Playing your way OUT of the shirt

Morning all,

Leading up to this 6N there were lots of people offering their lions teams, largely made up of players who for the last couple of years have been the form men in their positions. We have the inevitable weekly updates of the teams and the usual arguing of who is worthy of the shirt.

From what I have seen there are a number of players who are playing exceptional stuff and really putting their hands up.

There are however a large number of favourites playing themselves out of contention also.

Here is where I make myself unpopular...

I think the Ireland V England game was an interesting one. England played a very clever game and to be honest I think a few of the Irish boys couldn't cope. Heaslip for me was a big let down and took massive strides backwards, and Healy either crumbled under the pressure and got violent or just had a total brain-fart. Either way thats costly in a Lions test match.

Ashton doesn't look interested and clearly bottled tackles against O'Brien on two occasions.

Warburton for wales must also be getting worried, especially given the back row is probably the most competitive place in the Isles for the shirt.

so who for you is playing them self out of the shirt?

Jamie Roberts and JD2, both had huge column time devoted to them on the basis of zilch and have shown just how out of form and poor they are in these first two games.

Again the centres is looking good for depth, if one thing this is showing is that there is nowhere to hide as the players are all very closely matched

Don't think Healy really played himself out of the shirt - OK, his stamp on Cole and his discipline all round was poor yesterday, but he still offers the best combination of solid set piece and quality in open play of any of the looseheads on display so far in the 6Ns.

Heaslip though had a bit of a shocker - a couple of simple drops when fielding kicks is not the basis of a Lions 8, especially as there is plenty of strength in the position.

I wouldn't make too many judgements about Ashton based on an attritional game on a wet day in Dublin. As for his bottling tackles on SOB (iirc, on kick off returns) I noticed Ireland were very good at putting players in the way to make Ashton (as the first chaser) have to go a long way round to get to the ball carrier. Not technically obstruction, but they are certainly there as blockers (Ireland are not the only side to do this, but execute it particularly well). OK, he didn't enhance his chances of making the Lions first XV, but he still has a decent chance of being in the squad.

Warburton has certainly fallen down the pecking order a bit, with Robshaw and SOB both having strong performances (indeed, so did Harley for Scotland) and Tipuric being the only genuine 'fetcher' to have played.

Not sure Jamie Roberts has done his chances much good either - Scott had a good game for Scotland, and Barritt is exceptionally solid for England, while 12trees offers a more creative option.

Ah Cian Heally just had one of those games...every players had them.
Doesnt make him any less of a good player.
He's still gonna be the Lions number 1.

Im not sure about Ashton...he actually looked better than ive seen him for a while. And im a huge critic of his "bottle" shall we say...but he caused a turnover and got stuck in on Sunday.

Hard to judge this weekend really though on any players as none of the games were great.

I still think a lot of newspapers, sports websites, are posting teams that would have been form players 9 months ago. World cup form, 2012 6N form contribute but a small amount compared with form at this very point in time. By end of this years 6N I suspect there'll be many changes. I'm sure Gatland will be looking for Players who have maintained a level of consistency or who are in form at this very moment in time, playing very good rugby. For instance, Hogg is having a stormer at the moment, but 1/2Penny has been very consistent for Wales/Blues and deserves 15 shirt in my opinion.

Rob Kearney was very poor yesterday. On that form he won't make the tour let alone the test team.