Lions - 1 year to go - Who from your nation will make the squad?

by gnollbeast Mon 06 Feb 2012, 12:33 pm

First topic message reminder :

Nothing is certain so these are predictions. With just over a year to go till Australia 2013, these are the players I believe can make the squad and only injury and a string of bad performances will prevent this from happening.

WELSHIES

George North - Only if he goes back to his planet Krypton will he not start. Injury is impossible (titanium alloy does not break on the rugby pitch)
Sam Warburton - Only competition is SOB at the moment
Jon Davies - The best by far at the moment, but who knows what could happen with Mcfadden, Tuilagi, Barritt etc...
Priestland - Him and Sexton a definite to tour, but who will join them?
Mike Phillips - Star in 2009 and getting better in my opinion (possibly his last chance on the ultimate stage, may make RWC)
Leigh Halfpenny - Monster boot and good finisher (Players who can play international rugby at 2 or more positions are now regarded highly useful)
Jamie Roberts - Man of the series in 2009 (only very bad form or injury will rule him out)
Adam Jones - If fit he goes
Toby Faletau - Biggest competition is Ferris, but I think both will tour. Ben Morgan may yet eclipse both of them and sneak in the test team.

by mystiroakey Mon 06 Feb 2012, 8:36 pm

ashton will come good- he has italy coming up- he knows how to deal with there lack of speed, the lad is a natural finisher.

he just needs to stop hanging around with the likes of haskel and co and get on with his rugby

by gowales Mon 06 Feb 2012, 8:39 pm

Ashton is a good player i rate him highly. When he gets some confidence he'll come good again. I thought his defence was pretty strong against Scotland along with Strettle

by thebluesmancometh Mon 06 Feb 2012, 8:41 pm

Pretty strong?

I thought he was ok without having to break a sweat! He's just seems to offer next to nothing this season!

by maestegmafia Mon 06 Feb 2012, 8:42 pm

thebluesmancometh wrote:Pretty strong?

I thought he was ok without having to break a sweat! He's just seems to offer next to nothing this season!

I agree and his petulant temper makes him a liability, similar to Hartley.

by HammerofThunor Mon 06 Feb 2012, 8:45 pm

When was the last time Hartley lost his temper and was a liability?

by Gibson Mon 06 Feb 2012, 8:46 pm

Golden wrote:
thebluesmancometh wrote:
Best will be too old and don't think POC will last either, Davies, Lawes, Gray, and Charteris will lead the way surely.

Best will be 30 and POC 33 no reason why they shouldnt be there. Both will be up for captaincy as well although I think Warburton will get that

I agree. He is prime Lions Captain material. Born leader, good talker(vital) non-drinker (hugely important on Tour-no controvesy), honest and a feicin marvelous player.

by maestegmafia Mon 06 Feb 2012, 8:49 pm

HammerofThunor wrote:When was the last time Hartley lost his temper and was a liability?

My point is that he is always petulant and that will bite him in the backside. Most likely at the wrong time. His behaviour off the ball is just unnecessary.

by gowales Mon 06 Feb 2012, 8:51 pm

He hasn't done it for England though. He can act like a prat for Northampton. But he seems to keep it under the lid most of the time these days. Ashton doesn't seem to do anything wrong. Apart from the hair pulling he seems to just have a cocky swagger nothing wrong with that in my opinion

by thebluesmancometh Mon 06 Feb 2012, 8:52 pm

I agree with the Ashton comment but have to disagree with the Hartley one, he actually seems to have calmed lately, and now hes stopped all the dirty antics he's become a much better player.

by maestegmafia Mon 06 Feb 2012, 9:14 pm

Scarlets vs Saints matches...?

by wales606 Mon 06 Feb 2012, 9:47 pm

Props

Likely
Cian Healy
Gethin Jenkins
Adam Jones
Mike Ross

Possible
Euan Murray
Dan Cole
Alex Corbisero

Hooker

Likely
Ross Ford

Possible
Sean Cronin
Ross Ford
Matthew Rees
Huw Bennett

[b]Locks

Likely
Paul O'Connell
Ritchie Grey

Possible
Luke Charteris
Alun Wyn Jones
Courtney Lawes

Backrow

Likely
Sam Warburton (c)
Toby Faletau
Sean O'Brien
Jamie Heaslip
Steven Ferris

Possible
Dan Lydiate
Ryan Jones
Tom Wood
Dave Denton?
Kelly Brown
Justin Tipuric

Scrum Halfs

Likely
Mike Phillips
Connor Murray

Possible
Ben Youngs
Lloyd Williams

Flyhalfs

Likely
Rhys Preistland
Jonathon Sexton

Possible
Toby Flood
Greg Laidlaw
James Hook?

Centres

Likely
Jamie Roberts
Jonathon Davies
Manu Tuilangi

Possibles
Brian O'Driscoll
Owen Farrell
Sean Lamont
Ashley Beck?

Wing/Fullback

Likely
George North
Leigh Halfpenny
Rob Kearney
Ben Foden
Tommy Bowe

Possibles
Chris Ashton
Max Evans
Luke Fitzgerald
Keith Earls

by SecretFly Mon 06 Feb 2012, 10:45 pm

These things can be embarrasing when you look back on them - if you ever had the inclination!!! Luckily few of us will.

But there are players that will fall away in form and rise in it come the period of selection. What's happening now is just people naming their star players. That's not a Lions selection that's just a list of presently in-form players from the different countries.

by ChequeredJersey Mon 06 Feb 2012, 11:48 pm

It'll depend a lot on the coach too- you can see that Kidney, Gatland etc all like their teams to play a certain way which would be better for certain players, and every manager has their favourite players whom they will pick regardless of form too

by SecretFly Mon 06 Feb 2012, 11:53 pm

ChequeredJersey wrote:It'll depend a lot on the coach too- you can see that Kidney, Gatland etc all like their teams to play a certain way which would be better for certain players, and every manager has their favourite players whom they will pick regardless of form too

A bloody good point! - Form is a useless barometer when coaches get settled views on what's the best way to progress.

by red_stag Tue 07 Feb 2012, 12:06 am

I would love to see:

01 Cian Healy
02 Rory Best
03 Adam Jones
04 Richie Grey
05 Bradley Davies
06 Stephen Ferris
07 Sam Warburton (c)
08 Jamie Heaslip
09 Conor Murray
10 Rhys Priestland
11 Tim Visser
12 Jonathan Davies
13 Manu Tuilagi
14 George North
15 Ben Foden

16 Ross Ford
17 Alex Cobisiero
18 Mike Ross
19 Paul O'Connell
20 Sean O'Brien
21 Duncan Weir
22 Jonathan Sexton
23 Tommy Bowe

That could allow for a midweek side of:

01 Alex Cobisiero
02 Ross Ford
03 Mike Ross
04 Donnacha Ryan
05 Paul O'Connell (c)
06 Dan Lydiate
07 Tom Wood
08 Sean O'Brien
09 Duncan Weir
10 Jonathan Sexton
11 Tommy Bowe
12 Bradley Barritt
13 Jamie Roberts
14 Chris Ashton
15 Rob Kearney

16 Dylan Hartley
17 John Welch
18 Dan Cole
19 Alun Wyn Jones
20 Chris Robshaw
21 Ben Youngs
22 Owen Farrell
23 Leigh Halfpenny

by ChequeredJersey Tue 07 Feb 2012, 12:12 am

Looking at it, seems a little harsh on good scottish back rowers like Denton, Rennie and Barclay

by ChequeredJersey Tue 07 Feb 2012, 12:13 am

And Faletau

by red_stag Tue 07 Feb 2012, 12:18 am

It does chequered but its going to change in a weeks time Very Happy

Really though backrow is tough.

IMO Tom Wood and Sam Warburton are first backrow names on the plane. Both are ahead of Barclay.

Stephen Ferris follows closely after them and the much under rated Dan Lydiate I picked to share the fight at 6.

ERC Player of the year Sean O'Brien and England captain Chris Robshaw in the backrow.

For some bizarre reason I completely forgot about Falatau and simply picked Heaslip over Denton.

by 123456789 Tue 07 Feb 2012, 12:28 am

Scotland-
Probable: Denton, Gray, Ford, Visser, Murray
Possible: Laidlaw, Weir, Rennie, Barclay, Brown, the Lamonts
Outside chance: Beattie (if back to 2010 form), Stuart Hogg, Evans, Blair,

Starting team:
1. Jenkins
2. Ford
3. Murray
4. Gray
5. O'Connel
6. SOB
7. Warburton
8. Denton
9. Phillips
10. Sexton
11. North
12. Roberts
13. Tuilagi
14. Visser
15. Foden/ Kearney/ Halfpenny

by Golden Tue 07 Feb 2012, 12:45 am

red_stag wrote:I would love to see:

01 Cian Healy
02 Rory Best
03 Adam Jones
04 Richie Grey
05 Bradley Davies
06 Stephen Ferris
07 Sam Warburton (c)
08 Jamie Heaslip
09 Conor Murray
10 Rhys Priestland
11 Tim Visser
12 Jonathan Davies
13 Manu Tuilagi
14 George North
15 Ben Foden

16 Ross Ford
17 Alex Cobisiero
18 Mike Ross
19 Paul O'Connell
20 Sean O'Brien
21 Duncan Weir
22 Jonathan Sexton
23 Tommy Bowe

That could allow for a midweek side of:

01 Alex Cobisiero
02 Ross Ford
03 Mike Ross
04 Donnacha Ryan
05 Paul O'Connell (c)
06 Dan Lydiate
07 Tom Wood
08 Sean O'Brien
09 Duncan Weir
10 Jonathan Sexton
11 Tommy Bowe
12 Bradley Barritt
13 Jamie Roberts
14 Chris Ashton
15 Rob Kearney

16 Dylan Hartley
17 John Welch
18 Dan Cole
19 Alun Wyn Jones
20 Chris Robshaw
21 Ben Youngs
22 Owen Farrell
23 Leigh Halfpenny

Weirs an outhalf not a scrumhalf

by ChequeredJersey Tue 07 Feb 2012, 12:55 am

Maybe he means Laidlaw?

by Mickado Tue 07 Feb 2012, 7:42 am

Both are place kickers, I always mix them up too...

by LordDowlais Tue 07 Feb 2012, 7:52 am

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:
LordDowlais wrote:Not many people are giving North a chance to go, and this is going to be a long hard topic on here, and the title of the post will be, Who is better or who should start for the Lions Ashton or North ? I can see the thread going into its thousands of reply's with arguments for each player, the post will go down in history as one of the most engrosing debates ever.

Where on earth did that come from? Has anyone said he wont?

I was being sarcastic and you fell for it hook,line and sinker. To be honest I didn't think I would get a nibble, but you have now made my morning. I take my hat off to you. Ale

I was trying to compare it to the old 606 where you had numerous threads on the football titled who is the best Gerrard or Lampard ? They would be on there for months with thousands of posts on them. Doh

by Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler Tue 07 Feb 2012, 8:15 am

LordDowlais wrote:
Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:
LordDowlais wrote:Not many people are giving North a chance to go, and this is going to be a long hard topic on here, and the title of the post will be, Who is better or who should start for the Lions Ashton or North ? I can see the thread going into its thousands of reply's with arguments for each player, the post will go down in history as one of the most engrosing debates ever.

Where on earth did that come from? Has anyone said he wont?

I was being sarcastic and you fell for it hook,line and sinker. To be honest I didn't think I would get a nibble, but you have now made my morning. I take my hat off to you. I was trying to compare it to the old 606 where you had numerous threads on the football titled who is the best Gerrard or Lampard ? They would be on there for months with thousands of posts on them.

righhhhht......bit of "welsh humour" there

by LordDowlais Tue 07 Feb 2012, 8:18 am

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:
LordDowlais wrote:
Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:
LordDowlais wrote:Not many people are giving North a chance to go, and this is going to be a long hard topic on here, and the title of the post will be, Who is better or who should start for the Lions Ashton or North ? I can see the thread going into its thousands of reply's with arguments for each player, the post will go down in history as one of the most engrosing debates ever.

Where on earth did that come from? Has anyone said he wont?

I was being sarcastic and you fell for it hook,line and sinker. To be honest I didn't think I would get a nibble, but you have now made my morning. I take my hat off to you. I was trying to compare it to the old 606 where you had numerous threads on the football titled who is the best Gerrard or Lampard ? They would be on there for months with thousands of posts on them.

Come on now pete, lets not be like that about it

righhhhht......bit of "welsh humour" there

by Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler Tue 07 Feb 2012, 8:20 am

LordDowlais wrote:
Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote: OK lets play hide the comment in the missued quote function?
LordDowlais wrote:
Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:
LordDowlais wrote:Not many people are giving North a chance to go, and this is going to be a long hard topic on here, and the title of the post will be, Who is better or who should start for the Lions Ashton or North ? I can see the thread going into its thousands of reply's with arguments for each player, the post will go down in history as one of the most engrosing debates ever.

Where on earth did that come from? Has anyone said he wont?

I was being sarcastic and you fell for it hook,line and sinker. To be honest I didn't think I would get a nibble, but you have now made my morning. I take my hat off to you. I was trying to compare it to the old 606 where you had numerous threads on the football titled who is the best Gerrard or Lampard ? They would be on there for months with thousands of posts on them.

Come on now pete, lets not be like that about it

righhhhht......bit of "welsh humour" there

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