1st Test - Tom starts on Saturday; Harry on the bench

[tigergirl]

Yes I know it's Lions stuff but it needs to be on here too because we're so proud of our Tigers transforming into Lions!!

[Minty]

The amount of Ospreys players with the Lions worries me when it comes the the Heineken again this year

[chinnjamie]

The amount of Ospreys players with the Lions worries me when it comes the the Heineken again this year

Haha i noticed that too mate, they have so many individual world class players, but as a team the Ospreys do seem to under perform

[POSTIGER]

Congratulations to both our boys. Tom thoroughly deserves his starting jersey and makes a mockery of the initial decision to not even include him in the squad!

[tigermad]

Congratulations to both our boys. Tom thoroughly deserves his starting jersey and makes a mockery of the initial decision to not even include him in the squad!

Ditto Postiger. Tom has worked his socks off this season and his effort is being rewarded with a Lions test cap and Harry back in the mix as part of the matchday 22. Well done guys and do your stuff against the Springboks and make us proud.

[Kinoulton]

5 players from the GP and 17 from the Magners.

One can understand the 8 Irish players, given the Irish successes at club and international level in 2009. But 9 Welsh?

[bluntiger]

But 9 Welsh?

It is a fact that coaches pick players they know and the coaching team is Wasps and Wales slanted - McGeechan/Edwards at Wasps and Gatland/Edwards/Howley at Wales.

So no surprise they picked an initial squad that was biased towards Wales and Wasps.

But given the squad they now have, they have chosen based on form and you can't argue with any on the selections. Based on form probably the luckiest player in the starting 15 is O'Connell but he is the squad captain so fair play.

[captain_insaino]

Comeplety right there, as I pick o'connell in my XV, but because he's the captain he has to be there.
Well done to crofty though, he completely deserves and would have been in the XV with Ferris, this adding to his great season. Well done to harry ellis as well who has grabbed his chance extremely well.

[TigerS2]

The amount of Ospreys players with the Lions worries me when it comes the the Heineken again this year

.......................
Perhaps the S Africans will knock seven bells out of them so they will be out for a few months. Ofcourse I don't wish that to happen, it is just that they do have a reputaton of being a bit "passionate" about their rugby, as the Lions found out on Tuesday.

[kingol22]

well done tom and ellis but tom will be a dead man walking by the end of this tour if he isnt already

[jen in the mountains]

Poor Tom, he's been forced to go swiming in the Indian Ocean. That local seals look quite familiar though
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/4VYqKvmj ... /Tom+Croft

[yorkieporkie]

I must admit its a fairly strong Lions side, but can someone please tell me why Paul O'Connell is playing, he's had a torrid tour so far, surely the best lock combo has been Aw Jones and Hines!

[Kinoulton]

But given the squad they now have, they have chosen based on form and you can't argue with any on the selections.

I can argue against selecting so many people who've won nowt.

[bluntiger]

But given the squad they now have, they have chosen based on form and you can't argue with any on the selections.

I can argue against selecting so many people who've won nowt.

Go ahead and argue Kinoulton, but who else from the squad out there would you select? Keith Earls who won the Magners with Munster? I don't think so. Rob Kerney who won the Heineken with Leinster? Possibly but not ahead of Byrne.