The looking forward to the Lions Tour thread

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I'd go with CJ myself but I'd be surprised if it wasn't Faletau.

Don't see the issue with Haskell being picked, he was unlucky not to make the original squad (I'd have had him in it) and there aren't actually a whole lot of options. I wonder if Jamie would have been picked if he was fit though.

[Twist]

Haskell and Hartley were stumped by Italy's non-rucking. I wouldn't be confident of them making much of an on-pitch contribution if any thinking needs to be done

Also makes the team much less likeable!


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[simonokeeffe]

Haskell covers all 3 positions but hes coming in to cover the bench for midweek side

I'd actually be surprised if it was Faletau givne his slow return to form but also the need for an out and out carrier

Jack McGrath given the all clear

[scentofgunpowder]

Oliver Jager in line to play against the Lions

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/ar ... d=11863723

[ronk]

Tom Wood isn't on the standby list now if he was before.

[Ruckedtobits]

Tom Wood isn't on the standby list now if he was before.

Genuinely had limited interest in Lions until this weekend and watching close-out of Pro12 and Premiership Finals. Well done Exeter and Scarlets. IMO, neither of the French finalists have the flair (Scarlets) or teamwork (Exeter) of the Champions in the other leagues. But both French finalists have gargantuan packs and great half-backs.

Back to the Lions. All I can see as a prospect is that Gats uses the games against the Super franchises to put together the meanest pack he can find and the toughest defence he can select and then try to "Munster" the AB's in the First Test. Play them a la Connacht, or Scarlets, and Lions will be splashed all over the scoreboard.

So, selection for first Test:
1. Vunipola
2. Owens
3. Furlong
4. AWJ (capt)
5. Kruis
6. Moriarty
7. Tipuric
8. Falatou
9. Murray
10. Farrell
11. Nowell
12. Henshaw
13. Davies
14. North
15. Williams L

Bench:
16. George
17. McGrath
18. Cole
19. Itoje
20. O'Brien
21. Webb
22. Sexton
23. Hogg

It's a huge Welsh contingent but that's possible with Gatland. Rugby in NZ has become more and more attack-only, since 2005 and watching again the 2005 2nd test, in which Carter starred, it was clear that if it had been refereed to the Laws, the Lions would have had a basket of penalties for offside and breakdown infringements. Lions have to play a game unfamiliar to NZ and that is hard-nosed forward oriented rugby.

[Lar]

Imagine the British and Irish Lions tour in reverse. Warren Gatland picks a 30-man squad to be ensconced in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Now leave them there.
Let the All Blacks gather 41 bodies to journey north. Let them sift through the wreckage after playing the French Barbarians first up in Bayonne. Then it’s on to Welford Road and the Leicester Tigers, Leinster at the Aviva, followed by Munster in Thomond Park. Saracens next, billed as the “fourth Test match”, before the Scarlets in Llanelli leads them into the first Test under a closed roof in Cardiff.
Six matches squeezed into 21 days (with the excluded Scots placated by the second Test at Murrayfield!).
It would make for interesting viewing with the commercial success a foregone conclusion. But would it make sense in the modern era?

You know the answer!

[Twist]

Sexton's form here is only marginally better than the PRO12 sf. Possibly part of the general malaise but it's getting worrying now


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[BlueArmyOriginal]

Sexton's form here is only marginally better than the PRO12 sf. Possibly part of the general malaise but it's getting worrying now


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He was solid enough in defense I thought but played like a complete drain otherwise. All in all it couldnt really have gone worse for him.

[Ruckedtobits]

WARRIORS, GET TO YOUR KEYS!

How bad was that. Despite the hype and all the coverage, there is no gilt you can put on that appalling performance.

J10 could (and perhaps should) be back in Ireland before the end of June. He doesn't look right and, more importantly, can't play well. Whether it's in his head or in his body, he is unable to impose himself on opponents.

Very few positives for Lions. Best, Falatau, Moriarty and T'eo were the only guys to make an impression. Forget the hype of Sinckler, Kruis, George, they were ordinary. Webb and Tipuric made an impact but nothing less than should be expected. Vunipola was inconvenienced in the scrum but made a vital turnover at a late maul.

Overall, really poor performance by the pack and no cohesion in the backs. 6-13 against a scratch team of third-level, young, players is not what the Lions brand needed or wanted.

The defence of the hype and the unpackaging of the usual litany of excuses will not be enough to paper over how badly coached this Lion's team is. "A win's a win" will undoubtedly be the mantra until next Thursday.

Not good enough, and not too many signs of where it can be improved.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Agree with all that except for I thought Kruis and Sinckler were very good.

Lots of mitigating factors in the performance but the bottom line for me is that the only real tactic is to use simple passes to get big men over the gainline. If that doesn't happen then they're screwed. Even when the jet lag wears off and they can play at a higher tempo I don't see them moving away from that too much and I would imagine the NZ teams will all be well prepared for it. The physicality that other teams will bring and the fact that they'll be better at winning turnovers on the deck and counter attacking will make it very very difficult for the lions.

Very early days but I'd say Faletau pencilled himself in for the test team. With no Vunipola, and Stander struggling for form, it's his jersey for the taking and I thought he did that today.

From an Irish POV I thought Best was good but Sexton and Henderson were both very poor. Henderson badly missed two restarts, had at least one very poor missed tackle and should have done better for the try, plus he gave away a stupid penalty. Don't think Sexton was THAT bad but he was still poor and part of his problem was that Farrell looked so much better. I was worried once he missed the first kick and it really didnt get much better. Not even sure I'd back him to be in the test 23 at this stage.

[matt]

Awful performance and Sexton & Henderson now under pressure after poor games. Laidlaw not at this level.

Faleteu best Lions player Teo ok and Kruis & Farrell improved matters but Lions far too predictable & prone to errors which is a bad combination.

How much just arriving in NZ 3 days earlier mattered we will only discover in next few weeks.

[Logorrhea]

Thought the pack were pretty meh, the backrow (aside from the odd carry) were pretty sh!t, the halfbacks didnt function and the back three had sod all to play with.

the bench, for all of the impact they talk about, didnt really make that much of a difference outside of a slightly more agressive defensive line. The Lions still coughed up the ball, the error count was still massive, and they still couldnt put two passes together.

I though Best, Teo, Webb and Farrell and maybe Sinckler made an impression on me. All the rest of them were varying shades of shite. Some shiter than others.

I dont really understand what Warburton offers as a 7. Moriarty carried well but he looked like half an O'Brien, good carrying without the threat at the breakdown. Falatau was okay. he looked better than the other two but thats still not the standard you'd want.

[OTT]

The Lions were shite but I wouldn't read to much into the game, they look like a team that had only a couple of days ago flown half way around the world, strange that. Unfortunately on saying that the tour is so tough that they will probably play a lot better and lose matches.

Had only heard the hype about Sinckler but thought he looked very handy. Moriarty looked okay. Kruis made a difference when he came on I thought but Barnes was on Farrell promotion duty so missed it. Farrell is a very good player in his own right he doesn't need idiots writing false narratives that he came on and saved the day, he had 32mins and the Lions scored 7 points when he was on. Felatau the best Lion on the pitch by a distance.

I think they are dead right to chalk it down and move on, if they don't improve by about 100 times from this level then they won't be competitive in any other match on tour and it doesn't take much introspection to work that one out.

Thought Bryn Gatland looked very decent for the NZ Baba's.

[simonokeeffe]

Bad sign when the best thing from our point of view was the opposition tightheads scrummaging

Of the starters it was really the English boys (minus Marler) plus Faletau who did well.

Hogg was more interested in aggro.

[Fan with smartphone]

Bad sign when the best thing from our point of view was the opposition tightheads scrummaging

Of the starters it was really the English boys (minus Marler) plus Faletau who did well.

Hogg was more interested in aggro.

Lol. Thought that about Jager myself! At the end of the first half their scrum held surprisingly well. The lions were going after it and got very little of a nudge on. They had jones and Henderson in the row, best a good scrummager and marler is powerful too. Tends to angle in but that makes jager probably all the more impressive. Maybe the lions were holding back, I don't know, but he certainly enhanced his reputation on the basis of that.

[simonokeeffe]

Bad sign when the best thing from our point of view was the opposition tightheads scrummaging

Of the starters it was really the English boys (minus Marler) plus Faletau who did well.

Hogg was more interested in aggro.

Lol. Thought that about Jager myself! At the end of the first half their scrum held surprisingly well. The lions were going after it and got very little of a nudge on. They had jones and Henderson in the row, best a good scrummager and marler is powerful too. Tends to angle in but that makes jager probably all the more impressive. Maybe the lions were holding back, I don't know, but he certainly enhanced his reputation on the basis of that.

21 year old rookie up against someone with 50 test caps for England, he'll definitely have caught an eye or two
EQ too so there could be plenty of clubs after him

Connacht and Munster could do far worse than keeping tabs on him

[RAILWAY1]

I never thought I would find myself agreeing with the SKY commentators but today when they mentioned the number of international captains and ex captains on the field and a complete lack of leadership I had to say "spot on"
It's true JS did not have one of his best days at the office but to be perfectly honest any out half would have struggled in the situation he found himself. Hopefully this will give the whole squad the kick up the backside it needs to realise what is required

[hugonaut]

I never thought I would find myself agreeing with the SKY commentators but today when they mentioned the number of international captains and ex captains on the field and a complete lack of leadership I had to say "spot on"
It's true JS did not have one of his best days at the office but to be perfectly honest any out half would have struggled in the situation he found himself. Hopefully this will give the whole squad the kick up the backside it needs to realise what is required

I agree completely. I felt the team was reasonably well-selected from that point of view, but there were a lot of guys out there putting pressure on themselves for big personal performances to advance their claims for selection in the test side. If you're in a very well-coached, very coherent outfit you can rely on the people around you to do their job and concentrate on your own performance, but in a scratch side I think you've got to work much harder for coherency.

I think that the jet-lag was a big issue as well, not just an excuse. Very difficult to imagine that it had no effect on those guys out there, some of whom looked physically below-par [Alun-Wyn Jones and Joe Marler in particular, but Jonathan Joseph to an extent as well].

[Raydollard]

Real possibility of just one or two Irish players on team for first test scrum and scrum half.