Highlanders v British & Irish Lions, June 13

First topic message reminder :

Highlanders v British & Irish Lions
13 June 2017
KO: 19:35 NZST (8.35am BST)
Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin

Live on Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD and SkyGo

Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Touch judges: [tbc]
TMO: [tbc]

A. FORM:

18 June 2005: Otago 19 - 30 British & Irish Lions

5 June 1993: Otago 37 - 24 British & Irish Lions

8 June 1977: Otago 17 - 12 British & Irish Lions

B. TEAMS:

Highlanders 
01. Daniel Lienert-Brown
02. Liam Coltman
03. Siate Tokolahi
04. Alex Ainley
05. Jackson Hemopo
06. Gareth Evans
07. Dillon Hunt
08. Luke Whitelock (C)

09. Kayne Hammington
10. Lima Sopoaga
11. Tevita Li
12. Teihorangi Walden
13. Malakai Fekitoa
14. Waisake Naholo
15. Richard Buckman

16. Greg Pleasants-Tate
17. Aki Seiuli
18. Siosuia Halanukonuka
19. Josh Dickson
20. Jimmy Lentjes
21. Josh Renton
22. Marty Banks
23. Patrick Osborne

British & Irish Lions
15 Jared Payne – Ulster, Ireland, #830
14 Jack Nowell – Exeter Chiefs, England, #828
13 Jonathan Joseph – Bath Rugby, England, #809
12 Robbie Henshaw – Leinster, Ireland, #824
11 Tommy Seymour – Glasgow Warriors, Scotland, #813
10 Dan Biggar – Ospreys, Wales, #821
9 Rhys Webb – Ospreys, Wales, #820

1 Joe Marler – Harlequins, England, #811
2 Rory Best – Ulster, Ireland, #793
3 Kyle Sinckler – Harlequins, England, #814
4 Courtney Lawes – Northampton Saints, England, #826
5 Iain Henderson – Ulster, Ireland, #808
6 James Haskell – Wasps, England, #823
7 Sam Warburton (capt) – Cardiff Blues, Wales, #800
8 CJ Stander – Munster, Ireland, #831

16 Ken Owens – Scarlets, Wales, #829
17 Jack McGrath – Leinster, Ireland, #827
18 Dan Cole – Leicester Tigers, England, #794
19 Alun Wyn Jones – Ospreys, Wales, #761
20 Justin Tipuric – Ospreys, Wales, #786
21 Greig Laidlaw – Gloucester Rugby, Scotland, #810
22 Owen Farrell – Saracens, England, #780
23 Elliot Daly – Wasps, England, #822

Warbs is fit!

This will be some kick...

Turnover by CJ & pen to Lions for offside. Way out but Daly fancies this

This is a very risky kick, surely corner a better option

57m out & just falls short.

LordDowlais wrote:

BamBam wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:I see the V2 trolls are out again.

I was only pointing out the quality we have on the bench, yet you two just want to troll rather than talk about the game.

Typical.

No, you were being snide and it backfired

FFS.

No you were trying to claim those on the bench were better, they have been sh!te

Bad decision for me, Daly not accurate

What's the success rate in own half kicks? Not sure it's a good option.

BigGee wrote:This is a very risky kick, surely corner a better option

Yip, corner and a drop goal surely far safer

BigGee wrote:This is a very risky kick, surely corner a better option

Tend to agree - easy to say with hindsight but at that distance it is a long shot and a kick to the corner would have got us well into their 22.

Long flat pass by Farrell del knock on & pen to Lions. Kicked to touch last lineout play

Butchered that

Boom

Awesome Highlanders!!

Unlucky Lions

Dont think that was meant for Joseph

JJ knocks on & all over 23-22 well played Highlanders

Well done the Highlanders

I don't want to single players out but the game was lost when Webb went off. Not that Laidlaw played badly, just that the Lions lost that attacking threat when Webb went off.

WE lost that because they gubbed our pack in the second half. The bench players did not up the tempo and let them back into the game. That is going to make test selection a lot easier.

eirebilly wrote:Well done the Highlanders

I don't want to single players out but the game was lost when Webb went off. Not that Laidlaw played badly, just that the Lions lost that attacking threat when Webb went off.

Think it was when the front row was changed to be honest, Cole in particular was awful

Big loss and sounds like we just didn't play well enough, especially in the pack.  Sounds like there were plenty debatable decision there - hopefully stops the kiwis whining about always getting bad calls against them!

eirebilly wrote:Well done the Highlanders

I don't want to single players out but the game was lost when Webb went off. Not that Laidlaw played badly, just that the Lions lost that attacking threat when Webb went off.

Probably more to do with the pack starting to go backwards.

marty2086 wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:

BamBam wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:I see the V2 trolls are out again.

I was only pointing out the quality we have on the bench, yet you two just want to troll rather than talk about the game.

Typical.

No, you were being snide and it backfired

FFS.

No you were trying to claim those on the bench were better, they have been sh!te

Again.


You two are becoming really tiresome on here, please give it a rest.

marty2086 wrote:

eirebilly wrote:Well done the Highlanders

I don't want to single players out but the game was lost when Webb went off. Not that Laidlaw played badly, just that the Lions lost that attacking threat when Webb went off.

Think it was when the front row was changed to be honest, Cole in particular was awful

Certainly the front row replacements were a step down. Missed Best as well if I may be honest.

And a handful of ABs and other key players were missing from that Highlanders team. Great effort and stuck it to them. Didn't back down and didn't look over-awed like the Crusaders were.

I really wish people would stop banging on about us being clinical...can be as clinical as we like but if we continue to give away needless penalties then teams will continue to be in with a shout...NZ will have a field day with our ill discipline...i said the other day that our lack of discipline reminds me so much of Lancasters England side.

Can sugarcoat this all day long but simply not good enough. Too many penalties.. physically dominated by a 2nd string team missing 2 world class players and at least 5 key members..and our lack of depth again showed up. More players have played themselves out of the test series than they have into it and that tells you all you need to know.

As it stands I think we are going to get absolutely torn apart by NZ across all 4 games!

Turning it off now before the captain and manager comes out making excuses and complete ignore all the issues

Well played Highlanders, that result is in the history book. Congratulations.

Poor performance by the Lions, but not surprising.

Have to say they still lacked cohesion, still individuals.....who prepares the midweek sides?

I really hope Gatland and the player don't try and spin this again - it is not acceptable for the Lions to put in a performance like that and already to have lost 2 games, albeit against very good teams. They may sprout the same guff about building up to the tests but we can't go into them only winning 2 games!

BigGee wrote:

eirebilly wrote:Well done the Highlanders

I don't want to single players out but the game was lost when Webb went off. Not that Laidlaw played badly, just that the Lions lost that attacking threat when Webb went off.

Probably more to do with the pack starting to go backwards.

Although I agree with the front row replacements but the Lions really lost that attacking spark when Webb went off, to me he was the biggest loss today. Laidlaw did what he does in controlling but to when games, you need that extra zip in attack that he does not have.

I don't think any forward put their hand up today other than Sinckler.
CJ & Hendo had their moments. Lawes looked good before he went off.

LordDowlais wrote:

marty2086 wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:

BamBam wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:I see the V2 trolls are out again.

I was only pointing out the quality we have on the bench, yet you two just want to troll rather than talk about the game.

Typical.

No, you were being snide and it backfired

FFS.

No you were trying to claim those on the bench were better, they have been sh!te

Again.


You two are becoming really tiresome on here, please give it a rest.

You simply don't like being pointed out when you're wrong do you?

You think you'd be used to it to be honest

Regards Laidlaw....I know he wasnt particularly to blame...but all the talk about what he does and brings was how he controls a game...surely then the stage was set for him today; can anyone say he showed any degree of being able to do that given we were ahead in the game when he was introduced?

Well done Highlanders, Naholo is some player

owen10ozzy wrote:Regards Laidlaw....I know he wasnt particularly to blame...but all the talk about what he does and brings was how he controls a game...surely then the stage was set for him today; can anyone say he showed any degree of being able to do that given we were ahead in the game when he was introduced?

Dont think he can take any blame, too many errors around the field giving the Highlanders a platform

BamBam wrote:Well done Highlanders, Naholo is some player

He is, but their only starting AB

Shanklin talking Poopie..as are most sky people..

Every game is..learning process..getting physically ready etc etc. Been there for over 2 weeks now..have played 4 games...and we are 1 week out from the first test. We should be match ready now should we not? I wouldnt even say we are close to be honest.

eirebilly wrote:

BigGee wrote:

eirebilly wrote:Well done the Highlanders

I don't want to single players out but the game was lost when Webb went off. Not that Laidlaw played badly, just that the Lions lost that attacking threat when Webb went off.

Probably more to do with the pack starting to go backwards.

Although I agree with the front row replacements but the Lions really lost that attacking spark when Webb went off, to me he was the biggest loss today. Laidlaw did what he does in controlling but to when games, you need that extra zip in attack that  he does not have.

Webb is a class act and had a great game and they did miss his spark but the Lions definitely went off the boil towards the end. To many penalties given and some bad decisions. Why not let Laidlaw take the kick at goal rather than let it be Farrell's first touch? Also the Daley attempt was a 10% chance at best, who was captain at the end, some control was not there.

owen10ozzy wrote:Regards Laidlaw....I know he wasnt particularly to blame...but all the talk about what he does and brings was how he controls a game...surely then the stage was set for him today; can anyone say he showed any degree of being able to do that given we were ahead in the game when he was introduced?

I think he adds control to the game but he does not give attackers the front foot like Webb or Murray. He is not to blame but Webb going off really took the gas out of the Lions attack which was why they were leading at the time.

Best and Sinckler going off also had a major impact as the scrum went to pieces without them. Dan Cole (who I rate) was very poor today.

owen10ozzy wrote:Regards Laidlaw....I know he wasnt particularly to blame...but all the talk about what he does and brings was how he controls a game...surely then the stage was set for him today; can anyone say he showed any degree of being able to do that given we were ahead in the game when he was introduced?

By the sounds of it he played ok, he didn't make JJ knock it on, or Daly force a penalty that was blatantly not on, or make Cole get battered in the scrum.

From what ive heard he cleared his lines well and did all that was asked of him. The fact our set piece was getting thumped and our backline made some handling errors isn't his fault.

Having looked through the two teams pretty closely before the game, I really thought our forwards would gain dominance up-front - however, it seems like our pack really struggled, against what was a team missing 7/8 first team players. Perhaps the schedule can be used as mitigating circumstances, but it shouldn't be - we should have been better today.

I would say a lot of players played themselves out of contention with this performance, and there remains a lot more questions than answers.

Sounds a decent game looking forward to this and u20s after work.

Farrell will be very disappointed to have missed that kick - he didn't lose us the game but he would have nailed that 99 times out of 100 for Sarries or England.

It is a big worry that our players are already coming up short in the high pressure situations.

RDW_Scotland wrote:

BigGee wrote:This is a very risky kick, surely corner a better option

Tend to agree - easy to say with hindsight but at that distance it is a long shot and a kick to the corner would have got us well into their 22.

I think with 4 or 5 to go, it's a decent option because you'll get the ball back even if you miss. Which we did, but then failed to make count.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Farrell will be very disappointed to have missed that kick - he didn't lose us the game but he would have nailed that 99 times out of 100 for Sarries or England.

It is a big worry that our players are already coming up short in the high pressure situations.

Why isn't Laidlaw taking the kicks. Whatever else his flaws as a player are, he is one of the highest %age kickers in the world.

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Farrell will be very disappointed to have missed that kick - he didn't lose us the game but he would have nailed that 99 times out of 100 for Sarries or England.

It is a big worry that our players are already coming up short in the high pressure situations.

Why isn't Laidlaw taking the kicks. Whatever else his flaws as a player are, he is one of the highest %age kickers in the world.

Because he only takes the easy ones?

It was an "easy" kick though

Given where the kick was, it seems madness not to have let Laidlaw take it rather than it being Farrell's first touch

This kind of thing is where captaincy really is important

Gatland doesnt inspire any confidence in terms of his ability to turn this around for me. I have been massively underwhelmed by his interviews both before and more critically afterwards..

He keeps talking about players learning to play the full 80...learning to play the critical moments etc..

These are not international amateurs! They are for the most part fully fledged international players...who play for top teams week in and week out. They dont need to learn any of this..they should already know surely?! Baffled!

Good game pity about the result...scrum replacements didn't fire...

But if Farrell kicks that penalty as he would nine out of ten its a win.

Thought the long range shot was a bit of a gamble.

Sinkler put his hand up , no ? And I loved that piece of flair from Seymour

Some good some bad. At least they're getting across the line...

eirebilly wrote:

owen10ozzy wrote:Regards Laidlaw....I know he wasnt particularly to blame...but all the talk about what he does and brings was how he controls a game...surely then the stage was set for him today; can anyone say he showed any degree of being able to do that given we were ahead in the game when he was introduced?

I think he adds control to the game but he does not give attackers the front foot like Webb or Murray. He is not to blame but Webb going off really took the gas out of the Lions attack which was why they were leading at the time.

Best and Sinckler going off also had a major impact as the scrum went to pieces without them. Dan Cole (who I rate) was very poor today.

And again we see what in theory are senior players struggle ...Warburton also. That for me is a huge concern, along with the injuries.
Its good to see what in theory were real fringe selections like Sinckler standing up .. he deserves a test spot on what we have seen so far. Cole ..so dissapointing. He is one the players we really need to be at his best.
Overall what looked to be going OK in some departments ahs proven to be another shambles. This side is struggling against provincial sides. They will get brushed aside by the All Blacks without serious improvement. Its no good talking about it not being a first 15, its those "probable" first 15 players who often have been the worst.

robbo277 wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:

BigGee wrote:This is a very risky kick, surely corner a better option

Tend to agree - easy to say with hindsight but at that distance it is a long shot and a kick to the corner would have got us well into their 22.

I think with 4 or 5 to go, it's a decent option because you'll get the ball back even if you miss. Which we did, but then failed to make count.

57m is a real long shot though - 4 or 5 minutes would have given us time to form an attack that would lead to a far higher % kick or a drop goal, or even a try. By missing it we we received a 22 and had to start again from inside our own half.

Had to take a call, so been watching 15mins or so behind real time, so avoided the forum...

Just finished.... DOH!!!

Well done Highlanders... Lions wake up, losing again

All the Lions players stood out there.... Most of them for the wrong reason.

Commentators need to do some work on their performance as well... Daly to take long kick, and it's why they need him now Hogg is out. Have everyone forgot that the man of the last lions tour is still available, plays fullback and has a MASSIVE accurate boot...


Maori game is going to be a real big game now... Guess I'd better get on with some work now

Glad to see Rory Best click today, he wasn't outstanding but was good and solid and the lineout functioned better even though he got the unfair criticism for the Blues finish. Owens was let down by others around him when he came on so it will be interesting to see how the battle for hooker goes, going in to this game it looked liked Owens to lose and probably George on the bench

RDW_Scotland wrote:

robbo277 wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:

BigGee wrote:This is a very risky kick, surely corner a better option

Tend to agree - easy to say with hindsight but at that distance it is a long shot and a kick to the corner would have got us well into their 22.

I think with 4 or 5 to go, it's a decent option because you'll get the ball back even if you miss. Which we did, but then failed to make count.

57m is a real long shot though - 4 or 5 minutes would have given us time to form an attack that would lead to a far higher % kick or a drop goal, or even a try.  By missing it we we received a 22 and had to start again from inside our own half.

Didn't see the kick or where it was so can't comment further on the actual kick, I just think you can gamble on a riskier shot with that kind of time on the clock. Not sure what Daly's % from that range would be, but if it was a 1 in 10 corner would probably be a better option.