RugbyRebels

I'd like to see Lawes start a game at 6. Think he could be a viable option for the first test there

Lions responded as was expected.
Both teams had opportunities to get tries.
Cru bench not as good as first 5.
Still plenty games ahead.

Lions will be battle ready for the 1st test while NZ not so much.
Lions on other hand will loose players as well.

My take after this game on the ever evolving test team.

McGrath, George, Furlong - Id be happy with Mako btw, George did enough for me to show hes not just an impact sub
Kruis, Itoje - I actually thought AWJ did okay today but Id keep Kruis and Itoje together
Warburton, Tipric, Faletau - OBrien did okay while he was on - OMahoney was a nuisance - Ive seen nothing YET to say this formation can be bettered*

Murray, Farrell - as nailed on as any position can be
Teo, Jospeh
L Williams, Daly, Watson -Id go Williams over North and Watson put in the best of the 15 performances so far.

Owens, Mako, Sinkler, Lawes(as he provides better options than AWJ), OBrien, Webb, Sexton, Payne

* Given that Warburton will probably be selected.

I would have gone with Warburton,Tipuric and Billy. Now with Billy injured i would replace him with Faletau with Stander on the bench. All the backs bar 9 and 10 seem to be up for grabs.

Typically I miss seeing one match where the Lions best their opponents. Sounds like a significant improvement and that both Tipuric and O'Brien have in their very different styles a better case than Warburton for the test 7 shirt.

I'd really like to see Seymour get another chance. He actually suits Gatball somewhat and I haven't seen anything impressive from any of the the other wingers. Might be the best option to compete in the air and contain whatever strike winger NZ pick.

skidger wrote:I would have gone with Warburton,Tipuric and Billy. Now with Billy injured i would replace him with Faletau with Stander on the bench. All the backs bar 9 and 10 seem to be up for grabs.

And still he'd want to pick POM with a view to the lineout, and Haskell/Moriarty to get some dominant tackles to have NZ under resourced at the breakdown, or even better not have NZ looking to run off the ball carrier (though that'd be a lot of nerves to introduce over 3 games)

Well, that was pretty limp from the Crusaders.

Best performing backrow players thus far are Faletau, Tipuric and SOB. POM was pretty decent today to be fair. Nothing flash, just effective.

Warburton needs to have an epic game and soon to make the team.

Sandydragon wrote:Best performing backrow players thus far are Faletau, Tipuric and SOB. POM was pretty decent today to be fair. Nothing flash, just effective.

Warburton needs to have an epic game and soon to make the team.

Not so sure he does. As Gatland's captain i think he pretty much only needs to be able to stand up to make the team. Pretty sure it is Warburton,Faletau and one other.

Aye. Warburton absolutely doesn't deserve his place unless he plays really well from here out. But he will start the tests no question.

Sandydragon wrote:Best performing backrow players thus far are Faletau, Tipuric and SOB. POM was pretty decent today to be fair. Nothing flash, just effective.

Warburton needs to have an epic game and soon to make the team.

Based on the first three games that would be my four backrow for the test squad. However, we all know Warburton will be in there if fit enough to take the field.

Mellsblue wrote:

Sandydragon wrote:Best performing backrow players thus far are Faletau, Tipuric and SOB. POM was pretty decent today to be fair. Nothing flash, just effective.

Warburton needs to have an epic game and soon to make the team.

Based on the first three games that would be my four backrow for the test squad. However, we all know Warburton will be in there if fit enough to take the field.

Still think depending on how one approached the game you'd want a bigger tackler to help shut down a game designed keep the ball alive. And it's not like Gatland thinks collisions are an evil to be avoided in the game

morepork wrote:Well, that was pretty limp from the Crusaders.

Yep. We couldn't catch a cold.

No harm see a NZ team getting owned and they were, lions messed up in the 22 should have won handy, crusaders only attacks were off 3 murray passes to nobody that got picked up.

Warbs shouldn't be near the team on form, cant afford any passengers at test level. Previously dubious about watson at 15 but could be best option. Zebo/TOH be hetter than 1/2p

Sexton and SOB only one big tackle away from injury forget about them

Hogg was unfortunate to get injured, but was he looking like a test starter before Murray elbowed him? Watson did his chances no harm that's for sure.

The referee was appalling

And so we see Gatland's plan, not that comes as any surprise. This is what he'd like Wales to do but we're not quite big enough to dominate like this.

But as with Wales, I don't see it working against the ABs. They'll score tries. If we don't, we won't get enough points on the board to win. As we in Wales have wondered for the last decade, what does Howley actually do??

Son of Mathonwy wrote:And so we see Gatland's plan, not that comes as any surprise. This is what he'd like Wales to do but we're not quite big enough to dominate like this.

But as with Wales, I don't see it working against the ABs. They'll score tries. If we don't, we won't get enough points on the board to win. As we in Wales have wondered for the last decade, what does Howley actually do??

Meanwhile Scotland & England played some very positive rugby at the weekend. The tour was doomed the minute Gatland was selected.

Sandydragon wrote:Hogg was unfortunate to get injured, but was he looking like a test starter before Murray elbowed him? Watson did his chances no harm that's for sure.

Well this was his game to show something, I don't feel like he got far enough in to the game to do anything much, good or bad, though threatened the outside break once or twice I think.

I can't really recall if we saw Watson have to do anything in defence, and that's where he really worries me, even in comparison to Hogg. He looked good going forward though.

hugh_woatmeigh wrote:

Son of Mathonwy wrote:And so we see Gatland's plan, not that comes as any surprise. This is what he'd like Wales to do but we're not quite big enough to dominate like this.

But as with Wales, I don't see it working against the ABs. They'll score tries. If we don't, we won't get enough points on the board to win. As we in Wales have wondered for the last decade, what does Howley actually do??

Meanwhile Scotland & England played some very positive rugby at the weekend. The tour was doomed the minute Gatland was selected.

As most of us said...

Stom wrote:

hugh_woatmeigh wrote:

Son of Mathonwy wrote:And so we see Gatland's plan, not that comes as any surprise. This is what he'd like Wales to do but we're not quite big enough to dominate like this.

But as with Wales, I don't see it working against the ABs. They'll score tries. If we don't, we won't get enough points on the board to win. As we in Wales have wondered for the last decade, what does Howley actually do??

Meanwhile Scotland & England played some very positive rugby at the weekend. The tour was doomed the minute Gatland was selected.

As most of us said...

Yet the board is full of people lauding an improved performance against the crusaders as if kicking an extra pen or two will make a difference against the ABs.

Credit where it's due, the Lions have improved every game.

Match 1 weakness: individual skill
Match 2 weakness: implementing game plan, especially defensively
Match 3 weakness: converting defensive, possessive and territorial dominance into tries.

Crusaders were dire. A team that's been winning games through efficiency suddenly lost it. They weren't helped by the ref not knowing his arse from his elbow at scrum but they were just poor.

The Lions forwards were better at the breakdown. The backs created chances but couldn't finish them. That's not entirely surprising with JD2 there. We're going to need to finish pretty much every chance we get to beat the ABs.

Eugene Wrayburn wrote:Crusaders were dire. A team that's been winning games through efficiency suddenly lost it. They weren't helped by the ref not knowing his arse from his elbow at scrum but they were just poor.

The Lions forwards were better at the breakdown. The backs created chances but couldn't finish them. That's not entirely surprising with JD2 there. We're going to need to finish pretty much every chance we get to beat the ABs.

The Lions have possibly shown too much come scrum time, they were just effing about at the engage, backing off. When the referee got the scrum sorted the one and only time the Lions got destroyed. The series is going to be a tad tasty up front I think.