he's played more Heineken Cup matches than anybody in history] and Ireland in seriously physical competitions, so he's not hiding or playing soft.

John Hayes, we salute you: the strongest possible argument for a national honours system.

[TrapperChamonix]

In a tour like this, it was a realistic expectation that at least 1 prop would get injured. Here we have the ludicrous situation of having to pull John Hayes off the farm stick him on a plane in order to play one midweek game against the Emerging Springboks. Unless there are more injuries, its hard to see him having any chance of making the 2nd and 3rd tests. So one game and thank you very much Mr Hayes.

This really shows the failing in McGeechans theory about reduced squad numbers. Woodward was right about bringing 45 players 4 years ago. The reason the morale fell apart wasn't anything to do with the number of players, it was to do with Woodward


I really hope he's getting a full share of the fee.

[ronk]

In a tour like this, it was a realistic expectation that at least 1 prop would get injured. Here we have the ludicrous situation of having to pull John Hayes off the farm stick him on a plane in order to play one midweek game against the Emerging Springboks. Unless there are more injuries, its hard to see him having any chance of making the 2nd and 3rd tests. So one game and thank you very much Mr Hayes.

This really shows the failing in McGeechans theory about reduced squad numbers. Woodward was right about bringing 45 players 4 years ago. The reason the morale fell apart wasn't anything to do with the number of players, it was to do with Woodward


I really hope he's getting a full share of the fee.

Woodward brought 45 players and replacements when anyone got injured. 45 was too many to manage to get a squad to gel in a short time. It's easier to bring someone in that have them kicking their heels in training.

One of the problems with Woodward is that despite there being 3 players in pretty much every position, in some cases late injury call ups still ended up starting the tests ahead of original selections.