"There was absolutely no excuse for what he did to Watson, and the match officials led by referee Jerome Garces are to be congratulated for sending him off." Dai - not my words but Chris Rattue, Rugby Correspondent of the NZ Herald Here's the full article: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11884892
Trav, dais just fishing again ! Surely anyone that actually saw the game knows that thug Sonny deserved that long overdue red card !
Jebus Dai, in your world what does a player have to do to get sent off? Agree with you though about us getting away with it yesterday, we were shockingly bad. We had everything on our side, numbers, the weather, a NH referee, every rugby God was wearing Red and still we almost lost and did everything we could to throw the game away. As the pinnacle of NH rugby we were embarrassing, again. Our basic skill levels, out rugby intelligence and especially our discipline was poor even for an age grade rugby team. Our management are just as weak by seemingly pandering to an English press when it comes to team selection. I wonder what team Gatland would pick if his life depended on the result? I'm pretty sure Farrell wouldn't be in it. Reality check, NZ lost the game with 14 men, we didn't win it Barrett missed three penalties so nine points were washed away in the Wellington rain, we managed to win by three points. That's the ONLY reason we won the game, because Barrett missed his kicks so, lets not get carried away with winning. O'Brien's been cited for a sneaky hit, I think it was accidental, so he'll get banned, along with Sinny Bill. We could see Tipuric on the bench then, just need Farrell to catch a cold Friday night.
"Lions flanker Sean O'Brien avoids suspension for swinging arm on Waisake Naholo" http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11884888 Thought for sure he'd get a one match ban.The shame of it all is, no Tipuric next week . Apart from Itoje, I don't see Gatland making any changes at all, especially when you consider how frugal he was with substitutions yesterday. What's grating my cheese right now is how the best Lions back on the pitch, in two tests now, hasn't been mentioned or even received a byeline in the press. Almost every break we've had has come from him, and in defence, unlike Farrell, he hasn't missed a tackle; Jonathan Davies
I'd be amazed if Itoje isn't selected. Can you imagine the frenzy in the English media if their Boy Wonder was dropped?
Compare the ratings between NZ Herald and Daily Mail Daily Mail Lions Forwards Rating 1. Mako Vunipola 4 2. Jamie George 7 3. Tadhg Furlong 7 4. Maro Itoje 9 5. Alun Wyn Jones 8 6. Sam Warburton 8 7. Sean O'Brien 8 8. Taulupe Faletau 8 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/ru...tml?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490 NZ Herald Lions Forwards Rating 1. Mako Vunipola - 5 2. Jamie George - 7 3. Tadhg Furlong - 8 4. Maro Itoje - 4 5. Alun-Wynn Jones - 6 6. Sam Warburton - 6 7. Sean O'Brien - 7 8. Taulupe Faletau - 7 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11884720 Go figure
The tackle at 1.35 is legal as he's playing rugby league there. You don't need to wrap your arms in league.
So they gave minuses to the squad that beat thier world champs that ain't been beaten there in a long time so they give thier lot plus points ! Bunch of twats !
the twats! NZ Herald Lions Forwards Rating 1. Mako Vunipola 5 2. Jamie George 7 3. Tadhg Furlong 8 4. Maro Itoje 4 5. Alun-Wynn Jones 6 6. Sam Warburton 6 7. Sean O'Brien 7 8. Taulupe Faletau 7
The point I was trying to make is that piece of action shows clearly his style of tacking - he does the same in Union.
If big IF the Lion's beat NZ and win the test will NZ have a national month of moaning and grumpyness not poking their toungues out at anyone for a while ? cos if we don't win it'll be a quick sigh from most Brits and be forgotten next day ! Hope we do em !
I am not saying it did not deserve a punishment im saying it was not a sending off that ruined the game. I played rugby too many moons ago and in my day players were more than capable and often did take those challenges on the chin.....The tackles around the neck which we did on a number of occasions is a dangerous tackle but nothing was done about that and we ended up winning by default and that will go into the record books but it feels a hollow win. A win is 15 v 15 and not 15 v 14, The game is one of the toughest games to play with a full team but to play against 14 for most of the game leaves huge gaps and we still could not exploit our advantage like we should of. NZ were poor and they still had more about them with 14 men than we did and we were very fortunate to scrape home.......We won by the worst way possible with a bias Ref and against 14 men......NZ will make us pay next week.....
Dai - if he was biased in our favour, I'd hate to have a ref who was biased against us...... He pinged us for 13 penalties, 10 of which were eminently kickable & sin-binned one of our players
Laughable comments from swanseandproud, but ok, i'll bite! It was never a yellow card offence, the one-eyed nz media, Hansen and even sbw himself have admitted as much. He even contacted the Lions player to apologise. You don't get a four match ban for a yellow card offence. Sure, tackles like that were allowed in 'your day' but that means nothing. There is a reason those types of tackled are banned, and that's due to the damage that can be done through such recklessness. To finish by calling it a hollow victory is again a very ignorant thing to say, they got the job done against the World Champions in their own back yard and should feel pride at what they've achieved, as better teams than them have failed in attempts to do the same. Hollow victory my foot!
How the **** di Vunipola get a 4, he was truly awesome, thought the NZ herald would have given him at least an 8 he gave them 9 points and a Yellow.
It was a 100% wum and everyone knows it, but you have pointed out all the faults in his post. I don't believe Dai had a 'your day' anyway. If he means watching then maybe.
