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Finnegan

Lions 2013.

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Posted

:wave:

I'd come say hello but you'd probably completely ignore me,

again.

Posted

I'd come say hello but you'd probably completely ignore me,

again.

 

Haha fair enough too.....I was a little bit drunk at the time tho.

Posted

Haha fair enough too.....I was a little bit drunk at the time tho.

For a change...

Posted

Can you play fly half and centre? If so with your ancestry ,get your bags packed.

Do all the players wear G.P.S devices to monitor the distance they've covered ?

Thought I must have mis-heard this during radio commentary, but they do have a rectangular

lump under their shirts between their shoulder blades .

Posted

They definitely wear them to train, I don't know if they're playing in them. Possibly if they're durable enough.

 

I'm probably not much worse than Twelvetrees! I couldn't believe it when he got England caps let alone a Lions call, seriously worrying. Surely Jackson, Wilkinson, Biggar, Hook and countless others are better options? I suppose it's an unwillingness to go back on what was said about French based players. 

 

It's not cover for centre at all, regardless of what they've said, we've got four fantastic players out there as well as some huge wings that could easily fill in if needs be. They just don't want to admit they're starting to shit it over only taking two stand offs.

Posted

What do the rugby aficionado make of this?

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/rugby-union/british-and-irish-lions-are-cheaters-says-bob-dwyer/story-e6frg7o6-1226664122873

I'm no expert on the fine details of rugby, so I wondered whether this was accurate of just a bit of Aussie bitching and whining?

It's mind games. Both Dwyer's quotes and the way the article's written (this little broadcaster against the mighty British media.) It does make me laugh that they cite 2003 as the last high profile incident of silly mind games by the Aussie press, though. They never learn to stop giving the British their team talk for them.

Basically, the Saffers are the forwards specialists, dirty and strong with little flair. The All Blacks are phenomenal physical athletes (much like this Lions side) with terrific pace and power. The Australians have always regarded flair, skill and attractive rugby as their strength and mantra but it comes at a price. They're competitively shit in the scrum and they're not as good as Warburton and friends at the breakdown.

So it serves a few purposes. It's an attempt to wind the Lions up (this part won't work and I'm baffled the Aus still do it before EVERY test), it's an attempt to get some help from referees at key areas of the game and lastly it's about getting their excuses in early because the Aus are the least graceful losers in the world of sport!

lol

I'm just amazed Campo hasn't piped up yet.

Really good show from the Tigers tourists so far, I might even say - despite my bias - I'd have Croft ahead of a Welshman in my test fifteen. Fingers crossed for Jamie Roberts. Oh and anyone, Welsh or not, who doesn't love Leigh Halfpenny by now isn't human.

Posted

I'm just amazed Campo hasn't piped up yet.

 

Nothing to do with the Lions, but every time someone mentions Campo I'm reminded of this. Still makes me laugh

 

AUSSIE_Wb.jpg

Posted

To add to the above answer, though, as I didn't really make this point: everyone out there knows the laws of scrummaging and rucking. Neither side is cheating more than the other, or the referees WOULD be picking up on this.

Rugby isn't like football, the rules are more flexibily interpreted and - like Spartan law - the crime in doing wrong is getting caught. You do what you can get away with, this is true of ALL teams. Especially at the breakdown where visibility for the officials is limited.

By bringing certain incidents like this to the attention of the refs before a game you put it in his mind and make sure he's looking out for it. Doesn't often work, though. Gats is, ironically, fond of some mind games himself.

If memory serves, the England camp complained about the Welsh delaying the hit in the scrum to make other teams look like they're hitting early (clever but cheeky.) They still got raped at the Millennium Stadium.

End of the day, the best pack normally wins. If we go out there with O'Connell, AWJ, Hibbard, Jones and Mako V we'll stomp them at scrum time even with an over zealous ref (hopefully we'll have Walsh.)

Posted

Brad Parritt, Christian Wade and (yes...) Shane Williams called up as cover for the Brumbies game.

 

Yet again, I know we've previously taken too big a squad but this is just highlighting that we went over with far too few.

 

Drafting in people to receive Lions caps purely as fodder for the midweek games is ridiculous. At least Shane's been on previous tours, I suppose, the fact that Barritt and Wade (and Twelvetrees) are going to pull on Lions shirts is absolutely retarded. Nothing against the English, I think some of the lads currently out there (Vunipola and Croft especially) have been absolutely terrific but Gats is clearly scraping the barrel a bit here.

 

I love Shane but he's been retired for over a year now, there's got to be others. I assume it's because they don't want to disrupt the individual nations' own international tours (Argentina, Japan, etc) too much.

 

It pretty much tells you the test side, though. I would expect that only Faletau from that lot has a chance of playing on the Saturday and even then I imagine he'll be an impact sub, perhaps. 

 

Fitness (including Roberts) permitting I think it'll be:

 

Halfpenny, North, O'Driscoll, Roberts, Cuthbert/Zebo*, Sexton, Phillips, Vunipola, Hibbard/Youngs**, Jones, AWJ, O'Connell, Croft, Warburton, Heaslip.

 

 

* For me, the most open position. Could even go to Maitland although I personally hope not, I don't think he's good enough. Zebo should have been ahead of him for the tour originally but Gats is obsessed with physical power and Zebo is, if anything, a spiritual successor to Shane Williams. 

 

** They'll both play, one about fifty minutes, the other half an hour. Which one starts largely depends on training this week, really. Youngs' selection for the Tahs suggests he probably has the edge but I think Hibbard is a better player over all, albeit a tad off form. 

Posted

First Test:

British & Irish Lions starting XV: Leigh Halfpenny (Wales); Alex Cuthbert (Wales), Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland), Jonathan Davies (Wales), George North (Wales); Jonathan Sexton (Ireland), Mike Phillips (Wales); Alex Corbisiero (England), Tom Youngs (England), Adam Jones (Wales), Alun Wyn Jones (Wales), Paul O'Connell (Ireland), Tom Croft (England), Sam Warburton (Wales, capt), Jamie Heaslip (Ireland).

Replacements: Richard Hibbard (Wales), Mako Vunipola (England), Dan Cole (England), Geoff Parling (England), Dan Lydiate (Wales), Ben Youngs (England), Owen Farrell (England), Sean Maitland (Scotland).

Australia starting XV: Berrick Barnes (NSW Waratahs); Israel Folau (NSW), Adam Ashley-Cooper (NSW), Christian Leali'ifano (ACT Brumbies), Digby Ioane (Queensland Reds); James O'Connor (Melbourne Rebels), Will Genia (Reds); Benn Robinson (NSW), Stephen Moore (ACT), Ben Alexander (ACT), James Horwill (Reds - capt), Kane Douglas (NSW), Ben Mowen (ACT), Michael Hooper (NSW), Wycliff Palu (NSW).

Replacements: Saia Fainga'a (Reds), James Slipper (Reds), S Kepu (NSW), Rob Simmons (Reds), Liam Gill (Reds) Nick Phipps (Rebels), Pat McCabe (ACT), Kurtley Beale (Rebels).

Posted

Folau vs North makes me moist.

Corbisiero over Vunipola surprises me but the rest we basically knew. Solid team, glad he went with Cuthbert (or anyone really) over Maitland. Most overrated player in the Northern hemisphere.

Posted

Especially if you consider Falou had never played Union before and 8 months ago he was still an AFL player (all be it a shit one)

Posted

Just try wiziwig. 

 

I had no luck for the Tahs game, other than awful flash streams. Might find something better for the test though.

Posted

Folau vs North makes me moist.

 

 

 

Based on the first half, that is quite a prediction.

 

Even an old chugger of a prop forward like me can appreciate how special the play was from both.

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