Taff that is a sad indictment, that if we lose it is because of poor refereeing. He gave the Lions absolutely **** all.
I worry about a few selections, I know only first game but many looked out of sorts. I thought Laidlaw looked slow, Sextons hands were awful as was his kicking, Joseph is absolutely shocking in defence, Best looks past his best and wasn't that impressed with George when he came on. On the plus, thou Faletau, Moriarty, Bot props, Watson and Teo looked ok. God forbid golden bollox missed a penalty again. Barnes was moaning that they should have gone to the corner, the clown that kick would have put us 2 scores in front and missing it nearly cost us.
If Biggar can have a big game when he starts it will be a straight shoot out between him and Farrell for the 10 jersey.
I would play Farrell at 12, with Biggar inside him if Biggar has a good tour, if not then we have to play Farrell at 10.
Laidlaw showed nothing today to suggest that Gatland was wrong to omit him from his original squad. I fear that Hogg is vastly overrated - yes, a great attacker in space & can make space. But, defensively under pressure, he can feck up big time. Sexton looks "played out". I actually rate the guy, but he seems in need of a rest. The Blues (not Cardiff !) will be a step up in class. The Lions had better shape up quickly, or they will be 1-1 after 2
They looked as tired as I felt on Saturday, after a few bottles of red the night before. Always going to be a squeaky start this one, especially as we only landed on Wednesday. Thought the pack plodded through OK and showed signs of things to come. I have no worries about any of them. Good to see Tipuric looking a class above when he came on. Big concern though was our wimpy soft backs, They were awful, blowing most of the chances they managed to create and making the position look great. Laidlaw was everything we know he is, a decent but very average nine who can kick short range goals. J Joseph, the mysterious selection. Can run well in the open but is lightweight in a tight midfield with zero guile and even less defence. Hogg like Joseph is can run in space but, imo, doesn't like being tackled 'He don't like it up him captain'. He's be a liability imo, a yellow card, woeful error or an injury in waiting, We need better than him. Sextons continued lack of form was the biggest concern though. I reckon he's been hit once too often this season and its got into his head. He's got the yips imo and has lost his composure. Right now he's 3rd choice with Bigger 1, only because I think he and Farrell at 12 would work very well. They're both gobby ****es, very competitive but very professional too. Their collective character could spur them into forging a great partnership together. Watch this space Hope our boys, Bigger, H/penny, Davies, Sanjay, North et al, get a run out on Wed to prepare them for the unofficial fourth test against the Crusaders on Saturday. May not be the fourth test though as I see the Crusaders selecting their 'B' Kiwi's not their All Blacks, holding them back on instruction from Hansen so their fit and ready for the upcoming tests. I imagine that's likely and will be a theme throughout the tour. Would the tour be a success if we won all provincial games yet lost in the tests? Even if the test were close games I'd say no. We have to win at least one test ans all the midweek matches to make the tour a success imo.
Every player on tour are quality rugby players and nobody is rubbish at all.....The reason for this tour is for the Main games and all the other games are like our pre-season games of giving players some time on the pitch, They only landed a few days ago and are not fully acclimatized yet so you cant expect to be fully ready to play a strong side like they did and put a huge score on them.....The did as expected in this first run out match....
The 1971 Lions lost just the one game - they played Queensland (en route to New Zealand) just 2 days after arriving.
Lions could lose the next 2. It will be a great result to beat the Blues Wednesday but the Crusaders are ridiculously strong this year.
Agreed - the Blues have 8 All Blacks, although only 3 should make the first test. A victory would really instill confidence.
It's only the test matches for me with the minor games as preparation games for the one's that count. Sometimes when you lose a minor game it can do some good because if you just breeze through the minor games you learn nothing and you evidently select some players maybe you shouldn't for the test games.....
I guarantee you that you'd take Barnes' commentary over the nz local mob. So one-eyed it beggars belief! Sure the Lions didn't put on a rugby masterclass but they did actually grind out a win. You'd think they got done by 40 points the way they are going on here. Funnily enough the vast majority of sports media here said the Lions would not win a single game so they are wrong already! The media have even started on the Lions supporters, this from the NZ Herald on Saturday: "In Whangarei, I walk down the street and ask locals if they've spotted many Lions fans. Err no, they haven't. We're promised thousands will be here in time for the tests but what about the early phases of the tour? If they're not here for them, can they call themselves fans at all?" Laughable really, considering the LIons' support will outsing local crowds at every single game regardless of the score. I'm sure people have now read the poll results of 80% of people in NZ asked couldn't name any of the Lions players. This has been reported in a way to try and say that Lions have no big players. For me, this is rather a damning indictment of local NZ rugby "fans". As I've said for some time now, the vast majority here are all blacks fans (when they are winning) rather than rugby fans. The Blues, who the Lions take on tomorrow night, based in Auckland the biggest city in the country, regularly play to pathetic crowds, often under 10,000. Total joke.
I wish the Ospreys could average 10,000 ....... (But we do average more than the Scarlets, Blues & Dragons!)
But if we were going to use an equivalent,(of the Blues Super 14 games) it would be us qualifying for the Champions League and getting the Liberty a quarter full for group games!
