**2017 Lions tour to New Zealand**

TheMightyTen said:
Alun Wyn ****ing Jones :confused: :rolleyes:

There are 2 second rows not even on the Tour who are better than him let alone the three on it who aren't starting.

Don't think I'll be making any special effort to get up tomorrow to watch this now..................
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Selection is more than a little political. It's like picking teams at primary school. Just pick the best guys!!
 
Falateau lucky not to get carded for that cynical foul before the try, dived to floor on the ball from the side from an offside position. Then we got punished with a very sharp try.
 
An unsurprising result which shows the gap between New Zealand and the Norther Hemisphere. I thought the Lions played well and when the ABs lost shape really looked like punishing them. But we can't convert our chances into points. The ABs offloading in the tight and their trust in their skills is on the next level so whilst they have parity in in the set piece and defence they are all round a better attacking side. No champagne just quality skills.
 
Saturday's squads
British and Irish Lions: L Williams, A Watson, J Davies, O Farrell, E Daly, J Sexton, C Murray; M Vunipola, J George, T Furlong, M Itoje, AW Jones, S Warburton (c), S O'Brien, T Faletau.
Replacements: K Owens, J McGrath, K Sinckler, C Lawes, CJ Stander, R Webb, B Te'o, J Nowell.

All Blacks: I Dagg; W Naholo, A Lienert-Brown, SB Williams, R Ioane; B Barrett, A Smith; J Moody, C Taylor, O Franks, B Retallick, S Whitelock, J Kaino, S Cane, K Read (capt).
Replacements: N Harris, W Crockett, C Faumuina, S Barrett, A Savea, TJ Perenara, A Cruden, N Laumape.

I don't know how I feel about the Lions squad. Whilst Farrell at 12 has worked for England I think it's a risk and losing Teo who made a bit of gain through traffic which Farrell can't be expected to match could be a bit of a loss. AWJ must be living on reputation because I don't think he has put in a 30 minute stretch this tour that has been as good as Lawes or Henderson's average. I was surprised Warburton didn't come in for O'Brien rather than O'Mahony. CJ Stander hasn't looked anything like having the form to justify a bench slot, it's not that I think he is a bad player but he has not made any impact even against the Super Rugby sides. Nowell has played pretty well the last two games much more like the player we expect than the error ridden performances of his first two games, probably fair that he is the utility back sub.

Apart from losing Smith who is genuinely World Class, I don't think there is another 15 in his league at the moment, that is a fairly solid AB's team the loss of Dane Coles is small chink but Taylor played well last week.

I hope the Lions can turn this around but I think this will be another NZ win.
 
I can't help thinking the Lions coaches have thought themselves in circles here. One of the few areas that didn't actually need any tinkering was Te'o's performances at 12. At least last weekend we forced the AB's into a modified gameplan by nullifying SBW and pushing up hard on his outside. 'Hansenball' was the game we wanted them to play. Plus NH ref this week which has generally seen the Lions edge the rucks and penalty count.
This change just invites the kiwis to go back to their usual approach of making easy ground in the 10-12 channel via SBW or an offload to a support runner and then exposing the space that leaves out wide.
 
It seems that Gatland has rather messed things up about the "geographical" replacements - either stick with the conviction that they're needed or don't bother calling them up at all. He said he didn't put them on against the Hurricanes because he didn't want to devalue being a Lion, so why invite them onto the tour, they're either good enough (and probably should have been there from the start) or they're not.

I'm taking back my statement of looking forward to catching games when I can, if I happen to have nothing better to do then I might watch the remaining matches but I've not been impressed by the tour so far and Gatland seems to have handled the squad really quite badly. And it still looks like there has been an over-reliance on the Welsh players despite form suggesting there are others with a better claim to the position at the moment. Still I'm hoping that the Lions manage to salvage something from at least one of the remaining games.
 
I admit I am bitter there are no Scots near the XV after Hogg got injured but really Vunipolo? Awful play from him for 5 minutes may have lost this test match. Hard to pick out a Lions player that has played well. Maybe Williams.
 
Yeah but then the commentators say "maku could easily have changed his course and not hit him". Easy to say on the slo-mo, not so much when you're watching such a lump hurtling in full speed.
 
Suspect we'll get a tonking next week as NZ will be proper ****** after losing that! The sour grapes from the NZ press over the next week will be wonderful though :D

Great to even get a win in NZ either way as they're an incredible side.
 
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