Lions - it depends on your spectacles.

[BJ.]

Congrats to Graham Rowntree for coaching a pack of forwards (all 12 of them) to play the winning way.

Indeed. Time for an accolade - arise Sir Wiggy of Welford.

[jgriffin]

Wow..
So all the people who were so wrong about Gatland get to have a thread and delude themselves..that they are right..

You should all be writing Gatland and the Welsh lads personal letters of apology.

You should be apologising for your statement on another thread matey.

[yellow_balaclava_hunter]

Wow..
So all the people who were so wrong about Gatland get to have a thread and delude themselves..that they are right..

You should all be writing Gatland and the Welsh lads personal letters of apology.

Completely wrong.

With the players available and the state that the Australian squad was in, the Lions should have comfortably won the series 3-0. The fact that the difference between series victory and defeat was that the Australian goalkicker in the first test failed to wear the right footwear means that Gatland cannot be judged as 'getting it right'.

The captain selection, squad selection and tactics were completely wrong. The Lions got lucky in the first test and with Poite in the final one.

The combinations available to Gatland that would have thrashed Australia in all three tests were not used and as such I am left feeling it was a wasted opportunity not a tour victory for the Lions.

[Grannyman]

At the end of the day, fans of an English club are moaning about a coach for being in charge of the Welsh side. If Gatland had lost the series, you'd have said 'oh he's not as good as the welsh think he is' even though Woodward and Mcgeechan have lost lions series and are still thought of pretty highly.

[yellow_balaclava_hunter]

At the end of the day, fans of an English club are moaning about a coach for being in charge of the Welsh side. If Gatland had lost the series, you'd have said 'oh he's not as good as the welsh think he is' even though Woodward and Mcgeechan have lost lions series and are still thought of pretty highly.

I think it's quite naive of you to think that everyone is 'moaning about Gatland for being in charge of Wales'.

I am moaning about Gatland for being Gatland.

I simply have no respect for him or his tactics. Gatland coaches his teams to cheat in order to win and I cannot condone it.

The comments of a certain Mr Dwyer reflect my opinion of Gatland. Ones which I have held long before he became Wales coach.

Gatland failed to get the most out of a very strong squad.

[Bill W (2)]

Gatland failed to get the most out of a very strong squad.

I temd to agree with this amd would add that his squad selection was IMHO flawed.

Nonetheless he won the series.

[northerntiger]

At the end of the day, he won, which is the be all and end all. How and why is irrelevant.
It does however leave lots of powerful motivational stuff for the next 6 nations

[Jay C]

And already Gatland is making himself available for the Kiwi tour in 4 years time ....

read it here

[jgriffin]

I think Mark's point still stands and very strongly too (even if he is on the Dark Side) - if not for Beale's slip, or indeed several declined shots at goal, Gatland would be consigned to the waste bin. Australia lost it because they weren't good enough.

[Jimmy Skitz]

if the Lions play like that in 4 years time it'll be a 3-0 whitewash defeat

[Jay C]

Beating the Aussies in their own back yard is no mean feat irrespective of the quality if their team. We destroyed Australia yesterday and that team would have challenged any rugby team in the world.

Sorry MrP, but the Lions have only ever lost one series in Australia - ever ! This was by far the weakest team Aus have had in quite a while and in picking O'Connor at 10 they really messed up - if their kicker had stayed on the pitch for the majority of the first test, rather than a couple of minutes, then the Lions would have lost the series before the third test was even played.

Gatland has won the series, but I feel - like others - that there were lots of mistakes made along the way. To be fair to the man, playing Jonathan Davies in the third test was not one of them. I've said before that he was the form 13 in the squad & his partnership with Roberts made it a sensible selection).

Only taking 3 players who could genuinely play 10 & 12 was a massive gamble that nearly backfired. Selections like Jenkins, Kearney and Stevens in the original party were simply ridiculous. Lack of game time for various players/combinations hindered test selections IMO.

I don't think there was welsh bias particularly (except Cole v Jones) - as an example, I would have said that Faletau deserved to start the first test & Hibbard must have been a close call too - whereas Phillips was clearly the 3rd best scrum half on the tour .....

If you look at the outstanding players on the tour, then there are several Welshmen among them, but a sprinkling of others to (although no Scot really had a chance to shine). For me, the 10 standout players were :

Halfpenny, North, Davies and Sexton in the backs
O'Brien, Parling, O'Connell, AW Jones, Corbs and Tom Youngs in the forwards.

[Gleisondyn]

You could take this point of view for every game. If Halfpenny had kicked in the closing seconds of the second game then the third test would still be the decider. And yes you could look at loads of different things, Gatlands selection, the 10 welsh players etc but at the end of the day a great squad of players (forget nationalities) won the series. Even if the aussies did have a poor game you can only beat the team in front of you and the way they play.
Are some you just looking for reasons to moan about the 10 welsh players, in past series at crucial games I think there were more english players (97?) but thats irrelevant the series was won and this squad of players won this series. Just enjoy the fact for what it is.

[Jeremy Anderson]

At the end of the day, he won, which is the be all and end all. How and why is irrelevant.
It does however leave lots of powerful motivational stuff for the next 6 nations

Absolutely agree - there are no doubt many welsh who believe Wales will beat England by at least 30 points in the next 6N. Our boys will want deparately to show they are better than some of the over-hyped Welsh players and I expect England to win.

Great to see a Lions win although I like many others think this is more in spite of Gatland than becasue of Gatland. He had far superior players to pick from and sigularly failed to bond the players from 4 nations together into an effective team as Geechs has done in the past.

MOM in third test was Corbs and that is only because it can't be given to the ref.

[tig1]

IMHO the influence of the French Referee in the third test cannot be underestimated.
10/10 to Gatland for recognising that this would be the case.

Well Bill, I was at Twickenham just 8 months ago watching England lose to Australia. The referee that day ? Yes..the very same Mr Poite.

And the Aussie props ? The same two who started Saturday. Incidentally 6 tigers players played that day including Dan Cole, Tom Youngs and Geoff Parling. The English got nothing out of the Aussie pack that day and intact were dominated at the scrum.

Then the Aussies went on and beat Wales in Cardiff. Again same two props as Saturday. Wayne Barnes as referee. Wales of course were without Adam Jones, Alun Wynn Jones, Dan Lydiate and Hibbert.

[JohnB]

I enjoyed Johnny Sexton's post match comment that he was delighted to have won his first Welsh cap! On a more serious note the difference in interpretation between Pollock, Joubert and Poite on the scrum and the breakdown areas means that Refs and their interpretations of the Laws of the game are becomming far more important to the outcome of matches than the ability, organisation and strategy of the participating teams. That can't be right surely? The IRB really has to do something about the interpretation of the Laws in the two hemispheres.