Lions v Reds...

First topic message reminder :

So who will play?

Jenkins
Youngs
Stevens
Parling
???
???
Warburton
???
Youngs
???
???
???
???
???
Kearney

If Gats is to be beleived these players HAVE to start, so who would you play and why?

wales606 wrote:Tommy Bowe not looking good :/

how do you know?

formerly known as Sam wrote:

I agree this backrow has been shocking, I'd be tempted to go with O'Brien at 6 and Tipuric at 7 though.

I'd take the extra lineout and football skills of Croft personally. SOB can be brought on for additional power later in the game to bully the tiring Aussies. SOB cost us two tries against the Force by rushing out the line and exposing Sexton's inside shoulder. Can't be making those errors against the Wallabies. Croft is immense at supporting breaks, making great cover tackles and does a decent job in the tight, he's almost literally made for these tests.

To be honest the only thing I saw Croft do against Force was hang around on the wings. I don't see that he offers anything in the tight. Good in the lineout and a good runner but not much of a blindside. O'Brien had a blinder against Force and I think blaming him for the trys conceded against Force is a bit off. Croft did very little in that game except score a try from hanging about on the wing.

Well played poc!

Cari wrote:

wales606 wrote:Tommy Bowe not looking good :/

how do you know?

Greenwood mentioned he was heavily strapped.

POC earns the penalty to seal off the game

Plus Heaslip is an excellent line-out forward himself from 8.

THAT'S why Lydiate tours.

12-22 well done Faz.

Come on boys, send them home.

t1000advancedprototype wrote:THAT'S why Lydiate tours.

?

Regardless, I am almost certain Lydiate will play at 6. Or Warburton.

nathan wrote:

Cari wrote:

wales606 wrote:Tommy Bowe not looking good :/

how do you know?

Greenwood mentioned he was heavily strapped.

I missed that. I hope that's just pre-cautionary. Maybe they've packed it with ice and everything so it looks nasty. I don't think I can cope with another injury on him. Bless.

POC, Cole and Tipuric have secured the breakdown MUCH better since coming on.

POC taking control there. He's such a good leader on the field.

Cari wrote:

nathan wrote:

Cari wrote:

wales606 wrote:Tommy Bowe not looking good :/

how do you know?

Greenwood mentioned he was heavily strapped.

I missed that. I hope that's just pre-cautionary. Maybe they've packed it with ice and everything so it looks nasty. I don't think I can cope with another injury on him. Bless.

He also spoke of his body language that it didn't look good. Of course he could be wrong.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:POC, Cole and Tipuric have secured the breakdown MUCH better since coming on.

I should think so!

well done boys. You've survived. I hope it's not at great cost. 12-22 FT.

Good win. Not the first choice Lions but a very solid performance

Lydiate is the worst option. And Warburton has been poor.

I'll be very concerned if they both start the tests.

Although we know Warburton is a classy player. He just wasn't good today.

Classy performance from the 2nd Reds team too.

Well done Lions. Showed a lot of ticker.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Regardless, I am almost certain Lydiate will play at 6. Or Warburton.

Yep. A couple of basic tackles aside Lydiate was ineffectual and anonymous. Warburton anonymous. Falateau far too many errors. Parling did ok, but POC did more in a 15 minutes cameo. Cuthbert surely played himself out of the test team, but may get a reprieve if Bowe is ruled out. Hogg has a pretty poor match in truth.

Big pluses, North excellent. Bowe very good. Gray, the Lions best player. Tom Youngs had a good match. Ben Youngs suggests the scrum half battle is not a complete foregone conclusion. Farrell much improved. Jonathan Davies had a decent game too.

Linebreaker wrote:Classy performance from the 2nd Reds team too.

Well done Lions. Showed a lot of ticker.

Didn't realise it was the 2nd team, thought they only had a few missing. How many did they have missing?

Best display by the Lions so far after a dodgy 20 minutes. It's starting to click, the scrum in particular was very impressive today.

Very obvious test XV forming;

Vuipola, Hibbard, Jones, Gray, O'Connell (c), O'Brien, Tipuric, Heaslip

Phillips, Sexton, Bowe, Roberts, O'Driscoll, North, Halfpenny

Linebreaker wrote:Classy performance from the 2nd Reds team too.

Well done Lions. Showed a lot of ticker.

Fairdo's to the Reds Breaker, they came flying at the Lions. I hope their player's injuries aren't serious too.

A good game for the Lions today. A real test game...not like the other 2 games where the Lions simply walked all over the teams they played.

Nice too see Sam Warburton come through with out further injury to his knee.

Was that the Lions scrum we saw today?( before the subs came on i mean.)

The sooner Australia ditch Robbie Deans the better. Criminal for a coach to alienate and not pick the likes of Copper & Giteau.

Now that's what's rugby is about, Ben Youngs chatting and having a joke with the reds players after the game.

Notch wrote:Very obvious test XV forming;

Vuipola, Hibbard, Jones, Gray, O'Connell (c), O'Brien, Tipuric, Heaslip

Phillips, Sexton, Bowe, Roberts, O'Driscoll, North, Halfpenny

The hooker position is wide open. Right now Tom Youngs is the only hooker who has put in a good shift. Hibbard was poor against the Barbarians, the lineout was a mess at times and did nothing when he came on today. Best was ok around the park against the Force but the lineout was not good. Otherwise you are bang on if Bowe is fit. Cuthbert had a disaster today. Davies might just challenge at 12 or 13.

Notch wrote:Very obvious test XV forming;

Vuipola, Hibbard, Jones, Gray, O'Connell (c), O'Brien, Tipuric, Heaslip

Phillips, Sexton, Bowe, Roberts, O'Driscoll, North, Halfpenny

Sounds about right at the moment.

Cari wrote:

Linebreaker wrote:Classy performance from the 2nd Reds team too.

Well done Lions. Showed a lot of ticker.

Fairdo's to the Reds Breaker, they came flying at the Lions. I hope their player's injuries aren't serious too.

Thanks Cari. You're so kind.
I hope Tommy is OK too.

Nathan - all the Wallabies were missing. Didn't you notice?
Quade will be called up on Tuesday. He had an excellent game. Pushed the barriers beyond belief at times!

George Carlin wrote:

Notch wrote:Very obvious test XV forming;

Vuipola, Hibbard, Jones, Gray, O'Connell (c), O'Brien, Tipuric, Heaslip

Phillips, Sexton, Bowe, Roberts, O'Driscoll, North, Halfpenny

Sounds about right at the moment.

Exactly the team I'd go for as well, except Bowe at 14 and North at 11.

Notch wrote:Very obvious test XV forming;

Vuipola, ?, Jones, Gray, O'Connell (c), O'Brien, Tipuric, Heaslip

?, ?, Bowe, Roberts, O'Driscoll, North, Halfpenny

Pretty close but the above are really still up in the air.

Hibbard needs a really good game often T Youngs showing, same with Phillips.

Sexton or Farrell?

Knackeredknees wrote:

Notch wrote:Very obvious test XV forming;

Vuipola, ?, Jones, Gray, O'Connell (c), O'Brien, Tipuric, Heaslip

?, ?, Bowe, Roberts, O'Driscoll, North, Halfpenny

Pretty close but the above are really still up in the air.

Hibbard needs a really good game often T Youngs showing, same with Phillips.

Sexton or Farrell?

Sexton or Farrell? Are you being serious having to ask that question...?

Cooper thinks every one of his players is connected to his off-the-wall brain. They ain't, Quade. You have to give them a chance to work out what you might be doing...their brains only operate at human speed, unlike yours.

Certainly the player Red relied on to give them the creative spike to try and overcome the hard-edged Lions, but also the player trying to over-complicate and create space where it wasn't when space is more easily seen closer to him if he just encourage less intricate passing and more direct forward running.

He undoubtedly has lots of individual talent but I'd agree with Deans...he's as much of a flaky risk as he is a guy who might have moments of magic.

Linebreaker wrote:

Cari wrote:

Linebreaker wrote:Classy performance from the 2nd Reds team too.

Well done Lions. Showed a lot of ticker.

Fairdo's to the Reds Breaker, they came flying at the Lions. I hope their player's injuries aren't serious too.

Thanks Cari. You're so kind.
I hope Tommy is OK too.

Nathan - all the Wallabies were missing. Didn't you notice?
Quade will be called up on Tuesday. He had an excellent game. Pushed the barriers beyond belief at times!

What's with the attitude?

Infact forget it...

Hogg had a tough night, got isolated once or twice and made a couple errors but didn't make any mistakes which led to tries.

Cuthbert is a defensive liability, good finisher but can get caught out of position against intelligent attackers.

North is f**king great!

Get Bowe on ice now or cut one of Maitland's hands off and stick it on (don't want one of Cuthbert's hooves).

Was impressed with Parling, he had a strong game.

Youngs showed some good glimpses and offer something very different from other two 9s.

Disapponted with Faletau, was really impressive against Baabaas but was too quiet today.

Warburton is a worry imo, he was very quiet and didn't offer nearly as much as Tipuric or O'Brien have so far. He's got one more match to really get up to speed or Gatland has a big call to make!

Good result for the Lions.

Copper is such a classy player, really hope Deans selects him because it won't be as good a series without him.

SecretFly wrote:Cooper thinks every one of his players is connected to his off-the-wall brain. They ain't, Quade. You have to give them a chance to work out what you might be doing...their brains only operate at human speed, unlike yours.

Certainly the player Red relied on to give them the creative spike to try and overcome the hard-edged Lions, but also the player trying to over-complicate and create space where it wasn't when space is more easily seen closer to him if he just encourage less intricate passing and more direct forward running.

He undoubtedly has lots of individaul talent but I'd agree with Deans...he's as much of a flaky risk as he is a guy who might have moments of magic.

Yeah, but he is actually best mates with JOC and they do play well together (as he does with Genia), so forgive me if I don't share your view and instead quietly cack myself over the thought of facing a 9-10-12 axis of Genia-Cooper-O'Connor with anything like as much ball from the breakdown as we saw today with our Captain at 7 (in what many would have said was our first choice backrow not long ago) against the Reds without their Wallaby 7. And the Wallabies, looking at injuries, may have to play 2 7s on the flanks. Hooper and Gill feeding Genia-Cooper-O'Connor. Could backfire for them in many ways (weak defensively at 10-12, lots of risks, lack of power in the backrow) but tell me that doesn't send a twinge of fear down your spine?

Such a shame we didn't have Horwill and Simmons in the pack today because a staple of the Reds game is secured lineout ball then rolling maul and pick drives close to the line. Today, with no lineout options, it was all quick taps by Quade and no one around him seemed to know what was going on.

A good game played at a hectic pace early on. Well played to the Lions.

Alternative Lions Test backline:

Youngs
Sexton
Zebo
North
BOD
1/2p
Kearney

Artful_Dodger wrote:

Knackeredknees wrote:

Notch wrote:Very obvious test XV forming;

Vuipola, ?, Jones, Gray, O'Connell (c), O'Brien, Tipuric, Heaslip

?, ?, Bowe, Roberts, O'Driscoll, North, Halfpenny

Pretty close but the above are really still up in the air.

Hibbard needs a really good game often T Youngs showing, same with Phillips.

Sexton or Farrell?

Sexton or Farrell? Are you being serious having to ask that question...?

Why not? He's played really well on tour, answered all his critics with some clever runs and passing, all of which he was accused of lacking.

Why should sexton automatically have the jersey?

You hold your view by all means Jersey. But nope, no twinge of fear - sorry

nathan wrote:

Linebreaker wrote:

Cari wrote:

Linebreaker wrote:Classy performance from the 2nd Reds team too.

Well done Lions. Showed a lot of ticker.

Fairdo's to the Reds Breaker, they came flying at the Lions. I hope their player's injuries aren't serious too.

Thanks Cari. You're so kind.
I hope Tommy is OK too.

Nathan - all the Wallabies were missing. Didn't you notice?
Quade will be called up on Tuesday. He had an excellent game. Pushed the barriers beyond belief at times!

What's with the attitude?

Infact forget it...

Stop being so touchy.

Horwill, Genia, Simmons, Ioane, Gill, Slipper, S. Fainga'a, Feauai-Sautia (injured)

I actually prefer youngs to Phillips for the tests on his speed of service -especially with Aus possibly playing hooper and gill together.

valtrepkos wrote:I actually prefer youngs to Phillips for the tests on his speed of service -especially with Aus possibly playing hooper and gill together.

Neither will be good if our forwards don't clear the rucks.

Just said on Talksport that it looks like Tommy Bowe's tour is over. Another test cert gone already.

nathan wrote:

valtrepkos wrote:I actually prefer youngs to Phillips for the tests on his speed of service -especially with Aus possibly playing hooper and gill together.

Neither will be good if our forwards don't clear the rucks.

Yeah I'm happy hoping the pack can present a decent platform!

doctornickolas wrote:Just said on Talksport that it looks like Tommy Bowe's tour is over. Another test cert gone already.

Who do we bring in?

Notch wrote:Very obvious test XV forming;

Vuipola, Hibbard, Jones, Gray, O'Connell (c), O'Brien, Tipuric, Heaslip

Phillips, Sexton, Bowe, Roberts, O'Driscoll, North, Halfpenny

Much of this selection is based on good performances against a woefully weak Western Force side which any of the Aviva or Rabo sides would have comfortable beaten. This game was a wake up call and the first real opposition the Lions have faced.

I suspect that Corbisiaro may start at loose head with Vunipola as an impact player. The back row is two ball carriers and a lightweight Tipuric, I suspect that Gatland will go for more balance and may pick an entirely different three.

I would like to see BOD have a good game against decent opposition before considering him for a starting berth, he looked his age in the latter parts of the 6N and I suspect that Davies who had a pretty strong game today against decent opposition and in a position he has not played for some time.

doctornickolas wrote:Just said on Talksport that it looks like Tommy Bowe's tour is over. Another test cert gone already.

There goes our best winger

ChequeredJersey wrote:

doctornickolas wrote:Just said on Talksport that it looks like Tommy Bowe's tour is over. Another test cert gone already.

Who do we bring in?

Ashton?



....just kidding!