The looking forward to the Lions Tour thread

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Have to say I thought Best had a great game yesterday. Himself and Henderson did some serious catching up but hard to know where they stand given where they were before yesterday. If Jamie George doesn't perform on Saturday then I'd go with Owens and Best for the first test.

I said that Nowell and Haskell were deserving of their places in the squad but both have been poor. Haskell just looks way off the pace which shouldn't really happen for a work horse back row so not sure what the issue is there. Nowell looks lost and maybe a bit nervous. He's a much much better player than he's showing now and you just have to watch the premiership final to see that, but he's been bad and the back three must be an area of concern. Warburton shouldn't be anywhere near the squad after his performance yesterday.

I'm sure Gatland has the backline sorted for the first test but from the outside looking in it seems like a mess. No obvious centre partnership or back three combo.

[Logorrhea]

Have to say I thought Best had a great game yesterday. Himself and Henderson did some serious catching up but hard to know where they stand given where they were before yesterday.

Everyone just looked at that one lineout vs the Blues, added memories of four years ago, put it down to Best buckling under pressure and wrote him of for the tests. I think hes scrummaged really well and been the most effective forward at the breakdown on the tour so far and his darts have been pretty solid.

[simonokeeffe]

Teo and Davies in midfield together v Maoiri (Lowe at fullback) so we can look forward to a one dimensional attack, Sexton only distributor in backline and centres wont pass
Maoiri backline and backrow are really good

Maori All Blacks: J Lowe; N Milner-Skudder, M Proctor, C Ngatai, R Ioane; D McKenzie, T Kerr-Barlow; K Hames, A Dixon (capt), B May, J Wheeler, T Franklin, A Ioane, E Dixon, L Messam.

Replacements: H Elliot, C Eves, M Renata, L Price, K Pryor, B Hall, I West, R Thompson.

Lions: L Halfpenny (Wales); A Watson (England), J Davies (Wales), B Te'o (England), G North (Wales); J Sexton, C Murray (both Ireland); M Vunipola, J George (both England), T Furlong (Ireland), M Itoje, G Kruis (both England), P O'Mahony (capt, Ireland), S O'Brien (Ireland), T Faletau (Wales).

Replacements: K Owens (Wales), J McGrath (Ireland), K Sinckler (England), I Henderson (Ireland), S Warburton (Wales), G Laidlaw (Scotland), D Biggar (Wales), E Daly (England).

[johng]

Are those 2 Ioanes any relation to Digby who plays for Aus?

BTW. Who looks at a little baby and says...... Digby. We'll call him Digby.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

[simonokeeffe]

Are those 2 Ioanes any relation to Digby who plays for Aus?

BTW. Who looks at a little baby and says...... Digby. We'll call him Digby.

according to Wikipedia no

NZ had to pass a law banning certain baby names as too many people were calling their kids mad stuff

Royal, Duke, Major, Bishop, Majesty, J, Lucifer, Knight, Lady, Judge, Royale, Messiah, T, I, Queen, II, Sir, III, Jr, E, V, Justus, Master, Constable, Queen Victoria, Regal, Emperor, Christ, Juztice, 3rd, C J, G, Roman numerals III, General, Saint, Lord, . [full stop], 89, Eminence, M, VI, Mafia No Fear, 2nd, Majesti, Rogue, 4real, * [star symbol], 5th, S P, C, Sargent, Honour, D, Minister, MJ, Chief, Mr, V8, President, MC, Anal, A.J., Baron, L B, H-Q and Queen V.

Fun fact: MC Anal is George Clancy's rap moniker

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I'm sure someone has mentioned this already but I missed it and had forgotten about the incident. I was listening to an old OTB podcast with Zebo and they brought up the time he told Murray to kick the ball out for the Lions when there was still time left. Wonder if that affected his selection this time around?

[CiaranIrl]

New Zealand just beat Samoa (edit) 78 - 0. 12 tries...

Good luck Lions. You'll need it.

[Dexter]

New Zealand just beat Samoa 72 - 0. 12 tries...

Good luck Lions. You'll need it.

Game wasn't really much use to NZ then, apart from giving them a training run.

[simonokeeffe]

Bah

their first try was a knock on
second (and arguably third) came from samoa fluffing a chance on NZ line
Samoa butchered a few chances and set piece was wonky

Barret and SBW got shown up in defence a few times

[neiliog93]

Samoa consistently battered them around the fringes, got metres and metres off most of their carries. I'd say the ABs look as sharp as ever in attack but physically they look vulnerable.

[simonokeeffe]

Gatty has said hes calling up 5 players before first test as he doesnt want any more 2 appearances in a week

BBC saying it will be all Welsh and Scots as Lions saying different timezone of Argentina will mess things up. They never mentioned Japan is a similar timezone. Vibe is new players very much midweek jersey fillers

[CiaranIrl]

An entire front row and two half backs I assume

[cormac]

Cory Hill, Kristian Dacey, Tomos Francis and Gareth Davies called up. Where's the f%~k off Gatland emoji?

[nelly the elephant]

Cory Hill, Kristian Dacey, Tomos Francis and Gareth Davies called up. Where's the f%~k off Gatland emoji?

Geech and Ferris not fans of this decision either!

[Ruckedtobits]

Cory Hill, Kristian Dacey, Tomos Francis and Gareth Davies called up. Where's the f%~k off Gatland emoji?

Thus commences the beginning of the end of the Lions.

A total disgrace considering some of the home nations players who are demonstrating their skills this weekend. A total disgrace and shame on the Lions management, and belittles a great jersey. Maybe somebody can check out who are the Lions Management on this Tour. Spenser ( England) is Manager, obviously Gatland, but who is Chairman, who must have signed off on these call-ups.

To think that players like WP Nel, Jonny Grey, Keith Earls, and Dan Leavy are playing international rugby in adjacent countries, to say nothing of the English players in Argentina, is proof of how busted is the Lions flush!

[Fan with smartphone]

That try is on halfpenny for me. Maori look a bit disjointed, some great individual players but the super rugby teams are greater than the sum of their parts, not sure the Maori will be.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

North for me, very poor not to be able to secure the ball there. Both poor though.

Johnny looking injured to me. Went for a big hit near the far touchline and has been moving slowly ever since.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Johnny took another knock after I said that but has looked fine and is playing well anyway.

Disappointed by the Maori. Conditions are obviously poor but McKenzie hasn't got the backs involved really. I'd expect more from them in the second half, can see McKenzie moving to 15. Lowe has done a couple of good things in defence but has been poor overall.

[nelly the elephant]

Itoje is an absolute beast....his workrate is off the charts.