2009 Lions Tour

Vickery wasn't over powered. He was being illegally bored in by THE BEAST, as in the beast wasn't driving in straight so it makes him start to stand up. Sadly these southern hemisphere ref's dont worry about it much, but its frowned upon much more up this half. If you noticed, when driven into straight Phil more than held his own.
 
What a terrible performance by the Lions! One score H1, and 2 late in H2?????

I think it was very lucky they managed to come back at all - the fact that it was in the last 10 mins(-ish) showed the boks taking it off the pedal and the Lads having some good fortune.

Coulda bin a 26-7 scoreline for Act I easily.

How to come back from that? Tough one. Has McGeechan had too many years with no results in charge? Looks very much like it to me - I mean we have the players!!!
 
I wouldn't be that downbeat! We created more opportunities and if it wasn't for a few goal line fumbles we could have had at least 1-2 more tries. The scrum just seems to depend on which side of bed the ref got out of that morning and who can get under his radar. Can't really complain though, you do as much as you can get away with!
 
mk17 said:
What a terrible performance by the Lions! One score H1, and 2 late in H2?????

I think it was very lucky they managed to come back at all - the fact that it was in the last 10 mins(-ish) showed the boks taking it off the pedal and the Lads having some good fortune.

Coulda bin a 26-7 scoreline for Act I easily.

How to come back from that? Tough one. Has McGeechan had too many years with no results in charge? Looks very much like it to me - I mean we have the players!!!
Click to expand...

What a load of rubbish. I'd say overall it was just about an even match. We were unlucky not to have scored another two tries, only because of very good defending by SA. We drove at them the second half, and by no means is this over yet. Another two games left, hopefully we'll take the next and it'll be a final day winner takes all.
 
converse_uprise said:
What a load of rubbish.
Click to expand...
I agree - that post was written drunk and upset, right?

converse_uprise said:
What a load of rubbish. I'd say overall it was just about an even match. We were unlucky not to have scored another two tries, only because of very good defending by SA. We drove at them the second half, and by no means is this over yet. Another two games left, hopefully we'll take the next and it'll be a final day winner takes all.
Click to expand...
The Lions were by no means thrashed and there are reasons to be positive for the second test. Jamie Roberts, Tom Croft, Brian O'Driscoll and Gethin Jenkins all did well from where I was swaying. If not for some seriously good defense, there would have been a couple more tries - Botha and De Villiers clearing from Phillips and Monye (the latter especially) were superb. The backs held their own (but remember, this was my birthday bash, so I was quite squiffy!) and, I felt that if the game had had another ten minutes t it, there was only going to be one winner out. However, I was also hoping that my empty pint glass was going to turn into a petite blonde with nymphomania, but that never happened either. We weren't that bad at the breakdown even.

On the not so good side, the forwards need to up their game at the set-pieces. The lineout and scrum need work - the way we got pushed off our own ball in the first half made me cringe. They also need to sort their act out at the maul. I remember when SH sides hated mauling, now they're teaching us how to do it.

Well, whatever, looking forward to the second test now :)
 
Phillips had a great game but I just wish he'd speed up his distribution. It's okay to pick and look some of the time but not every time. The South Africans were gaining an extra couple of metres in the defensive blitz because he wouldn't just spin the ball out from the deck. His try was excellent his tackling was excellent he made some good breaks but I felt he could have given his fellow backs more time with some quicker distribution.

I do think that our comeback wouldn't have happened if SA hadn't changed so many players in the second half. The SA loose head was getting away with the most blatant infringement and this seemed to stop when he was subbed. The Lions looked dangerous in the backs ball in hand Roberts and O'Driscoll had fantastic games. Croft has just about destroyed any notion that he shouldn't have been in the originial tour squad.

Here's hoping a a new ref gives the Lions a chance to play a bit more.
 
Now I'm not very good with rugby rules, tactics etc but does your man Powell ever offload the ball? He never seems to do anything other than just crash into people and go not very far. He is a real monster though. Huge guy.
 
ringo747 said:
Now I'm not very good with rugby rules, tactics etc but does your man Powell ever offload the ball? He never seems to do anything other than just crash into people and go not very far. He is a real monster though. Huge guy.
Click to expand...

He does, occasionally. Should do it more often though. Needs to watch some videos of Scott Quinell. He was the most physical no.8 about but would still offload. Powell can do, now he just has to.

Jamie Roberts is the perfect example of offloading after crashing through the gain line. BOD must love having him at his side.
 
ringo747 said:
Now I'm not very good with rugby rules, tactics etc but does your man Powell ever offload the ball? He never seems to do anything other than just crash into people and go not very far. He is a real monster though. Huge guy.
Click to expand...

He's a strong guy and exciting to watch but he tends to run into crowded areas when he's completely isolated, generally gets turned over or done for holding on. :rolleyes:
 
elroberto said:
He does, occasionally. Should do it more often though. Needs to watch some videos of Scott Quinell. He was the most physical no.8 about but would still offload. Powell can do, now he just has to.

Jamie Roberts is the perfect example of offloading after crashing through the gain line. BOD must love having him at his side.
Click to expand...

Powell has shown glimpses of this on the tour (think it was the 2nd game he played in), he was running into spaces, drawing tacklers to him and then off loading to others, but other times he just runs at people and gets too isolated.
He's can one of the most exciting and yet one of the more frustrating players to watch.

Was gutted when he shaved the beard off, me and the wife called him Andy "The Pirate" :D
 
nst68 said:
Was gutted when he shaved the beard off, me and the wife called him Andy "The Pirate" :D
Click to expand...

Same :D I don't think he should have gone on tour personally as I prefer Nick Easter. I think he has better hands and is just as strong but always manages to break the game line.

On the BBC website everyone is raving about how brilliant Jenkins is as a prop and being able to cover both sides of the scrum. I kindly pointed out that he was scrummaging against a Hooker and didn't over power him, and that Vickery "can" cover Loosehead like Jenkins can tight head. Doesn't mean he is any good there though. I am actually hoping that he has to scrummage against the Beast and get stuffed.
 
Side for the 2nd test has been announced link

R Kearney (Ireland and Leinster)
T Bowe (Ireland and Ospreys)
B O'Driscoll (Ireland and Leinster)
J Roberts (Wales and Cardiff Blues)
L Fitzgerald (Ireland and Leinster)
S Jones (Wales and Scarlets)
M Phillips (Wales and Ospreys)
G Jenkins (Wales and Cardiff Blues)
M Rees (Wales and Scarlets)
A Jones (Wales and Ospreys)
S Shaw (England and Wasps)
P O'Connell (Ireland and Munster, capt)
T Croft (England and Leicester)
D Wallace (Ireland and Munster)
J Heaslip (Ireland and Leinster)

Replacements :-
R Ford (Scotland and Edinburgh)
A Sheridan (England and Sale)
AW Jones (Wales and Ospreys)
M Williams (Wales and Cardiff Blues)
H Ellis (England and Leicester)
R O'Gara (Ireland and Munster)
S Williams (Wales and Ospreys)

Is good that they've gone for Shaw to give them at bit more beef up front, and then got A-W Jones to come on later.

I'm surprised that both Vickery and Mears have been dropped from squad all together, still think they would be a better bench combination than Sheridan/Ford.

Given that it's a must win game, I would expected them to take a gamble with Hook on the bench, he gives a different option than ROG, ah well gotta trust Geech to know what he's doing.
 
Extremely harsh on Mears but I guess it was always a risk for Vickery.

Whilst I'm not surprised Fitzgerald got the left wing place dropping Monye for Williams is a slap in the face. Monye was considered good enough to start a week ago. He has scored tries this tour but is replaced by Williams who has done absolutely nothing of note on tour, came into the squad out of form and made a howler to give away the drawing try against ES. He must be a popular guy with the coaches because he is relying entirely on reputation at this point.

Surprised that Hook has got nothing out of this he has arguably been the best of the fly halves on tour.
 
Diesel said:
I'm not sure why the Lions garner so much interest. A bunch of friendlies involving a made up team?
Click to expand...

There doesn't need to be a trophy for people to want to compete against each other to see who's the best.

I think it's also because they only play each of the 3 teams once every 12 years, so the Boks have been waiting a long time to try and get revenge for 1997.
 
Fitzgerald? Are you joking? He's good with ball in hand but he's not as quick or strong as Monye, defensively I think he will get bullied. *Hugs Monye*
 
StewartMG said:
Fitzgerald? Are you joking? He's good with ball in hand but he's not as quick or strong as Monye, defensively I think he will get bullied. *Hugs Monye*
Click to expand...

Hes got quicker feet than Monye and has consistently played well. Monye is of course stronger but when has he made that count? Technically he is the lesser winger, he doesn't have much variety to his game whereas Fitzgerald can squeeze out of anywhere.

Bit disappointed ROG isn't starting but I do rate Jones. At the end of the day the Lions stand no chance. Isn't this the ground where no international visiting team have won?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom