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British and Irish Lions 2017

starfish said:
At least one of the Gray bros for Henderson/Kruis/Lawes. Finn Russell for Biggar. Visser for Nowell. Hamish Watson for any Welsh/Irish flanker.

Eta That was done in a hurry :)
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The Gray Brothers bit I agree with. Finn Russell is, I think, marginal. He's pure flakey - brilliant on his day, shit when not. Biggar has been drafted in to provide dog and stability to the midweek side, a role I think he's better suited to than Russell. Russell should either be in as a Test player or not at all and given he's the third best OH off that rank I think the decision is right. Visser/Nowell - maybe. Hamish Watson - no way.
 
I think half the problem for Scotland was the meek nature of your total capitulation against England. A lot of your standout players just didn't turn up, or worse, ran and hid. You were smashed in every department. Gatland would have been watching that with keen interest.

E2A: Dunbar, whose form has been better than J Davies is a case in point here. He should, on that form, have been on the plane. However, turning into a turnstile with a massive neon 'welcome' sign above his head as Joseph skipped through your midfield seemingly at will probably put a big red score through his name there and then.
 
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Also this - poached shamelessly from Gwlad:

It's all about combinations. The best Lions performances of the past two tours - the 2nd test in SA in 2009 and the final test in Oz in 2013 - were reliant on existing units. in that SA game, the front row was Welsh, the back 3 Irish, 9-10-12 Welsh. With no time to mould a team, coaches (especially unimaginative coaches) are likely to fall back on combinations. I have an inkling that's why Biggar goes, as there are no Scots between 8-13. Moriarty can slot in alongside the Welsh backrowers, so gets a spot which might have gone to a Scot. Henderson gets the last 'row spot ahead of Gray as he could have an Irish hooker throwing to him and Irish props and backrowers supporting him (and an Irish 9 to tap to).
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bendeus said:
I think half the problem for Scotland was the meek nature of your total capitulation against England. A lot of your standout players just didn't turn up, or worse, ran and hid. You were smashed in every department. Gatland would have been watching that with keen interest.

E2A: Dunbar, whose form has been better than J Davies is a case in point here. He should, on that form, have been on the plane. However, turning into a turnstile with a massive neon 'welcome' sign above his head as Joseph skipped through your midfield seemingly at will probably put a big red score through his name there and then.
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That was a difficult match where we lost several players to head injuries & had to reshuffle our back line but it didnt help.
 
starfish said:
That was a difficult match where we lost several players to head injuries & had to reshuffle our back line but it didnt help.
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Yeah. I get that. Sorry, I think you have every reason to feel aggrieved given your relative success this 6N, particularly against two sides with higher representation than you.

However, knowing how Gatland works and how he thinks does help here. He prizes defence and reliability above all things and prefers to operate with 'knowns'. The likes of Russell and Dunbar will have done enough to sow sufficient seeds of doubt in his mind that he will have gone for the (for him) tried and tested.

As for Watson - a couple of stellar 6N performances aside I just don't think he's yet done enough to justify himself in what is probably the second most competitive position on the pitch. His time will come, and sooner rather than later if there are injuries. Same goes for Grays, Launchbury, Hartley et all. Wouldn't be surprised to see a good few of them finish the tour, potentially even as test players.
 
1927 said:
Fuck off. He's a better player than Warbs, who will be crocked by first test anyway. He's prob the best back row in NH right now.
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Nah. The Breadman is the best 7 we´ve got, and I´m a big fan of Tips!

You´re right about Wearbs being made of glass though.
 
One of my best mates at school is Warburton's dad. I see him whenever I go back to Cardiff and only worked out that he was his dad a couple of years ago :facepalm:
 
bendeus said:
Moriarty, Biggar and J. Davies are, I think, the controversial selections. The first two are blatant dirt trackers who don't mind the rough and tumble and physicality. Davies is probably the second best 13 available, which says more about our paucity of options there than it does about bias.
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Pretty much though I'd add Halfpenny given his performances this year as well (though the one I'm least fussed about is Moriarty).

Overall, not too bad a selection (though Launchbury should've been in - hopefully he still makes it over) and better than I was fearing (especially when hearing the Roberts in, Joseph out rumours)

Hopefully it means EJ will give Wade a shot for the Argie tour
 
gawkrodger said:
Pretty much though I'd add Halfpenny given his performances this year as well (though the one I'm least fussed about is Moriarty).

Overall, not too bad a selection (though Launchbury should've been in - hopefully he still makes it over) and better than I was fearing (especially when hearing the Roberts in, Joseph out rumours)

Hopefully it means EJ will give Wade a shot for the Argie tour
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1/2p also selected for the midweek side, imo. Again, defensively incredibly solid, brilliant kicker of the ball, keeps the scoreboard ticking over from anywhere up to halfway. You can see where I'm going with this, I'm sure :)
 
bendeus said:
What's your objection? Is it along the flat track bully line?
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I think he's a brilliant Munster number 8. Lacks a bit of craft at international level as number 8. When's he's picked at 6 for Ireland he continues to pkay as a number 8 and fucks the balance of the backrow with his non existent breakdown skills.

But I'm happy to be corrected. Better rugby brains than mine don't agree.

From an Irish point of view I think Best is lucky and Zebo unlucky.
 
The response on social media has been a bit ott. Some English and Scottish fans going into meltdown. For me I think gatland has picked mostly in form Welsh players in most of the selections. Yet some people are going nuts which I don't understand why. They seem to be comparing the 6N as the measure of inclusion and club rugby doesn't seem to be factored into their rage.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 
Grandma Death said:
The response on social media has been a bit ott. Some English and Scottish fans going into meltdown. For me I think gatland has picked mostly in form Welsh players in most of the selections. Yet some people are going nuts which I don't understand why. They seem to be comparing the 6N as the measure of inclusion and club rugby doesn't seem to be factored into their rage.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
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The other thing to consider, is that he was not selecting a team to play 6N rugby. He was picking a team to play Warrenball against Team Adidas. In the same way that certain players wouldn't work together in a football team, the same goes for rugby. He was picking a squad to play a certain style of rugby! As great as they were. Even some of the players of the golden era of Welsh rugby in the 70s wouldn't have made this squad because they aren't the sort of players Garland picks.
 
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