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!

Think what sums up our attack for me is; in possession, 39.45 on the clock, half way line we box kick. Such a lack of ambition and faith in our rugby.

The Great Aukster wrote:Players need to anticipate others to play an offloading game - the Lions have no chance to learn that in a few weeks.

The best set of pro players we have to offer through training sessions and meetings, yes I do..

Gooseberry wrote:

aucklandlaurie wrote:

Gooseberry wrote:

Gwlad wrote:

Cyril wrote:

Gwlad wrote:

Taylorman wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:I will ebop. Franks it has to be said lived up to pooly s prediction. I can see where you're coming from though. Seems a similar place to the nz herald which had a strange view on the scrums. And to be fair gatland has picked guys like.Sinckler and Vunipola who are not great in the scrum but offer more in the loose ala nz so when talking of those guys it's off to.focus on their scrum as it is to focus on franks.

Rubbish, none of the Lions scrums have dominated, Pooly got it completely wrong, Furlong, suggested by some as World best was poor. Twice the Lions scrum got bowled over in the match, once nearly the try, and again at the end, and that was despite the ref penalising them off the park.

Landers did the same.

Lions scrum is weak. Has been all tour. Herald had a strange view? Well when all you see is one side going bavkwardscwhat would you expect?

Its as weak as every scrum its faced. Will totally dominate come the Tests, as likely in the line out.G

Gwlad, that's bollox and you know it. Why are you setting yourself up for such a fall? You know the Kiwis will jump on all this hubris is a few short weeks.

Hubris? What's good for the goose etc....anyway as I've said even I few win they won't accept it. A victory can never be a victory when the losing side are such poor sportsmen.

Honk!

Come on Gwald its good enough for all of us to be honest. The Lions are pretty poor so far, struggling to compete with club sides. Major players arent performing to their potential ...which I guess you could say holds a sliver of hope, there is a possibility of improvement. Mounting injuries will offset any benefit of improvements form time together as a unit.

As it stands right now though they are in for a kicking in the tests unless theres significant improvement.

I have a hard time telling when youre trolling and when youre being serious, its hard to imagine anyone is this blindly optimistic and positive (except at Trump rally or in the New Zealand Herald after a rare loss) about the idols they worship but it does come across like you actually are this deluded.

Comments about the New Zealand press and fans are quite fair though, appalling losers and a set of people who seem to have their entire ego bound up in a rugby team. Maybe thats what drive sthe success, the sheer desperation to prove self importance and mainatin a sense of worth.

Lets just not get dragged down to that level and at least view our own representative team realisticaly ... they are a bit of a dissapointment to date. New Zealand are better and should win all the tests. Its going to be hilarious if they dont mind.

 Do you really judge a whole country of people and its media soley on their reaction to a Rugby test defeat???

 I wouldnt try to attempt to drag you down to our worthless level, but our media and fans are also involved in other things besides rugby even other sports, our media also cover other sections of topic like Politics, Business, the arts, World issues, technology, travel, etc etc in fact not to different to your own media.

No, to be fair I consider your behaviour winning or losing to be equally as obnoxious.

Now you see you've been caught out there Griff. How can we possibly be as obnoxious when we lose as when we win when we hardly ever lose? We get so much more practise at being obnoxious winners that you've clearly made an illogical statement.

The Great Aukster wrote:Players need to anticipate others to play an offloading game - the Lions have no chance to learn that in a few weeks.

disagree. you only have to run the right lines of support and time your run, stop getting too level with the ball. If the offload isn't on go through the ground.

Gooseberry wrote:Comments about the New Zealand press and fans are quite fair though, appalling losers and a set of people who seem to have their entire ego bound up in a rugby team. Maybe thats what drive sthe success, the sheer desperation to prove self importance and mainatin a sense of worth.

The below written today about Sam

Sam is someone who has actually met a NZer

Sam Warburton:
A giant of a man physically and mentally. He hasn't been at his peak after recovering from a knee injury, it hasn't been an easy tour with losses against the Blues and Highlanders and yet he's kept his side as one. Now he's not in the top starting 15, yet you won't hear complaining from him. It's all about the team. His attitude has been beyond upbeat. Asked how he's found New Zealanders, he reeled out positive after positive, smiling and utterly sincere. "They are so friendly, like. We have so much support. I just popped to the gym the other day - on my own, just to sneak in an extra session - people were coming over and constantly wishing us luck, you know and there's the odd Kiwi who obviously gets stuck into you a little bit, but 99 per cent of the time they're just wishing us good luck. They just want to see a really good entertaining test series, which is nice." It takes a big man to remain so positive, so much about the team, when his own form is off, and his personal ambitions disappearing. A leader you'd follow anywhere. As coach Warren Gatland says, "it's hugely helpful for building the squad." About as huge as his arm muscles. He's the captain of the Lions, the King of Biceps.

http://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/international/93734850/lions-tour-theyre-so-friendly-like-our-learnings-from-the-lions

Sounds like sarcasm to me ebop....everyone knows he's not going to make the first test team

Ha. I was just about to say the opposite goose. Warburton gets 35 min or so this week then he's ready to slot in at 6 or 7 for the first test.

Taylorman wrote:

Gooseberry wrote:

aucklandlaurie wrote:

Gooseberry wrote:

Gwlad wrote:

Cyril wrote:

Gwlad wrote:

Taylorman wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:I will ebop. Franks it has to be said lived up to pooly s prediction. I can see where you're coming from though. Seems a similar place to the nz herald which had a strange view on the scrums. And to be fair gatland has picked guys like.Sinckler and Vunipola who are not great in the scrum but offer more in the loose ala nz so when talking of those guys it's off to.focus on their scrum as it is to focus on franks.

Rubbish, none of the Lions scrums have dominated, Pooly got it completely wrong, Furlong, suggested by some as World best was poor. Twice the Lions scrum got bowled over in the match, once nearly the try, and again at the end, and that was despite the ref penalising them off the park.

Landers did the same.

Lions scrum is weak. Has been all tour. Herald had a strange view? Well when all you see is one side going bavkwardscwhat would you expect?

Its as weak as every scrum its faced. Will totally dominate come the Tests, as likely in the line out.G

Gwlad, that's bollox and you know it. Why are you setting yourself up for such a fall? You know the Kiwis will jump on all this hubris is a few short weeks.

Hubris? What's good for the goose etc....anyway as I've said even I few win they won't accept it. A victory can never be a victory when the losing side are such poor sportsmen.

Honk!

Come on Gwald its good enough for all of us to be honest. The Lions are pretty poor so far, struggling to compete with club sides. Major players arent performing to their potential ...which I guess you could say holds a sliver of hope, there is a possibility of improvement. Mounting injuries will offset any benefit of improvements form time together as a unit.

As it stands right now though they are in for a kicking in the tests unless theres significant improvement.

I have a hard time telling when youre trolling and when youre being serious, its hard to imagine anyone is this blindly optimistic and positive (except at Trump rally or in the New Zealand Herald after a rare loss) about the idols they worship but it does come across like you actually are this deluded.

Comments about the New Zealand press and fans are quite fair though, appalling losers and a set of people who seem to have their entire ego bound up in a rugby team. Maybe thats what drive sthe success, the sheer desperation to prove self importance and mainatin a sense of worth.

Lets just not get dragged down to that level and at least view our own representative team realisticaly ... they are a bit of a dissapointment to date. New Zealand are better and should win all the tests. Its going to be hilarious if they dont mind.

 Do you really judge a whole country of people and its media soley on their reaction to a Rugby test defeat???

 I wouldnt try to attempt to drag you down to our worthless level, but our media and fans are also involved in other things besides rugby even other sports, our media also cover other sections of topic like Politics, Business, the arts, World issues, technology, travel, etc etc in fact not to different to your own media.

No, to be fair I consider your behaviour winning or losing to be equally as obnoxious.

Now you see you've been caught out there Griff. How can we possibly be as obnoxious when we lose as when we win when we hardly ever lose? We get so much more practise at being obnoxious winners that you've clearly made an illogical statement.

Griff?!

Oops, sorry Griff, my marbles rolled down the wrong alley for a moment there...in the words of the great John Lennon...I should have known better!

Taylorman wrote:Oops, sorry Griff, my marbles rolled down the wrong alley for a moment there...in the words of the great John Lennon...I should have known better!

Haha! No worries Taylorman. I can get a bit fired up at times and sometimes like a wee bit of windup, but I'm not at Gwlad's level!

international198 wrote:

The Great Aukster wrote:There's a strong argument for starting the English tight five.

I agree.

I don't the Cole is a huge step down from Furlong

Cole defensively is also a total liability, far too slow and will be exposed.
Also a bit of a penalty machine for the opposition.

Vunipola and McGrath is a very close call - personally would go for Vunipola as an impact sub

Vunipola is a sub at best, starting wise Mcrgrath or Marler are far superior.

Scrum fluidity takes time, we're less than our individual parts currently.

We dominated the scrum against the Blues so not sure where this rubbish is coming from saying we've struggled.

Cole got pinged last week with Highlanders LH going straight to deck, such an obvious call.

Happily stand by the fact NZ can be got at, we just our best combo.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Scrum fluidity takes time, we're less than our individual parts currently.

We dominated the scrum against the Blues so not sure where this rubbish is coming from saying we've struggled.

Cole got pinged last week with Highlanders LH going straight to deck, such an obvious call.

Happily stand by the fact NZ can be got at, we just our best combo.

I agree. The penalty against Cole was laughable.

Exiledinborders wrote:

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Scrum fluidity takes time, we're less than our individual parts currently.

We dominated the scrum against the Blues so not sure where this rubbish is coming from saying we've struggled.

Cole got pinged last week with Highlanders LH going straight to deck, such an obvious call.

Happily stand by the fact NZ can be got at, we just our best combo.

I agree. The penalty against Cole was laughable.

Makes up for the bucketload against the Crusaders when the Liins were getting caned up front.

Taylorman wrote:

Exiledinborders wrote:

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Scrum fluidity takes time, we're less than our individual parts currently.

We dominated the scrum against the Blues so not sure where this rubbish is coming from saying we've struggled.

Cole got pinged last week with Highlanders LH going straight to deck, such an obvious call.

Happily stand by the fact NZ can be got at, we just our best combo.

I agree. The penalty against Cole was laughable.

Makes up for the bucketload against the Crusaders when the Liins were getting caned up front.

I must have missed those. I do remember the Crusaders cheating by walking round and quite rightly getting pinged for it.

Exiledinborders wrote:

Taylorman wrote:

Exiledinborders wrote:

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Scrum fluidity takes time, we're less than our individual parts currently.

We dominated the scrum against the Blues so not sure where this rubbish is coming from saying we've struggled.

Cole got pinged last week with Highlanders LH going straight to deck, such an obvious call.

Happily stand by the fact NZ can be got at, we just our best combo.

I agree. The penalty against Cole was laughable.

Makes up for the bucketload against the Crusaders when the Liins were getting caned up front.

I must have missed those. I do remember the Crusaders cheating by walking round and quite rightly getting pinged for it.

Then you must have missed them getting bowled over a couple of times as well? Perhaps you need a bigger screen? Hard to miss 16 players all crashing over in one direction.

Anyway, the NH place far too much emphasis on the scrum. It's merely another way to restart, like the kick offs, lineouts, tap penalties, chip and box kick for regain. All this macho rubbish to 'dominate' set pieces is third world rugby. ABs apply as much as they need to there so they can get their tight five involved in getting around the field where it really counts. So a Cole penalty is a big deal? Okey dokey then...

Was it you who said that a scrim going forwards signalled that it was dominant?

And if you are that keen on having all action running 'tight 5's' I believe there is another somewhat similar game that may better fit your tastes.

The ABs take the scrum seriously don't worry about that. But we don't hang our hat on it like some in the NH do.

The ABs are only one of two injuries to their tight five away from being vulnerable to lesser teams (as Ireland showed). With everyone fit AB fans can dismiss forward play, but they don"t have the depth there that they have elsewhere.
The Lions should attack them where they are most vulnerable, because they have no chance in an open game.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Was it you who said that a scrim going forwards signalled that it was dominant?

Well that's logical isn't it? Didn't say it was necessarily important. Conversations re the scrum, particularly any sort of perceived advantage over the ABs are pointless, but hey, when in Rome if that's what they like to discuss...

I just don't rate scrum importance in today's game as highly. I'd rather have a mobile, running, passing, tackling tight five. You get more bang for buck out of that than a couple of scrums and lineouts.

The Great Aukster wrote:The ABs are only one of two injuries to their tight five away from being vulnerable to lesser teams (as Ireland showed). With everyone fit AB fans can dismiss forward play, but they don"t have the depth there that they have elsewhere.
The Lions should attack them where they are most vulnerable, because they have no chance in an open game.

Yet it's the Lions that are getting injured. In fact our injured all seem to be returning. Returners Dagg, Ben Smith and Kaino looked in good nick, Read is likely back for the first test. That leaves Coles and Crotty, where Crotty may still feature.

No point rushing Coles.