Super Posted June 23, 2013 Report Share Posted June 23, 2013 Well done England on winning the junior World Cup. Great effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nause Posted June 24, 2013 Report Share Posted June 24, 2013 How that dirty bastard Horwill has been found not guilty ill never know! Hope a Lion loses his balance and makes contact with his face only for it to be thought of 'OK'! Stranger things have happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelRobartes Posted June 24, 2013 Report Share Posted June 24, 2013 Paulie is confirmed as out. Massive massive blow. G'wan Paulie. Get yourself right for the start of the season. Munster need you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westred1 Posted June 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2013 Missed today's game, anyone got a brief analysis of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Portland Bill Posted June 25, 2013 Report Share Posted June 25, 2013 Missed today's game, anyone got a brief analysis of it? You didn't miss much to be honest, the Rebels would have had 50 points put past them by one of the decent Super 15 sides. They showed why they struggle most weeks. The Lions had no real pattern to there game, all in all a boring game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelRobartes Posted June 27, 2013 Report Share Posted June 27, 2013 Lions team for the second test: Leigh Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues/Wales) Tommy Bowe (Ulster/Ireland) Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster/Ireland) Jonatahan Davies (Scarlets/Wales) George North (Scarlets/Wales) Jonny Sexton (Leinster/Ireland) Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers/England) Mako Vunipola (Saracens/England) Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers/England) Adam Jones (Ospreys/Wales) Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys/Wales) Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers/England) Dan Lydiate (Dragons/Wales) Sam Warburton © (Cardiff Blues/Wales) Jamie Heaslip (Leinster/Ireland) Replacements: Richard Hibbard (Ospreys/Wales), Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors/Scotland), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers/England), Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers/England), Sean O'Brien (Leinster/Ireland), Conor Murray (Munster/Ireland), Owen Farrell (Saracens/England), Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues/Wales). Back row is certainly stronger than last time, but having Croft on the bench over Gray or Evans is totally braindead. If AWJ goes down early we're screwed. Cuthbert is a bizarre call too. Hogg, Zebo, Tuilagi and Maitland (poor though he's been) all offer far more versatility off the bench. Looking at our loosehead options we have to pray that Vunipola has sorted out his scrummaging and gets through the 80 minutes unchanged. Please don't change the whole front row after 50 minutes this week Mr Gatland! Made up for Conor to get into the 23, expect him to make a big impact when he gets on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Albert Posted June 29, 2013 Report Share Posted June 29, 2013 Massive game today! Come on The Lions!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Posted June 29, 2013 Report Share Posted June 29, 2013 Goons be a massive occasion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Posted June 29, 2013 Report Share Posted June 29, 2013 vunipola is getting horribly exposed. Needs to come off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lrrr Posted June 29, 2013 Report Share Posted June 29, 2013 Vunipola to be cited then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Posted June 29, 2013 Report Share Posted June 29, 2013 Vunipola to be cited then? He is having a mare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lrrr Posted June 29, 2013 Report Share Posted June 29, 2013 How was that Aussie not offside at the breakdown? Clearly on the lions side and tried to get to the ball coming from the side, suddenly the aussies get a penalty after Vunipola's pass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lrrr Posted June 29, 2013 Report Share Posted June 29, 2013 He is having a mare. Surprised Grant wasn't brought on at half time tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Posted June 29, 2013 Report Share Posted June 29, 2013 Surprised Grant wasn't brought on at half time tbh. Me too. This is bloody tense stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Posted June 29, 2013 Report Share Posted June 29, 2013 George north wow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Portland Bill Posted June 29, 2013 Report Share Posted June 29, 2013 O Conners's decision making has been awful,Aussie have had at least 3 overlaps for tries if he had used them. I bet Aussie are regretting not having Quade Cooper at 10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Posted June 29, 2013 Report Share Posted June 29, 2013 Aussies deserved that IMO. Poor from players like Odriscoll. Changes needed for next week but you feel the series is all but over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelRobartes Posted June 29, 2013 Report Share Posted June 29, 2013 I have read that three incidents are being reviewed after the game, including Vunipola's elbow. I think that one will be North for carrying Folau ten yards up the pitch, though he dumps him on his arse so should be fine. Hopefully the final one is Folau for flipping him over after he'd landed on his arse, extremely dangerous. Poor enough game, engrossing but lots of errors and the Lions set piece was either very good or desperately poor. I really feel for Adam Jones, everytime Vunipola managed to stay up he had their loosehead on toast. Healy and Jenkins are huge misses. Back row was much more balanced though I'd pluck for Croft's lineout prowess next week and move SOB to 8, with Houdini missing out and Warbunny apparently injured. Murray showed what an absolute tool Barnes is for not rating him. We can win the final test but Fatty Gatty has to let them go out and play, they looked scared to lose today and our backs really weren't in it at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelRobartes Posted June 29, 2013 Report Share Posted June 29, 2013 Doesn't look good for Folau based on this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zVgc2JVNGaE#at=54 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westred1 Posted June 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2013 Youngs and Jones were fine but Vunipola proved again that he lacks experience at a test scrum which was our downfall for most of the match. BOD was surprisingly poor. His distribution, running, decision making and defence were all massively below par considering the level we all know he is capable of playing at. Have to feel sorry for Halfpenny. You could see how gutted he was not to land that kick but it was out of his range; I'm surprised Murray didn't try and gain a few more yards with the Australians not 10m. At the end of the day, Australia deserved the victory. Adam Ashley-Cooper was brilliant going over the gainline as was Israel Folau, again. That was the difference; we didn't have Jamie Roberts or Manu Tuilagi to do that for us and George North (except for him lifting Folau!) didn't get in the game enough. I was really impressed with the focus and performance of Christian Leali'ifano; after going off injured in his test debut after 50 seconds he produced a performance of precision that a 50cap player would've been proud of. James O'Connor remains the weak link in the Wallabies side. Bar the try, he didn't take the game to the Lions and often ran sideways to look for gaps. The Lions have to target him more in the 3rd test. It looks to be an exciting end to the series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westred1 Posted June 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2013 Thought I'd do a little reaction piece; feel free to comment on the piece and debate! enjoy! http://wp.me/p2NDMJ-6W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nause Posted June 30, 2013 Report Share Posted June 30, 2013 Thought I'd do a little reaction piece; feel free to comment on the piece and debate! enjoy!http://wp.me/p2NDMJ-6W Can't really argue with any of that. The aussies deserved the victory but hopefully it will prove to be the kick up the backside we needed as the last test has everything to play for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelRobartes Posted July 1, 2013 Report Share Posted July 1, 2013 Nicely written again Lewis. I think the final kick was within 1/2p's range, not that it's one he'd expect to get more then three or four times out of ten. I've seen him kick from 50m+ before, unfortunately including this one against us a few years back:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWiMNxCE2A4 Such a shame that even one of Healy, Jenkins or Corbisiero weren't available. It might have been a very different story. I think you're a bit hard on Houdini, he's not my favourite by any stretch of the imagination and he was quiet yesterday but he was the best back row in red by some distance in the first test. That said, SOB is some player and the folly of him playing so little of the first two tests was shown up in his cameo (though I was advocating him for the bench myself due to his versatility). I also agree that the Aussies deserved to win, they made all of the line breaks (4 to nil) and dominated possession and territory. Fatty Gatty really needs to let the Lions play some rugby, with Healy, POC, Jenkins and Corbisiero out we simply don't have the front five to play Gatland-ball and ignore the fact that we've five fellas stood behind Sextoy as well. Solo tries from Cuthbert and North aside our backs simply haven't been in either test match and that is nothing short of appalling. I can't see Horwill being available for the decider and I think that Folau could be given some time off as well for his disgraceful and extremely dangerous retaliation to being picked up like a child by North. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Posted July 2, 2013 Report Share Posted July 2, 2013 So Horwill is clear to play. What a complete joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Portland Bill Posted July 2, 2013 Report Share Posted July 2, 2013 So Horwill is clear to play. What a complete joke. The biggest farce is the fact that the IRB appealed against a decision made by the IRB! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelRobartes Posted July 2, 2013 Report Share Posted July 2, 2013 Very surprised Folau wasn't cited. I had a feeling that Horwill would be cleared again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelRobartes Posted July 3, 2013 Report Share Posted July 3, 2013 Team for the third test on Saturday: Leigh Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues/Wales) Tommy Bowe (Ulster/Ireland) Jonatahan Davies (Scarlets/Wales) Jamie Roberts (Cardiff Blues/Wales) George North (Scarlets/Wales) Jonny Sexton (Leinster/Ireland) Mike Phillips (Bayonne/Wales) Alex Corbisiero (London Irish/England) Richard Hibbard (Ospreys/Wales) Adam Jones (Ospreys/Wales) Alun Wyn Jones © (Ospreys/Wales) Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers/England) Dan Lydiate (Dragons/Wales) Sean O'Brien (Leinster/Ireland) Toby Faletau (Dragons/Wales) Replacements: Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers/England), Mako Vunipola (Saracens/England), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers/England), Richie Gray (Sale Sharks/Scotland), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys/Wales), Conor Murray (Munster/Ireland), Owen Farrell (Saracens/England), Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers/England). Huge mistake dropping BOD, Roberts and Tuilagi have barely played on this tour, who knows how match fit they are. Be interesting to see how the defensive line goes without the great man orchestrating things. Not many leaders on the pitch here at all, worrying. I think that Tom Youngs and Murray can consider themselves very unlucky not to start, though Pikey Mikey was always likely to return and Youngs has (unfairly I think) carried the can for the failures in the lineout. Vunipola on the bench ahead of Grant is a terrifying thought after the horror show last Saturday. If Corbisiero goes down early we're screwed. Hope I'm wrong but I can't see the Lions winning this one with that selection. Goal kicking and (mostly) solid defence are the only reasons that the series is level, and all Fatty Gatty has done here is weaken the defence. Final thought, Poite is ref so the scrum/breakdown will be an absolute lottery, but at least he can't send Paulie to the bin for absolutely no reason like he usually does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Portland Bill Posted July 3, 2013 Report Share Posted July 3, 2013 BOD hasn't exactly done much in the first 2 tests,he's been fairly good defensively, but attack wise I'm struggling to think of many positives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Posted July 3, 2013 Report Share Posted July 3, 2013 BOD hasn't exactly done much in the first 2 tests,he's been fairly good defensively, but attack wise I'm struggling to think of many positives. Totally agree. He was by far the worst player on the pitch on saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelRobartes Posted July 3, 2013 Report Share Posted July 3, 2013 Davies was the one whose defensive work was badly exposed for the Wallabies try. I think that's a harsh statement when Vunipola completed 80 minutes as well. As I said, I hope I'm wrong, but I think that removing BOD's defensive nous and leadership will not help the Lions one bit on Saturday. Add to this the lack of rugby played by Tommy (a fine player but a suspect enough defender at times, and with a pin in his hand) and the good doctor and you have a potential disaster on your hands. AWJ is some player on his day, but a test match captain? We'll see. That being said, the back row is much more balanced with Faletau in for Houdini and SOB at openside. I expect Tipuric to replace Lydiate and make a real impact with 20-30 to go too. Just praying for no injuries to AWJ or Parling, Gray's lineout work and ruck-hitting is pretty abysmal for a man his size. Hopefully Fatty Gatty will finally let them play some rugby this week, here's hoping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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