Corbs is Gatland's man of the match

Well, that's what Gatland said.

and

and

and

Corbs has signed next season with my Saints. I can hear the song in the distance.
Getting stonger, and then stronger again.

Oh, when the Saints
Oh, when the Saints
Oh, when the Saints go matching in
Oh, how I can't wait for them to beat Leicester
Oh, when the Saints go marching in.

God, that was great. Need a cigarette.

Yes, high praise indeed for Corbisiero. Gatland has essentially ascribed the entire win to the English prop saying he was "sensational" in both core duty and in the loose.

Cracking praise for a lad not originally picked for the tour. I bet he didnt see himself in this position a couple of months ago.

Not often you get a front rower as an international head coach so refreshing to have him point out one of his own for special mention. Us backs tend to forget that sometimes...mainly cos we have no idea what really goes on up there... 

Hang on.This does not fit with the clear Welsh bias that so manyy saw in our coach.Must be a made up story,surely!LOL.

Would Healy or Jenkins been able to exert so much pressure??? Not as good come scrum time but overall play perhaps better. Initial non selection was most certainly due to lack of game time.

In some ways gatland was fortuitous that he was available after the injuries.
It was the cornerstone performance.... Without him due to lack of quality cover the game could have been very different.

Can we safely say Corbs was this year's bolter, then?

I might have the count wrong, but I think only six players started all three Tests:

Adam Jones
Alun Wyn Jones
Jonathan Sexton
Jonathan Davies
George North
Leigh Halfpenny

It's quite something there are only two forwards in that list.

I don't think he was a bolter.  He was injured most of the year and not selected.  Had he been fit  I suspect he'd have been in and it would not have been a surprise to anyone.

Rugby Fan wrote:Can we safely say Corbs was this year's bolter, then?

Depends how you define it. Starting from the date of the squad announcement you'd have to say Corbisiero, but at the beginning of the season Tom Youngs was uncapped. Vunipola hadn't even started a Premiership game, though some would argue that he didn't play that well in the tests.

Everyone else was already an established international before this year.

I would agree ozzy

12 months prior most posters I recall had corbisiero on as one of the two loose heads with Healy. 

He's only going to get better and is what 24... England are a lucky lucky side... They have two very good props in corbisiero and cole to build their pack around for the next 5+ years.

I suppose I was thinking of a bolter just as someone who was not originally selected in the original Lions squad but ends up a key starter. (cf Rob Andrew, Martin Corry Ryan Jones, Tom Croft)

Rugby Fan wrote:I suppose I was thinking of a bolter just as someone who was not originally selected in the original Lions squad but ends up a key starter. (cf Rob Andrew, Martin Corry Ryan Jones, Tom Croft)

In that case it's Corbisiero, but I think bolter is usually used to mean someone who comes from nowhere to make the tour party. That's why there were threads over the last year asking "who will be the Lions bolter?". In that case it's Youngs or Vunipola, who hadn't even started a Premiership game this time last year.

Corbs, Youngs, Cole wll certainly be a strong option for England for a while, next years clash with Wales will be a completely different prospect to last year.
with Jenkins, Hibbard, Jones we have a clash of 6 absolute top class front 3 players to look forward to. Cant Wait for the new season now.

2ndtimeround wrote:Corbs, Youngs, Cole wll certainly be a strong option for England for a while, next years clash with Wales will be a completely different prospect to last year.
with Jenkins, Hibbard, Jones we have a clash of 6 absolute top class front 3 players to look forward to. Cant Wait for the new season now.

I'm looking forward to those scrums too!

2ndtimeround wrote:Corbs, Youngs, Cole wll certainly be a strong option for England for a while, next years clash with Wales will be a completely different prospect to last year.
with Jenkins, Hibbard, Jones we have a clash of 6 absolute top class front 3 players to look forward to. Cant Wait for the new season now.

I think we'll have the new scrum rules in place too.

2ndtimeround wrote:Corbs, Youngs, Cole wll certainly be a strong option for England for a while, next years clash with Wales will be a completely different prospect to last year.
with Jenkins, Hibbard, Jones we have a clash of 6 absolute top class front 3 players to look forward to. Cant Wait for the new season now.

I can see Rob Weber coming back in contention now, since his run of injuries he has put in some superb performances & also has the advantage of added bulk in the scrum if & when required.
The front five that played out in Argentina certainly showed their strength even against a second string Argentina.

England still have Hartley and Lindsay to call on at 2. Davie Wilson was excellent in Argentina.

Scotland have plenty of front row options too.

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:

2ndtimeround wrote:Corbs, Youngs, Cole wll certainly be a strong option for England for a while, next years clash with Wales will be a completely different prospect to last year.
with Jenkins, Hibbard, Jones we have a clash of 6 absolute top class front 3 players to look forward to. Cant Wait for the new season now.

I can see Rob Weber coming back in contention now, since his run of injuries he has put in some superb performances & also has the advantage of added bulk in the scrum if & when required.
The front five that played out in Argentina certainly showed their strength even  against a second string Argentina.

Im welsh and don't get to see many Aviva games, but i have always kept my eye on Webber, he reminds me of an old classical hooker a bit like Keith Wood I believe but the fact is to me that tom Young s is the nest Hooker in world rugby at this moment in time. His works rate is probably the best of any front row I have seen since Gethin Jenkins. A truly world class front rower England have there. Wish we had him.
It's clear that hooker is England strongest department.

Watching Youngs yesterday his leg drive in contact is impressive, still not sure though if England's scrum would be better off with Webber or Buchanan.
Corbs was an utter beast during this tour, Saints are going to be scary with him, Goliath (North), and that Samoan 9.

yappysnap wrote:Watching Youngs yesterday his leg drive in contact is impressive, still not sure though if England's scrum would be better off with Webber or Buchanan.
Corbs was an utter beast during this tour, Saints are going to be scary with him, Goliath (North), and that Samoan 9.

Agreed, I still wonder if Tom is too short. Not convinced by Buchannan yet - I need to see him nail down the Quins shirt first.

Corbs was immense, and remember how much ridicule their was when he was called up.

Was there ridicule? I think he's performed better then any would have expected after his injuries, and they're still a concern, Saints mus keep him fit.

Yea Bchanan was a little biased by me, it's still massively early days for him and he has a lot of competition.

yappysnap wrote:Was there ridicule? I think he's performed better then any would have expected after his injuries, and they're still a concern, Saints mus keep him fit.

Yea Bchanan was a little biased by me, it's still massively early days for him and he has a lot of competition.

You were almost too subtle for me. Nice one.

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:

2ndtimeround wrote:Corbs, Youngs, Cole wll certainly be a strong option for England for a while, next years clash with Wales will be a completely different prospect to last year.
with Jenkins, Hibbard, Jones we have a clash of 6 absolute top class front 3 players to look forward to. Cant Wait for the new season now.

I can see Rob Weber coming back in contention now, since his run of injuries he has put in some superb performances & also has the advantage of added bulk in the scrum if & when required.
The front five that played out in Argentina certainly showed their strength even  against a second string Argentina.

Would agree with that. Of the players originally picked for the Lions you could make a case for none of them getting back into the England starting XV in the autumn. I'd be surprised if none of them made a return, but doubt that theywill all get straight back in.

England with can have their hooker and 1 lock to be mobile... By not both locks. Play parling and you need to add beef. Someone less likely to move back when pressure is applied then the Great Wall of china.

Launchbery, lawes.. They are too light plain and simple. lawes could be, could be a terrific player if he was to add 10kg maybe more of bulk esp to the thighs and core.... Bt all that great tackling and offloading is pointless when he's being marched backwards, dumped on his back, outmuscled in the tight.

Gatland ain't going to change his ideas... Adam jones is probably at his peak now so in 2 years time he may not be as strong but the same rules will apply.. If England want to compete they have to out do Wales in the front five.

fa0019 wrote:England with can have their hooker and 1 lock to be mobile... By not both locks. Play parling and you need to add beef. Someone less likely to move back when pressure is applied then the Great Wall of china.

Launchbery, lawes.. They are too light plain and simple. lawes could be, could be a terrific player if he was to add 10kg maybe more of bulk esp to the thighs and core.... Bt all that great tackling and offloading is pointless when he's being marched backwards, dumped on his back, outmuscled in the tight.

Gatland ain't going to change his ideas... Adam jones is probably at his peak now so in 2 years time he may not be as strong but the same rules will apply.. If England want to compete they have to out do Wales in the front five.

I tottally agree with you, I can't believe England have such a lightweight pack after so many years of massive forwards. The Wales tactics have always been to move the England forwards around because they were big boys. I admire Lancaster but he goes for mobile forwards but they cannot dominate the top 5 teams and with a team like Wales having very big and better backs they will struggle and will continue to do so unless they unearth bigger mobile forwards..

fa0019 wrote:England with can have their hooker and 1 lock to be mobile... By not both locks. Play parling and you need to add beef . Someone less likely to move back when pressure is applied then the Great Wall of china.

Launchbery, lawes.. They are too light plain and simple. lawes could be, could be a terrific player if he was to add 10kg maybe more of bulk esp to the thighs and core.... Bt all that great tackling and offloading is pointless when he's being marched backwards, dumped on his back, out muscled in the tight.

Gatland ain't going to change his ideas... Adam jones is probably at his peak now so in 2 years time he may not be as strong but the same rules will apply.. If England want to compete they have to out do Wales in the front five.

This is the same Geoff Parling that just played alongside AWJ (not exactly a powerhouse himself, despite being 19st +)and helped demolish the Aussie pack, made possibly the best tap tackle in the series and ran an almost perfect lineout, without any good back row options.

Even Gatland with his seeming dislike of English options picked him to replace O'Connell with other fancier options available. He might not be the most powerful lock in the business, but he is a lot better than most think and has the added advantage of being a line out tactician, a mobile tackler and a decent option to drive the ball, not special in this regard but rarely goes backward or gets turned over.


What am I doing, a Saints man promoting a Tiger.

"Gatland ain't going to change his ideas... Adam jones is probably at his peak now so in 2 years time he may not be as strong but the same rules will apply.. If England want to compete they have to out do Wales in the front five"

I think the front 5 that played in Argentina would be more than enough also Corbs is young & Jones will be ageing( if still there) the same with injury prone Jenkins.
Launchbury is young & only going to get better & bigger. So I think things are looking pretty good tbh.

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:What am I doing, a Saints man promoting a Tiger.

I find this statement quite disturbing.

Discussing annd criticising players from other countries is fine, as long as the line doesn't get crossed. It's more personal to many of us (obviously) when we players from the Home Nations. But still, it is clearly OK for an Englishman to praise or critique a Welshman (for example). But for a Saints supporter to say good things about anyone from that Rugby team north of the border? Are you mad? You dare too much. You go too far.

 He's no Saint eh Grey; is that what we're saying

fa0019 wrote:England with can have their hooker and 1 lock to be mobile... By not both locks. Play parling and you need to add beef. Someone less likely to move back when pressure is applied then the Great Wall of china.

Launchbery, lawes.. They are too light plain and simple. lawes could be, could be a terrific player if he was to add 10kg maybe more of bulk esp to the thighs and core.... Bt all that great tackling and offloading is pointless when he's being marched backwards, dumped on his back, outmuscled in the tight.

Gatland ain't going to change his ideas... Adam jones is probably at his peak now so in 2 years time he may not be as strong but the same rules will apply.. If England want to compete they have to out do Wales in the front five.

I agree with this completely. I just wonder where the right powerhouse lock is going to come from. I think Attwood et al are a notch down from Wales equivalents. AWJ's carrying was better than I've seen, and he's deceptively big for his height, I think he's above both Parling and Launchbury in this area and their equal in the loose. Evans is also a big ball carrier, though not as effective recently as I've seen. I was amazed he's lighter than AWJ as i've also seen him as their heavy-duty carrier.

RubyGuby wrote: He's no Saint eh Grey; is that what we're saying  

Ah, but Saints are actually full of Sinners

LondonTiger wrote:

RubyGuby wrote: He's no Saint eh Grey; is that what we're saying  

Ah, but Saints are actually full of Sinners

Saints arew wonderful blokes, full of love for all of humanity, excepting north of the border, of course.  A couple of 'projects' have come into our slice of heaven, and I a sure they will emerge better men for it. We can rasie them up......

Ruby, you're right, i missed the point the fist time.

Hood83 wrote:

fa0019 wrote:England with can have their hooker and 1 lock to be mobile... By not both locks. Play parling and you need to add beef. Someone less likely to move back when pressure is applied then the Great Wall of china.

Launchbery, lawes.. They are too light plain and simple. lawes could be, could be a terrific player if he was to add 10kg maybe more of bulk esp to the thighs and core.... Bt all that great tackling and offloading is pointless when he's being marched backwards, dumped on his back, outmuscled in the tight.

Gatland ain't going to change his ideas... Adam jones is probably at his peak now so in 2 years time he may not be as strong but the same rules will apply.. If England want to compete they have to out do Wales in the front five.

I agree with this completely. I just wonder where the right powerhouse lock is going to come from. I think Attwood et al are a notch down from Wales equivalents. AWJ's carrying was better than I've seen, and he's deceptively big for his height, I think he's above both Parling and Launchbury in this area and their equal in the loose. Evans is also a big ball carrier, though not as effective recently as I've seen. I was amazed he's lighter than AWJ as i've also seen him as their heavy-duty carrier.

Yes but my point is that all England's tight 5 players & back up are young & only going to get better. Contrast that with A. Jones & G. Jenkins & even if they make it to 2015 will very much be on the wain.
I actually think Launchbury is better than any of the locks in the loose & a good deal quicker to.

You seem to have forgotten Charteris.

 I take it subtlety isn't a strong point Grey - Let's leave that stuff for the "saintly" then

fa0019 wrote:Would Healy or Jenkins been able to exert so much pressure??? Not as good come scrum time but overall play perhaps better. Initial non selection was most certainly due to lack of game time.

In some ways gatland was fortuitous that he was available after the injuries.
It was the cornerstone performance.... Without him due to lack of quality cover the game could have been very different.

He was very good, but we were comparing him to Vunipola who frankly a fat guy dragged from a pub could have performed better than in the scrum.

But seriously he is a very very good player even more impressive given his age. Will be interesting to see him going head to head with Adam next year. Had Vunipola started I have little doubt we would not be celebrating a series victory so his performance and contribution IMO was the most influential on the day Congratulations young man you did yourself proud

Well done Corbisiero. Good performance.

doctor grey Corbisiero is a canny signing as long as he stays match fit.

I am wary of Saints.

Dragonbreath do you ever think before posting? Vunipola would walk into your club side's XV (Dragons).

Corbisero made a huge difference. He played in both tests the Lions won and in those tests the Lions dominated the scrum and the Aussie pack each time. He is certainly one of the players of the series for me.

beshocked wrote:

Dragonbreath do you ever think before posting? Vunipola would walk into your club side's XV (Dragons).

Cannot follow your logic.Are you saying that the Dragons are the equal of the Lions? 

Taffineastbourne wrote:

beshocked wrote:

Dragonbreath do you ever think before posting? Vunipola would walk into your club side's XV (Dragons).

Cannot follow your logic.Are you saying that the Dragons are the equal of the Lions? 

I think this is the inane comment Beshocked was reacting to:

dragonbreath wrote:
He was very good, but we were comparing him to Vunipola who frankly a fat guy dragged from a pub could have performed better than in the scrum.

LondonTiger wrote:

Taffineastbourne wrote:

beshocked wrote:

Dragonbreath do you ever think before posting? Vunipola would walk into your club side's XV (Dragons).

Cannot follow your logic.Are you saying that the Dragons are the equal of the Lions? 

I think this is the inane comment Beshocked was reacting to:

dragonbreath wrote:
He was very good, but we were comparing him to Vunipola who frankly a fat guy dragged from a pub could have performed better than in the scrum.

The fact that a fat guy dragged from a pub could walk into the Dragons side(contentious;) has no bearing as to whether he should have played for the Lions that I can see.

Absolutely sublime game from Corbs, and my man of the match. Scrummed like an absolute beast, and carried well.

I would have loved to hear the Australian commentary for the 3rd test. In the 2nd, they were praising the Oz front row for rising against the criticism of being weak and proving everyone wrong. Robinson was utterly man-shamed on saturday.

dragonbreath wrote:

fa0019 wrote:Would Healy or Jenkins been able to exert so much pressure??? Not as good come scrum time but overall play perhaps better. Initial non selection was most certainly due to lack of game time.

In some ways gatland was fortuitous that he was available after the injuries.
It was the cornerstone performance.... Without him due to lack of quality cover the game could have been very different.

He was very good, but we were comparing him to Vunipola who frankly a fat guy dragged from a pub could have performed better than in the scrum.

But seriously he is a very very good player even more impressive given his age. Will be interesting to see him going head to head with Adam next year. Had Vunipola started I have little doubt we would not be celebrating a series victory so his performance and contribution IMO was the most influential on the day Congratulations young man you did yourself proud

No no, pretty sure Matt Stevens was on tour. Think they picked him up at one of the terminal bars on their way out to Hong Kong.

Taffineastbourne wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

Taffineastbourne wrote:

beshocked wrote:

Dragonbreath do you ever think before posting? Vunipola would walk into your club side's XV (Dragons).

Cannot follow your logic.Are you saying that the Dragons are the equal of the Lions? 

I think this is the inane comment Beshocked was reacting to:

dragonbreath wrote:
He was very good, but we were comparing him to Vunipola who frankly a fat guy dragged from a pub could have performed better than in the scrum.

The fact that a fat guy dragged from a pub could walk into the Dragons side(contentious;) has no bearing as to whether he should have played for the Lions that I can see.

No-one has said he that is the case.

A poster said something pathetically derogatory about Mako and Beshocked pulled him up on it. Believe it or not these discussions do go off on a tangent.

Thank you Londontiger.    That's exactly it.

The Lions won heavily. Good for them. Gatland's selections were vindicated. Fair play to him.

It's strange that pretty much everything they did wrong last week they corrected this week. Better scrummaging. Check. Better lineout.Check. Making more yards with ball in hand.Check. Backs actually attacked. Check. Better kicking (both placement and place kicking). Check. Centres looking threatening in attack. Check.

Most of the credit has to the Welsh guys as they made the bulk of the team but the English and Irish guys had quite an impact too - particularly Parling,Corbisiero,Sexton,Murray and O Brien.

Parling's tap tackle: B.e.a-utiful.

doctor_grey wrote:

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:What am I doing, a Saints man promoting a Tiger.

I find this statement quite disturbing.  

Discussing annd criticising players from other countries is fine, as long as the line doesn't get crossed.  It's more personal to many of us (obviously) when we players from the Home Nations.  But still, it is clearly OK for an Englishman to praise or critique a Welshman (for example).  But for a Saints supporter to say good things about anyone from that Rugby team north of the border?  Are you mad?  You dare too much.  You go too far.  

Sorry doc, I will hang my head in shame. It was the excitement of the moment; it will never happen again.

With Corbs and North next year things are looking good.

The future is bright, the future is green, black and gold,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,



Tom yongs looked very good, do you think they would swap hookers........................................Oooops

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:

doctor_grey wrote:

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:What am I doing, a Saints man promoting a Tiger.

I find this statement quite disturbing.  

Discussing annd criticising players from other countries is fine, as long as the line doesn't get crossed.  It's more personal to many of us (obviously) when we players from the Home Nations.  But still, it is clearly OK for an Englishman to praise or critique a Welshman (for example).  But for a Saints supporter to say good things about anyone from that Rugby team north of the border?  Are you mad?  You dare too much.  You go too far.  

Sorry doc, I will hang my head in shame. It was the excitement of the moment; it will never happen again.

With Corbs and North next year things are looking good.

The future is bright, the future is green, black and gold,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,



Tom yongs looked very good, do you think they would swap hookers........................................Oooops

now now stop being naughty! that will never happen!!!

Taking just club performances I'd say that Hartley was a long way ahead anyway.

LondonTiger wrote:

Taffineastbourne wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

Taffineastbourne wrote:

beshocked wrote:

Dragonbreath do you ever think before posting? Vunipola would walk into your club side's XV (Dragons).

Cannot follow your logic.Are you saying that the Dragons are the equal of the Lions? 

I think this is the inane comment Beshocked was reacting to:

dragonbreath wrote:
He was very good, but we were comparing him to Vunipola who frankly a fat guy dragged from a pub could have performed better than in the scrum.

The fact that a fat guy dragged from a pub could walk into the Dragons side(contentious;) has no bearing as to whether he should have played for the Lions that I can see.

No-one has said he that is the case.

A poster said something pathetically derogatory about Mako and Beshocked pulled him up on it. Believe it or not these discussions do go off on a tangent.

Its frankly touch and go whether my comment about Vunipola's scrumaging is actually derogatory, he is borderline incompetent. Quite how he gets away with it in the super tough Aviva is a mystery. Unless? no that can't be the case, everyone knows its the toughest league in the world