G.K wrote:Well first time the Lions have lost to a NZ club team, this was pretty much a collective non-display and I don't see it geting much better with the coaches and players they have. This could be worse than the shambles last time under Woodward.
I agree - the Woodward shambles was a reflection of his trying to keep the core of a great but over the hill England side as the basis of his Lions side.
His mistake was to not recognise that his England side were past their best by the time they won the world cup.
Gatland seems to be hell bent on building his side on the core of a Wales team that were never at that level and certainly, as the past 2 6N have shown not likely to be able to push the All Blacks.
It may sound churlish but the Wales side that won the Grand Slam probably did so as much because the other nations were all playing garbage rather than because they were so good. That's not the recipe for a Lions squad.
Many of us will have seen the spoof Lions squad entirely made up of Wales players on the grounds that Wales beat Ireland and Ireland beat England so by inference the Welsh were the best side! Gatland seems to believe it.
British & Irish Lions to play Crusaders: S Hogg; G North, J Davies, B Te’o, L Williams; O Farrell, C Murray; M Vunipola, J George, T Furlong, AW Jones (capt), G Kruis, P O’Mahony, S O’Brien, T Faletau. Replacements: K Owens, J McGrath, D Cole, M Itoje, C Stander, R Webb, J Sexton, A Watson.
drc_007 wrote:British & Irish Lions to play Crusaders: S Hogg; G North, J Davies, B Te’o, L Williams; O Farrell, C Murray; M Vunipola, J George, T Furlong, AW Jones (capt), G Kruis, P O’Mahony, S O’Brien, T Faletau. Replacements: K Owens, J McGrath, D Cole, M Itoje, C Stander, R Webb, J Sexton, A Watson.
Another Welsh captain, and Liam Williams' selection just shows no matter what you do if you are Welsh you are going to get in. After his display yesterday how can you honestly start him on Saturday?
The Wales flanker has been ruled out of Saturday's game against the Crusaders with an ankle problem – leaving lock Alun-Wyn Jones to take over the captaincy.
Gatland seems determined not to pick two first receivers and go with crash ball at 12.
A mistake IMO Sexton should be 10 and Farrell at 12 with whoever is most on form playing 13, Davies, Joseph or Daly.
We need to play a much more pragmatic game, go unstructured v the Crusaders and we'll get smashed.
Why a Welsh captain every game?! Murray or Farrell could easily captain that team.
drc_007 wrote:The Wales flanker has been ruled out of Saturday's game against the Crusaders with an ankle problem – leaving lock Alun-Wyn Jones to take over the captaincy.
Webb was good in mid week but Murray matched him and doesn't have the same tendency to have a brainstorm and give away a stupid penalty. Murray to start for me. Thought Sexton played better but Farrell has to start at 10. If Sexton keeps that form up they may well start with both. But if Sexton plays like his first game he won't get near the test side. I'd agree Watson looked good and showed massive improvement. Gutted to see Hogg go off and if you're looking for an alternative threat from fullback Watson could be an option.
Pack looked good. You could pick 2 decent front rows to start the test. Kruis looked good. Apart from that dropped pass thought Stander did well when he came on. Faletau cleaned up any bad ball on the odd occasion the scrum came under pressure.
Just wish we had got some decent ball to the wings. Williams took a couple of dodgy passes and North barely had a pass. Wide defence was good though. Hopefully Hoggy is ok too.
A solid defensive display from the Lions, stopped Crusaders width but that just won't do it against the All Blacks IMO who will just cut the midfield wide open.
A couple of scrummaging woes from the Lions, one in particular was carnage, they'll need that area to function better to have any chance in the tests.
The stats make interesting reading.
Defending
Top tacklers for Lions were Vunipola (11 tackles) Faletau (10) and George (10) all missing none, they also made a number of carries and were never turned over.
Worst performer in the pack was A Jones 5 tackles, missed 2, turned over 3 times.
Difficult to judge backs since they had injuries and realignments to contend with.
Attacking
Top carrier was Watson (76 m), Teo beat most defenders (5).
drc_007 wrote:The stats make interesting reading.
Defending
Top tacklers for Lions were Vunipola (11 tackles) Faletau (10) and George (10) all missing none, they also made a number of carries and were never turned over.
Worst performer in the pack was A Jones 5 tackles, missed 2, turned over 3 times.
Difficult to judge backs since they had injuries and realignments to contend with.
Attacking
Top carrier was Watson (76 m), Teo beat most defenders (5).
Only 7 penalties which is a great improvement.
Put it into full context in midfield Te'o was up against 22 year old David Havili and even younger Jack Goodhue.
I'd be interested in their similar stats given their young age!
I don't rate Te'o very highly, he's alright but not nothing special IMO, and don't even get me started on Davies, Leicester had a 12 and 13 on a completely different level to these two out injured for most of last season!
Last edited by BFG on Sat Jun 10, 2017 4:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
