Lions 2021

[mightymouse]

Re 4 nations v 1 observation above ( not being fair etc) ... I prefer to look at as 2 nations actually(UK and Eire) ... and surely the real oddity is that we (the UK) normally choose to split our country up to compete in certain sporting events ... I cannot think of another country that would do that! I can only assume the other countries we play choose to allow it because they know it weakens us.

[Wayne Richardson Fan Club]

Re 4 nations v 1 observation above ( not being fair etc) ... I prefer to look at as 2 nations actually(UK and Eire) ... and surely the real oddity is that we (the UK) normally choose to split our country up to compete in certain sporting events ... I cannot think of another country that would do that! I can only assume the other countries we play choose to allow it because they know it weakens us.

I believe the argument in UK Sport for splitting up is extra votes at the bun fights, plus genuine national pride (in the Celts) fundamental racism in the English.
Dont forget Ireland play as one in Rugby.

[Big Dai]

Don’t think they’d have risked AWJ unless they were confident.

Or an ex Welsh coach?

What's that film where they needed an icon to follow so they tied the dead leader to his horse and sent it into battle.....? It's a bit like that for me...... We will see what we will see.

EL CID wasn’t quite as hard as AWJ

El Cid..... That was it. Charlton Heston. (Who probably wouldn't have been a bad player himself)

...... But as Joe never felt the weight of El Cid's tackle, we'll never know for sure.

...... It is a miraculous recovery. Do I believe in miracles? Not really.

[Big Dai]

Re 4 nations v 1 observation above ( not being fair etc) ... I prefer to look at as 2 nations actually(UK and Eire) ... and surely the real oddity is that we (the UK) normally choose to split our country up to compete in certain sporting events ... I cannot think of another country that would do that! I can only assume the other countries we play choose to allow it because they know it weakens us.

I believe the argument in UK Sport for splitting up is extra votes at the bun fights, plus genuine national pride (in the Celts) fundamental racism in the English.
Dont forget Ireland play as one in Rugby.

Or racism on the part of the Celts and pride in the nation in the English. One man's meat is another man's poison.

When I first moved here it was "We'll keep a welcome in the hillside". I was allways "The Englishman" in darts, rugby and cricket teams, but with a sense of fun and banter.

Now it's "You fat English bar steward" with a nasty edge to it. Covid and the cries of "close the border" have only fuelled the fire.

We all have a different heritage and that has to be respected but growing tensions are not one sided. The Celts are no Angels (no pun intended)

[Scott1]

Knew someone would try and play the race card

[BFG]

Whenever a Lions team is published a question always seems to pop up in my mind. (Firstly full disclosure: I am a Lions sceptic always have been. It seems faintly ridiculous to me that four home nations gang up to play one SH nation). Anyway the question I ask myself is would that selected Lions team beat the team that won the previous season's 6 Nations? For the purposes of this entirely hypothetical question, players play for their home nation not the Lions. Or, a very similar question would the 23 Lions selected for Saturday beat a full strength French 23 (played at a neutral venue)? I'm not convinced they would.

Maybe the Lions squad could be selected similarly to how the winner of the 6N is often decided, by some refs who missed their specsavers appointments.

Oh dear! Still not got over it?

Thanks for the concern, but memories of 2003 and Allain Rolland are comforting enough.

[Dokie]

Maybe the Lions squad could be selected similarly to how the winner of the 6N is often decided, by some refs who missed their specsavers appointments.

Oh dear! Still not got over it?

Thanks for the concern, but memories of 2003 and Allain Rolland are comforting enough.

The Rolland debacle was 2015

[Chobbsy]

Don’t think they’d have risked AWJ unless they were confident.

Or an ex Welsh coach?

What's that film where they needed an icon to follow so they tied the dead leader to his horse and sent it into battle.....? It's a bit like that for me...... We will see what we will see.

EL CID wasn’t quite as hard as AWJ

Or as Welsh

[TigerFeetSteve]

Gatland is supposedly fuming that the TMO is going to be a South African now after covid issues with the guy who was coming over to do it...

[kpj tiger]

Gatland is supposedly fuming that the TMO is going to be a South African now after covid issues with the guy who was coming over to do it...

Can you blame him, they have shown already that their outlook on certain areas of the game is "interesting" to put it politely

[TiltonTiger]

Nigel Owens is on the Sky commentary team. Is he actually out there? Can’t think of a better candidate

[Tigerbeat]

Nigel Owens is on the Sky commentary team. Is he actually out there? Can’t think of a better candidate

Owens is in the UK I believe looking after his farm.

[Soggypitch]

Nigel Owens is on the Sky commentary team. Is he actually out there? Can’t think of a better candidate

Err I think Gatland was asking for a neutral TMO........don't think Nige fits that category.

Obviously no Kiwi or Aussie will fly out because "it is too dangerous" for them, as shown by their withdrawal from the RL World Cup. The beta variant is much more vaccine resistant than the delta.

So we need a Frenchie.....

[Traveller]

Nigel Owens is on the Sky commentary team. Is he actually out there? Can’t think of a better candidate

Err I think Gatland was asking for a neutral TMO........don't think Nige fits that category.

Obviously no Kiwi or Aussie will fly out because "it is too dangerous" for them, as shown by their withdrawal from the RL World Cup. The beta variant is much more vaccine resistant than the delta.

So we need a Frenchie.....

Well in that case 'Andre' Watson might be available.

Andre at least sounds French and he's in SA. He did such a good job in the 2003 Final

[Scott1]

Just watching the 2009 second test,and we moan at the reffing now