British Lions vs Australia

Re: British Lions vs Australia

Postby Royal Gooner » Sat Jun 01, 2013 4:33 pm

ivan itchybum wrote:It's not the British Lions, it's the Lions or the British and Irish lions... :)


Who cares? It was the British Lions until 2001. British referring to the British Isles.
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Re: British Lions vs Australia

Postby gzagee » Wed Jun 12, 2013 3:00 pm

Lions are coming along nicely although there's been a few injury scares with the half backs and, I've also heard Wilko might not be available anyhow.
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Re: British Lions vs Australia

Postby Balboa » Thu Jun 13, 2013 3:44 pm

Wilkinson won't be involved. Shortly after publicly stating he'd be willing to link up with The Lions following Toulon's disappointing finish to the French season he had to have surgery on his groin. Which was about a week ago and pretty much ended his Lions hopes then.

Right now the following are certainties for the first test in my opinion; Adam Jones, Mako Vunipola, Alun Wyn Jones, Jamie Heaslip, George North, Jamie Roberts, BOD, Alex Cuthbert and Leigh Halfpenny.

There hasn't been a distinguished performance by any hooker to date. As for the second rows, Richie Gray has really grabbed his chances in my opinion and it will be a tight call between him and O'Connell. Each and every player in the back row has been tremendous, so much so that right now Sam Warburton wouldn't be in my Test 23. I'd be inclined to opt for O'Brien or Croft with Tipuric and Heaslip at the moment.

Another tough area is Scrum Half, with all three nines having again performed brilliantly when given the opportunity. 10 is another shift that is difficult for all the wrong reasons, with Hogg playing so well there Tuesday who knows if he can steal it. The centres and back three have been nailed on for the last six months now. No changes there.
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Re: British Lions vs Australia

Postby WelshGunner » Thu Jun 13, 2013 6:24 pm

Balboa wrote:Wilkinson won't be involved. Shortly after publicly stating he'd be willing to link up with The Lions following Toulon's disappointing finish to the French season he had to have surgery on his groin. Which was about a week ago and pretty much ended his Lions hopes then.

Right now the following are certainties for the first test in my opinion; Adam Jones, Mako Vunipola, Alun Wyn Jones, Jamie Heaslip, George North, Jamie Roberts, BOD, Alex Cuthbert and Leigh Halfpenny.

There hasn't been a distinguished performance by any hooker to date. As for the second rows, Richie Gray has really grabbed his chances in my opinion and it will be a tight call between him and O'Connell. Each and every player in the back row has been tremendous, so much so that right now Sam Warburton wouldn't be in my Test 23. I'd be inclined to opt for O'Brien or Croft with Tipuric and Heaslip at the moment.

Another tough area is Scrum Half, with all three nines having again performed brilliantly when given the opportunity. 10 is another shift that is difficult for all the wrong reasons, with Hogg playing so well there Tuesday who knows if he can steal it. The centres and back three have been nailed on for the last six months now. No changes there.


Hogg has a snowball in hells chance of starting a test match at 10. I'm hoping Zebo has a stormer on Saturday as Cuthbert is an accident waiting to happen defensively.
I'd like to see Tipuric start at 7, he's an absolutely superb flanker but you just know Gatland will go for Warburton.

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Re: British Lions vs Australia

Postby Balboa » Fri Jun 14, 2013 5:47 pm

Right now, if Sexton was ruled out close to any test I think Hogg would get the nod. Farrell has been like a rabbit caught in headlights in every big game he has played in of his career to date. I expect Hogg to start midweek and end up on the bench for the first test in the absence of Farrell.
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Re: British Lions vs Australia

Postby WelshGunner » Fri Jun 14, 2013 6:15 pm

Twelvetrees would probably cover 10 now after his arrival to the squad.

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Re: British Lions vs Australia

Postby gzagee » Sun Jun 16, 2013 9:18 am

Johnathan Davies gave Gats a selection headache yesterday.
AW Jones was excellent I thought.
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Re: British Lions vs Australia

Postby Balboa » Sun Jun 16, 2013 1:51 pm

gzagee wrote:Johnathan Davies gave Gats a selection headache yesterday.
AW Jones was excellent I thought.


As a Welshman I've never been a real fan of Davies, not to the point of others and have never really praised him. Pre-Tournament I was completely pro-BOD for the 13 jersey, despite the vast majority declaring him 'past it'. Right now if Roberts, Davies and BOD were fit you'd have to select the two Welsh boys.

Right now I think the test team nailed on positions are (exceptions being *);

Vunipola - Youngs* - A.Jones
AWJ - POC
Croft - Heaslip - Warburton*

North - Phillips - Sexton - Roberts - Davies - Cuthbert

Halfpenny

Subs: Corbiesero, Hibbard*, Cole, Gray, Tipuric*, Murray, Hogg, BOD.

However with question marks hanging over the fitness of Roberts, Davies is likely to play at 12 and BOD outside him. The hookers is a complete toss up because none have stood out, Tom Youngs put in arguably the best shift yesterday and is likely to be vying with Hibbard for the spot. I'd go with Youngs starting and Hibbard on the bench. At 7, Warburton was superb too yesterday and couple that with Tipuric's excellent ability at changing a game from the bench Sam has probably pinched it.
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Re: British Lions vs Australia

Postby Gunner Down Under » Wed Jun 19, 2013 8:28 am

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Re: British Lions vs Australia

Postby Royal Gooner » Wed Jun 19, 2013 8:36 am



I blame the welsh.
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Re: British Lions vs Australia

Postby Balboa » Sat Jun 22, 2013 9:46 am

Stuart Barnes is a glorified c*** at the best of times but even this morning he has outdone himself by declaring Ben Youngs as the 'in form Scrum Half of this Lions tour.' What an utter bell.
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Re: British Lions vs Australia

Postby Royal Gooner » Sat Jun 22, 2013 11:58 am

Ha Ha Ha!

Lions win!

:1990_dancing.gif:

Beale fell over!
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Re: British Lions vs Australia

Postby gzagee » Sat Jun 22, 2013 5:39 pm

Really good game of rugby was that. First half was all about North vs Folau and Halfpenny vs O'Connor.
North showed why he's the most dangerous wing in Europe with that solo effort whilst Folau showed he's already a star for the Aussies with his to tries.
O'Connor missed conversions whilst Halfpenny as almost metronomic. As Barnes said "if Australia had Leigh Halfpenny in their ranks they'd be out of sight now"...
Second half Beale makes his Wallaby return and is the single most decisive factor in the game. Galvanised an embattled and depleted Aussie team, kicked big but ultimately missed big time.
As for individual performances I'd say Mike Phillips got owned by Genia, who is a genius scrum half. B. Youngs came on and did better as he's a better passer; Phillips never got his running game going. Hardly sniped around the edges.
Sexton's game management was excellent. Said he was a big game player and he showed good tactical acumen. The pass for the Cuthbert try was a flash of inspiration, specially seeing as Hooper was now playing in the back line.
Cuthbert and North the twin towers justified why the Lions HAD TO PLAY Australia with size, grunt and aggression.
Heaslip was prodigious in his workrate but I have to say the player who surprised me most was Tom Youngs.
I think he got all his line calls right? Such soft hands (well he used to play centre) too. Tireless workrate.
Loved his reply in the post match interview they purposely made the while of Australia and the watching world (me included) think the lineout would be the weakest part of the Lions game just so they could show a different hand come the Test match. Gatland/Rowntree bluffed, Deans and co bit. lolz!
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Re: British Lions vs Australia

Postby Balboa » Sun Jun 23, 2013 1:41 pm

Yesterday's win was an incredibly fortuitous one and unless the Lions make a marked improvement Saturday coming they'll be facing defeat. To think Australia had to completely change their game plan within a minute of kick off, before needing to bring on Beale shortly before the end of the game and finally throw a flanker into centre with over half an hour to go their performance was incredible. Add to that their 11 points of missed kicks, they really should have won that game with space to breathe.

The standout individual performance of the game came from Will Genia, of that there is no shadow of a doubt. It's no disrespect to Phillips' ability either to get outshone by someone of that class, notably when their styles clash. With Beale's last penalty, Youngs had a couple of opportunity's previous to get that ball out of the few scrums that went before the penalty and ultimately his poor decision nearly cost us the game. So his added impetus would have counted for little else, personally I thought he shouldn't have been on the bench because his performance during midweek was shambolic.

Plus notes for me were certainly the front row who performed together impeccably. Alex Corbiseiro being a doubt for next week is a big blow as he was tremendous I thought and mirrored Adam Jones versatility around the field. The pitch made it a tough ask to make a mark on the scrummaging area and that favoured the Australians. Tom Youngs was also fantastic, especially around the park, while I'll hold back in giving him huge praise for his lineout efforts because they lacked variety. Going to the front is normally safe as houses, but when it's repetitive it will eventually get read and the opposition will start getting competitive. So I'll hold back my praise of him in that area given he's only gone long about two or three times this whole tour.

The second rows were solid, notably O'Connell as ever. Unfortunately the back row didn't stamp themselves on the game enough for my liking. Warburton, if he wasn't such a good Captain would be joining Croft in being taken out of the team for next week in my opinion. Can see Sean O'Brien replacing Croft who really lacked any edge at the breakdown and offered little going forward but his only saving grace may be that he held his own defensively. Jamie Heaslip justified his selection in my opinion, made hard yards whilst defending solidly and done well at set pieces. What was clear though was that we needed a more dynamic edge, something that O'Brien or Tipuric will certainly bring to the plate but at the expense of power and brawn.

Johnny Sexton's game yesterday may well be the making of him as a player in the same sense of Jonathan Davies' against The Waratah's. These two players are cementing themselves as genuine quality but it was Sexton yesterday who really shone offensively and showed just how creative he can be. No kicking responsibilities has clear lightened the weight on his shoulders and he's revelling in his role at the minute with pace and power around him. Unfortunately, he sold himself so easy for Folau's second try it took quite a bit away from his overall performance in my opinion as it could have proved very costly.

Davies and O'Driscoll done well enough in the centre but we clearly missed the lack of a 'Crash-Man' in Jamie Roberts, and if fit it will be interesting to see who starts outside him on Saturday. Nonetheless they done enough when the onus was clearly bringing the superb North and Cuthbert into play off their wings. Cuthbert I thought was incredibly lucky to get his try as I genuinely thought it was obstruction and feel for the Aussies who have every right to be aggrieved. It was 50/50 but my head said 'No try'. Finally Halfpenny... well.. he at 15 is what Genia is at 9. Simples.
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Re: British Lions vs Australia

Postby gzagee » Sun Jun 23, 2013 3:53 pm

Hopefully Craig Joubert won't be so whistle happy next week.
Pollock was always penalising the Lions at the breakdown meaning the forwards became more cautious and the Aussies were quicker to the ball.
The final penalty which Beale missed was also Heaslip's dithering as much as Youngs. He just wanted to kill time and the ref penalised it.
Felt sorry for Beale, ground fell away under his feet. Could've happened to anyone.
Lets not underestimate the enormity of this victory, the Wallabies don't lose too often at the Gabba so all that matters is the W and the confidence gained going into next week.
Much rather win playing ugly than lose playing gallantly...
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