2009 Lions Tour

I missed the build up, were the bands they were wearing for Burger and Botha or something else?

Shane Williams looked good yesterday, but he has to be playing well, which he hasn't been all tour, to compete at the top level otherwise he really gets bullied.

Also Ugo Monye for President? :D
 
raptormonkey said:
Where would the Lions be without the welsh contingent? A lot worse off!
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A bit harsh on the other countries. The Irish did well (O'Gara and O'Connell excluded) and a few English players put some decent performances in. The Scots were unlucky with Murray getting injured and Ford not getting many opportunities. Hines should have been in the test 22 instead of O'Connell but that was rugby politics.

It does augur well for the Welsh players in the coming international season though and hopefully the players who played in the Lions will lift the others out of this season's slight slump. And they've got a lot going for them, The Welsh front row have shown themselves to be a dynamic and effective unit against the world champions, Wyn Jones will benefit from this experience (It's easy to forget how young he still is for an international 2nd row), Martyn Williams is still doing superb work at the breakdown and in linking up play, The halfback combination of Phillips and Jones (Or Phillips and Hook) has shown they are one of the best 9 and 10 pairings in the game and Jamie Roberts has shown the potential to be one of the very best centres in world rugby if his development continues. 1/2p will come strongly back from his injury and just going on that trip will be invaluable for his development as a player (And he's only 20!) and Shane Williams has shown that even off form he can still sniff out the try line as well as anyone. Byrne showed before his injury that he is the complete model fullback (Hat-tip to Kearney though, he played some of his best ever rugby in those three tests). Powell seriously needs to work on his tactical appreciation though. He's the most physical number 8 Wales (and the Lions) have had since Scott Quinnell but too often he makes the wrong choices and doesn't look for support runners. If he could offload more he'd be as big an asset as Spies is to the boks.

I'm not going to start claiming that Wales will win the Grand Slam before the season even starts but you'd feel they will probably be slight favourites over Ireland at the present time. Can't wait for the autumn internationals now.

And let's hope all the Lions players who got injured enjoy a full and speedy recovery. They all showed great commitment to the cause. (Even if they didn't make a single training session, eh Ryan!)

And also as far as future tours go, let's hope the home nations use their heads and plan a longer tour, it was over far too quick. I'd favour having at least two weeks more and would actualy like to go back to four tests like the old days. And lets hope next tour the Aussies don't price the public out of attending warmup games like the South Africans did.
 
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StewartMG said:
I missed the build up, were the bands they were wearing for Burger and Botha or something else?

Shane Williams looked good yesterday, but he has to be playing well, which he hasn't been all tour, to compete at the top level otherwise he really gets bullied.

Also Ugo Monye for President? :D
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Justice 4 is what the bands said. That was for Botha, he played number 4, to be honest I agree he shouldn't of been banned. But they should have just got on with it and played rugby.
 
Macca said:
Justice 4 is what the bands said. That was for Botha, he played number 4, to be honest I agree he shouldn't of been banned. But they should have just got on with it and played rugby.
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I'm no too sure. He didn't use his arms at all, it was a shoulder charge. Had his arms been involved it weould have been far less likely that Adam Jones would have dislocated his shoulder. Whether it was worth a ban is open to debate but he missed one game, Adam Jones may be out for six months which will make it a race against time to be fit for the 6 nations so where's his justice? While this was a minor incident Botha has got away with a lot over the years so he should just put this one down to karma. The reaction of his team-mates was just petulant.
 
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