Lions squad for Australia 2013

[Logorrhea]

According to Hartley he did not intend to call the ref a f%~king cheat.

Looking at the highlights again, I have no idea how he thought he could get away with that, literally 2-3 minutes after getting a very clear warning off the referee for inappropriate verbals aimed at the ref.

First of all they kick the 22 straight out, with the ref repeatedly shouting that they couldn't do it. Then when Barnes blows for a Leicester scrum they all start the verbals at the ref. They got tanked in the following scrum and Hartley opens his mouth again. Beyond stupid from Hartley, regardless of who he aimed it at.

Personally I don't think he aimed it at Young's at all. Looked too sneaky for it to be at another player. Hartley would say it under his breath at another player, he'd say it too his face.

[olaf the fat]

Oh and I don't feel too sorry for him, sure Sky sports will fly him out and pay him double just to sit in camera shot and look all Poe faced when a line out goes wrong, as if he would 1) be selected 2) do any better!


Not sure about his merits in "missing" a previous lions tour, if not banned or injured would he have been selected? No good hookers knocking about then?

Not even sure if it's true. He hadn't started a single test match for England when the Lions squad was announced in 2009, and he was playing for England in Argentina in June 2009, i.e. during the Lions tour [source: http://www.espn.co.uk/statsguru/rugby/p ... view=match ]. So he wasn't called up when Flannery got injured, and he wasn't banned, as far as I can tell.

More or less what I was thinking, some of the usual media bleeding hearts trying to add weight to a story.
The guy is just not that good a player anyway, he is no longer 1st choice in England, and whoever England have hooking at any given time is most likely not the best hooker on these Islands.

Out of the grand final and ep final on Saturday, Dlyan was probably the 5th best hooker playing

[Flash Gordon]

According to Hartley he did not intend to call the ref a f%~king cheat.

Looking at the highlights again, I have no idea how he thought he could get away with that, literally 2-3 minutes after getting a very clear warning off the referee for inappropriate verbals aimed at the ref.

First of all they kick the 22 straight out, with the ref repeatedly shouting that they couldn't do it. Then when Barnes blows for a Leicester scrum they all start the verbals at the ref. They got tanked in the following scrum and Hartley opens his mouth again. Beyond stupid from Hartley, regardless of who he aimed it at.

Personally I don't think he aimed it at Young's at all. Looked too sneaky for it to be at another player. Hartley would say it under his breath at another player, he'd say it too his face.

It's a remarkable sequence of stupidity but entirely in character. He's been involved in the England set up since playing for the Saxons since 2007. In that time he's been banned for 47 weeks.

Dylan Hartley doesn't need coaching, he needs therapy!

[tate]

Lots of interest so far in the tour.