I'm a half New Zealander (Dad born and raised there) and proud AB fan....reckon that the Lions are going to get paggered all throughout this series, Blues pretty much the weakest franchise, this sat vs Crusaders will be v tough. Not sure Gatland is taking the right approach with selection or tactics to be honest, the game yesterday summed up the difference between Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere rugby for me, Lions had the best of possession and territory but Blues' superior handling abilities and ability to pass out of the tackle led to 3 tries vs 1, the back line just didn't really get going and never looked like getting going either. The game in Europe has become far too dependent on field position and penalties (particularly the Welsh and Irish), though I gotta say that I think England have improved a lot under Jones, but #Warrenball going to be a problem down in NZ.
on league vs union......a good game of union is much better than a good game of league, but a poor game of union is miles worse that a poor game of league is my view. Football and Cricket are miles better than both anyway.
Slight contradiction? You say you had to do more work in League than in Union, where you hardly had to do anything, but you found the code where you had to do more work, as boring? More boring, than just stood around? Odd.
Interesting post. In what way do you think Gatland is taking the wrong approach re selection and tactics?
Tactically, I think to compete with us you have got to carry the ball more, I think that England kick too much from hand in their own territory instead of playing the phases and trying to carry it, and they certainly take 3 points too readily too, I wouldn't have kicked any penalties vs the Barbarians for sure and wouldve played that one in the spirit of a barbarians game by going for the corner, similarly vs the blues i'd have wanted to see my team running it a lot more & kicking for the corner. Selection wise, I think after the Barbarians game i'd have played a stronger hand against the Blues, and made sure of the win, I buy the policy of giving everyone a start, but nothing will work better for the Lions than getting some wins on the board with good performances.
I played stand-off in both codes. In union I was also the goal kicker and in the 50's used the instep because of my football background. Years and years ahead of others who adopted this 'round the corner' kicking style over the old traditional toe- ender.
I only saw highlights but the lions did kick for the corner a lot. I also thought the lions were too friendly to the oppos. Nothing like a good punch up to get team spirit going
