Lions Tour Documentary preview

Its going to be a cracker by the looks of it:

http://thescore.thejournal.ie/lions-raw-bod-oconnell-1123859-Oct2013/

Im sure there will be plenty of discussion points.

Simon Zebo would have made the initial squad, but Gatland didn’t want him. Gatland stuck by his fellow Kiwi Sean Maitland and, with his arms folded, issued a withering response of:  ”We’ve got to go over there and play rugby.”

Yeah Zebo, stick to playing rugby.

Heres a sneak preview:

http://www.lionsrugby.com/news/12596.php

again featuring Zebo.

What a brilliantly ballanced article and thread, deadly  

Yeah watched it last night, quite interesting.

Warburton didn't come across well at all - O'Connell and AWJ seemed to be leading the show - interesting to see him rooming with Lydiate on the eve of the test too.

rodders wrote:Yeah watched it last night, quite interesting.

Warburton didn't come across well at all - O'Connell and AWJ seemed to be leading the show - interesting to see him rooming with Lydiate on the eve of the test too.  

Not sure where you are getting that from, Warburton was rather intense. Weird

Yeah, I was surprised about how vocal and intense Warburton was during his team talk. Public speaking to the whole group is a tough thing to do as a youngster, especially as he was talking to guys he has watched growing up, but when he was talking on pure emotion I thought he was good.

As for rooming with Lydiate before the test, by then it is all about keeping the guys as relaxed as possible. I'm sure that if a player asked for an individual room the night before a test it would have been granted.

chris_501 wrote:Yeah, I was surprised about how vocal and intense Warburton was during his team talk. Public speaking to the whole group is a tough thing to do as a youngster, especially as he was talking to guys he has watched growing up, but when he was talking on pure emotion I thought he was good.

As for rooming with Lydiate before the test, by then it is all about keeping the guys as relaxed as possible. I'm sure that if a player asked for an individual room the night before a test it would have been granted.

Players always share rooms on tours and they are often rotated with other squad members to help bond, I think if anyone requested a single room the coaches would really question where their head was at.

Yes I know that during the team building stage that is the case, but the night before potentially the biggest day of their life, a good coach would accommodate whatever the player wanted, to guarantee that they were in the best frame of mind for the next day.
I agree though it would be unlikely on a tour like this, but sharing with someone who you feel comfortable with (Warbs and Lydiate) wouldn't be difficult to accommodate.

No I mean there seemed to be a bit of a clique with some of the guys. Warbs choosing to room with Lydiate is a poor display of captaincy imo.

Did it say he chose ? First time I've heard of it happening if so.

And clique between who ? People from same club? Country ? Back row ? If think you are reading into things that aren't there

Yeah he did. On previous lions tours there was an explicit effort to get guys to room with people they didn't know to avoid cliques. It seems that wasn't an issue for Gats and Warbs. Its not a big deal, I just wasn't impressed by Warbs attitude as captain. He came across as immature.

Isn't he the youngest ever Lions Captain ? - youngest with a series win anyway.

I'll hold judgement till I watch the whole thing I guess

you can count them on one hand though mind.

Dawes
McBride
Calder
Johnson
Warburton

Can we expect a balanced analysis? Or yet more opportunistic tearing into Warbs, Gats and the tour in general? Looking at how this article is worded, I'm leaning towards the latter. And there I was thinking the haters' backlash was finally over. It seems 3 months is too short a space of time for some egos to heal  

rodders wrote:Yeah he did. On previous lions tours there was an explicit effort to get guys to room with people they didn't know to avoid cliques. It seems that wasn't an issue for Gats and Warbs. Its not a big deal, I just wasn't impressed by Warbs attitude as captain. He came across as immature.

Warburton also roomed with O'Connell at some point on your didn't he? Cliquey or what!

Wasn't it SCW that went away from room sharing in 05? Before and after that there has always been room sharing with other Nationalities.

Just watched it, never could imagine Warbs giving a big team talk but god he can. It shows how different the reality is to the things we believe to be true. Before the tour a lot of people on this board said that Farrell was on the tour because of his dad and that he wouldn’t fit in. But for O'Connell to single you out as a leader is one of the biggest compliments I can think of in rugby circles. Can't wait for the 28th!

Certain people on these boards and certain elements of all media want people/teams to fail so they can bang the I told you so drum. Fact of life I am afraid.

munkian wrote:

rodders wrote:Yeah watched it last night, quite interesting.

Warburton didn't come across well at all - O'Connell and AWJ seemed to be leading the show - interesting to see him rooming with Lydiate on the eve of the test too.  

Not sure where you are getting that from, Warburton was rather intense. Weird

People will see what they want to see. Some people think Sam needed his hand held, don't they.

What stands out straight away is that Gatland rated Grant ahead of Corbisiero initially and Rowntree queried it. Surprised nobody picked up on that.

Also after reading the OP, I'd have thought that Gatland only said what you wrote, whereas he said Maitland scores tries and creates stuff. Very selective that.

I'm not sure if you're on the Wum now Guns to be honest. If you're not, then I think you're skewing things a lot.

Yeh I thought Warb came across as a strong leader. No wonder was made capt at a young age. No fannying around by gatland over the FH choice either, he immediately said Sexton n Farrell. Lol at Parlings ear hanging off and he nonchalantly said just put some stitches in...

Risca Rev wrote:What stands out straight away is that Gatland rated Grant ahead of Corbisiero initially and Rowntree queried it. Surprised nobody picked up on that.

Yeah that was very interesting. With how bullish Gatland was on the selection of Maitland it's suprising that he didn't try to push Grant through. You'd assume that he has a lot of respect for Rowntree. Hoping that the hole selection meeting is available on the DVD.

Maybe I was a bit harsh on Warbs above - I don't think he came across as a great leader but as mentioned he's the youngest Lions captain so deserves a bit of slack.

Yeah interesting about Grant and Corbs. Also it was Howley who pushed for Connor Murray.

I ended up crashing out around the brumbies game. Warburton's seems to have spoken very well before the first test. Very intense. I like it.

Great. All we need now is for Sin e to come on in and the party can get started.

ROG: ‘In Ireland, the Heineken Cup counts for even more than the Six Nations’

That explains your single championship win then..........

 

Breadvan wrote:Yeh I thought Warb came across as a strong leader. No wonder was made capt at a young age. No fannying around by gatland over the FH choice either, he immediately said Sexton n Farrell.  Lol at Parlings ear hanging off and he nonchalantly said just put some stitches in...

Not sure about that. Paul O'Connell telling the team to help their young fly half drive them around the pitch - as more meaningful than a load of screaming and shouting before a game.

I wasn't impressed with Warburton saying that the non Test games were unimportant either - that it was all about the Tests - not good for the squad dynamic. Shades of the Woodward tour to NZ.

Not really, Woodward kept the test team and mid week team seperate, everyone had a run out in the midweek games

I said 'shades' of the Woodward tour.

Not a good think for the Tour Captain (not just the Test captain) to infer by his statement that most the games and tourists are irrelevant.

*sigh*

I thought POC was saying Farrell WAS driving the team around the field, and doing that despite being only 22?