2ND. TEST

[Banquo]

Ringrose Hansen vdf and Bealham left puzzled I guess

[Big D]

Porter, Kelleher and Ryan are three very lucky boys to be wearing the numbers they are.

Porter just steadfastly refuses to scrum straight. Kellher was very poor last weekend and Ryan has been very poor for a while.

[Puja]

Stunned by that. How has Genge been dropped, after the series that he has had? Utterly shocking.

Puja

[Galfon]

I hope FinnR is still in the groove and can stay on as long as poss.
It irks a bit that neither of the Smiffs will not be his cover here but the crucial nature of rep.management means that impact-os or solid hybrids hold sway.
Thought Cummings/George would be there but Faz gone for familiarity, and presumably reassured in training.

[Banquo]

Stunned by that. How has Genge been dropped, after the series that he has had? Utterly shocking.

Puja

Holding back summat from the bench would be my guess.

Kelleher and Ryan have been poor all tour, George and Cummings better bets, tho Tuesday lineout was shaky in fairness.

Faz jr, quelle surprise yet depressing.

[Donny osmond]

Ringrose Hansen vdf and Bealham left puzzled I guess

Ringrose and Hansen are still injured i think? If not, then yes they would be very puzzled

[pompey-zebra]

Ringrose Hansen vdf and Bealham left puzzled I guess

Ringrose and Hansen are still injured i think? If not, then yes they would be very puzzled

Ringrose was originally selected but withdrew due to the effects of concussion, according to the beeb.

[Donny osmond]

I hope FinnR is still in the groove and can stay on as long as poss.
It irks a bit that neither of the Smiffs will not be his cover here but the crucial nature of rep.management means that impact-os or solid hybrids hold sway.
Thought Cummings/George would be there but Faz gone for familiarity, and presumably reassured in training.

Ending up with OF at 10 and Aki at 12 would be the worst outcome. FR has to stay on.

I'd say both Smiths would be quietly fuming, I would be if I was them, although in fairness FSmith has fluffed his lines a bit this tour. Feel for MSmith tho, not been given a real chance at 10 and now OF and Kinghorn have come and pushed him out of the squad completely. If MS is low on confidence already, none of this is helping.

[Oakboy]

Stunned by that. How has Genge been dropped, after the series that he has had? Utterly shocking.

Puja

This!!! I thought Genge had been underperforming for England a fair bit lately but he has excelled on this tour - maybe the one English player to have gained substantially from being there.

Yes, Itoje is Itoje so his performances are a given. Chessum is in now and Freeman stays, as do Mitchell and Stuart on the bench. Curry is OK for a half. Fucking Farrell is on the bench.

Against that, the rest of the English contingent are marginalised. I am pleased that Morgan is on the bench but what did Earl do to get dropped (not that I am a fan)?

Smith and Smith will not come back better players.

[Donny osmond]

Ringrose Hansen vdf and Bealham left puzzled I guess

Ringrose and Hansen are still injured i think? If not, then yes they would be very puzzled

Ringrose was originally selected but withdrew due to the effects of concussion, according to the beeb.

So Farrell snr did swap out the centres then, but injury forced him to put Jones back in. I'm going to quietly stew about that.

[BaldiePete]

Thought Cummings/George would be there but Faz gone for familiarity, and presumably reassured in training.

Farrell never had any intention of playing George or Cummings no matter how well they played on Tuesday. He withdrew Ryan (who had a shocker) and kept Cummings on for 80 minutes. George was playing well but didn’t get subbed off until about the 70th minute. You don’t do that if you’re expecting those players to be in a test team a few days later.

[SixAndAHalf]

Farce of a tour compounded by Irish bias in this selection and made significantly worse by the selection of Daddy’s Boy.

AFAIK Farrell cannot kick for sticks without aggravating an injury so what is the plan if Russell is forced off early. Seems an extraordinary risk compared to the benefit when you have FSmith who has proven himself to be a good international 10 right there…

[Mikey Brown]

Thought Cummings/George would be there but Faz gone for familiarity, and presumably reassured in training.

Farrell never had any intention of playing George or Cummings no matter how well they played on Tuesday. He withdrew Ryan (who had a shocker) and kept Cummings on for 80 minutes. George was playing well but didn’t get subbed off until about the 70th minute. You don’t do that if you’re expecting those players to be in a test team a few days later.

Yeah it certainly feels that way. I though George could have snuck in on the bench but maybe that would have been too big a promotion for a replacement - plus Ashman getting more minutes on Tuesday.

Really feel for Cummings. Genge can feel hard done by too but will obviously get to play a big part off the bench.

Pleased for Morgan and Kinghorn. The Farrell selection is obviously hilarious but at least makes some sense in terms of covering centre. I’m sure this tour has done wonders for England’s two young 10s.

Wanting to swap in Aki/Ringrose doesn’t feel to me like it would be based on performance, but unsurprising nonetheless.

[Stom]

Stunned by that. How has Genge been dropped, after the series that he has had? Utterly shocking.

Puja

This!!! I thought Genge had been underperforming for England a fair bit lately but he has excelled on this tour - maybe the one English player to have gained substantially from being there.

Yes, Itoje is Itoje so his performances are a given. Chessum is in now and Freeman stays, as do Mitchell and Stuart on the bench. Curry is OK for a half. Fucking Farrell is on the bench.

Against that, the rest of the English contingent are marginalised. I am pleased that Morgan is on the bench but what did Earl do to get dropped (not that I am a fan)?

Smith and Smith will not come back better players.

Earl was poor last week. He doesn't have the impact. Morgan is a better bet, imo.

[Galfon]

Thought Cummings/George would be there but Faz gone for familiarity, and presumably reassured in training.

Farrell never had any intention of playing George or Cummings no matter how well they played on Tuesday. He withdrew Ryan (who had a shocker) and kept Cummings on for 80 minutes. George was playing well but didn’t get subbed off until about the 70th minute. You don’t do that if you’re expecting those players to be in a test team a few days later.

This was the readings after Tue you're right, was thinking of more effective bench spots after a 4-day turnaround but he is managing his risks I suppose.

[Big D]

Farce of a tour compounded by Irish bias in this selection and made significantly worse by the selection of Daddy’s Boy.

AFAIK Farrell cannot kick for sticks without aggravating an injury so what is the plan if Russell is forced off early. Seems an extraordinary risk compared to the benefit when you have FSmith who has proven himself to be a good international 10 right there…

Kinghorn can kick if need be. Has done so for Toulouse.

[Big D]

Ringrose and Hansen are still injured i think? If not, then yes they would be very puzzled

Ringrose was originally selected but withdrew due to the effects of concussion, according to the beeb.

So Farrell snr did swap out the centres then, but injury forced him to put Jones back in. I'm going to quietly stew about that.

Tuipulotu is injured. Whether that manifested before or after selection would be interesting to know.

[BaldiePete]

Before the team was announced the BBC were reporting that the Scottish centres were being dropped.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union ... rish-lions

[Big D]

Before the team was announced the BBC were reporting that the Scottish centres were being dropped.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union ... rish-lions

Yes but the players were told on Wednesday so it doesn't really answer whether ST was struggling before selection.

[Galfon]

It's managed to judder the apple-cart a bit, not ideal.
Tough call for Ringrose, who was heaping admiration on the Scots lads recently, but credit for his quick honesty.

[Oakboy]

Daddy Farrell's first choice of keeping the centres in national pairings was reasonable. Injury has stymied that. I'd guess that Russell is in Aki's ear a lot to stay fit and on the pitch. He's far too good a FH to want Owen at IC getting in his way.

What happens if Jones has to come off? Aki to 13 or Freeman?

[Mikey Brown]

A Farrell at 12 and (knackered) Aki at 13 centre combination would be pretty funny.

[Numbers]

Ringrose and Hansen are still injured i think? If not, then yes they would be very puzzled

Ringrose was originally selected but withdrew due to the effects of concussion, according to the beeb.

So Farrell snr did swap out the centres then, but injury forced him to put Jones back in. I'm going to quietly stew about that.

If Hansen had been fit I suspect it may have been Ireland + Russell in the backs without Ringrose's withdrawl.

Not sure how Cummins and George aren't on the bench, I also thought White may have done enough for a bench spot but that's a much closer call, Ben Earl unlucky to miss out here and Farrell could have gone for a 6-2 split if he had wanted to include both Earl and Morgan (under the proviso that Earl can cover centre which Farrell has mentioned earlier in the tour), however I can't remember Farrell ever fielding a 6-2 split so maybe that's not something he's comfortable with.

[Stom]

Ringrose was originally selected but withdrew due to the effects of concussion, according to the beeb.

So Farrell snr did swap out the centres then, but injury forced him to put Jones back in. I'm going to quietly stew about that.

If Hansen had been fit I suspect it may have been Ireland + Russell in the backs without Ringrose's withdrawl.

Not sure how Cummins and George aren't on the bench, I also thought White may have done enough for a bench spot but that's a much closer call, Ben Earl unlucky to miss out here and Farrell could have gone for a 6-2 split if he had wanted to include both Earl and Morgan (under the proviso that Earl can cover centre which Farrell has mentioned earlier in the tour), however I can't remember Farrell ever fielding a 6-2 split so maybe that's not something he's comfortable with.

Would also require either Kinghorn to cover 10 or Farrell to cover the backfield...or you pick MSmith.

Either way...

If I'm honest, there are few Lions players who are obviously the absolute best choice compared to the others on tour. Sheehan is class, he's the obvious 2. Strangely, Genge seems to be the obvious 1...Itoje is the obvious 4, Conan is the obvious 8 due to lack of other options, and Russell is our best player.

And for me, that's it.

Which is partly a good look: lots of very good players around.
And partly a terrible look: we've got a squad full of meh players.

[Banquo]

Ringrose and Hansen are still injured i think? If not, then yes they would be very puzzled

Ringrose was originally selected but withdrew due to the effects of concussion, according to the beeb.

So Farrell snr did swap out the centres then, but injury forced him to put Jones back in. I'm going to quietly stew about that.

Nonsensical if true.