British and Irish Lions

[1927]

an hour ago, i would have argued with you

As far as I am concrened he should not have gone on tour. After the eye gouging accustaions he proved he was not fit to lead the Lions.

Strange as it may seem and as much as we have been outplayed we should actually be leading this. Two very close calls for tries and missed penalties would have given us the lead!

 

[Phenotypic Dai]

Strange as it may seem and as much as we have been outplayed we should actually be leading this. Two very close calls for tries and missed penalties would have given us the lead!

This is very true.

Despite being completely rudderless for large sections of the game, we could nick this in the last 15 min if we get our act together.

 

[1927]

All Welsh front row and we are actually pushing the Boks!!!

 

[mattie]

nugget on. great player

 

[Phenotypic Dai]

About bloody time too.

Let's have another one then please.

 

[1927]

Fucking Monye, misses two tries and doesnt pass it out. Win from here and we'll win 3-0, we'll break the Boks, aint gonna happen tho.

 

[1927]

Bring on the mayhem!!

What a fucking game. we should actually be out of site!

 

[david dissadent]

 

[Phenotypic Dai]

Heh-he.

Grandstand finish.

C'mon!

 

[TrippyLondoner]

Good game this now eh.

 

[Mapped]

nice drop....cheers mate!

 

[TrippyLondoner]

Just glad they didn't lose embarressingly in the end, great comeback even if we dont win.

 

[1927]

Atleast the score was not embarrassing in the end. Ultimately Monye two chances, Philips chance and missed pens by Jones cost us a big win.

 

[Red Faction]

As far as I am concrened he should not have gone on tour. After the eye gouging accustaions he proved he was not fit to lead the Lions.

harsh and unfair

the only eye gouging directed at POC that i saw was that single photo posted by bendy, quinlan was criminal
the captaincy call was always 50:50 between him an BOD
who else would you have picked?

Strange as it may seem and as much as we have been outplayed we should actually be leading this. Two very close calls for tries and missed penalties would have given us the lead!

credit where its due- south africa are an excellent team
sure the ref didnt do us any favours but this is it- you have to take your chances and be clinical
but we just werent

the key was basically the scrum
that was effectively a penalty machine

but in the 2nd half we at least did ourselves justice

 

[1927]

You actually have to questionj the decison making by the coaches. It was obvious from the first scrum that Vickery was out of his depth and should be changed. Had the decision been taking then, a barve one I admit, then apart from the superior performance in the scrums it would also have saved atleast 3 points form penalties that he gave away. Had we been just three points closer we would not have needed a scrum at the end and could have kicked for goal.

Lions fitness levels were awesome to be fair and could be telling next week.
Apart from the addition of Adam J I cant believe the improvemnt when Ress came on. That was a revelation. Selection for the second test will be interesting. Does Adam start or do we leave him on the bench to have an impact and start with Sheridan, same with Rees and Nugget. I hope to god Ickle ahs a stormer on wednesday because an in form SW would have waltzed in for a hat full today. Hope Byrne isnt too badly injured although Carnage was a very able replacement and if both fit I'd go for Carnage on the wing.

 

[Red Faction]

what did you make of the springboks rolling maul?

personally, i need to see the replays but something just wasnt right about it
a little bit too truck and trailer?

their line out was colossal

the winners: jamie roberts, BOD, Kearney, adam jones, tom croft and tommy bowe

the losers: vickery, POC, byrne (hopefully he'll be ok, otherwise we're in deep trouble) mears, monye- needs to look up and spot passes

the next test selection will be interesting to say the least

i feel a bit silly for criticizing the bench before the match, they very nearly won it for us

 

[slaar]

You actually have to questionj the decison making by the coaches. It was obvious from the first scrum that Vickery was out of his depth and should be changed. Had the decision been taking then, a barve one I admit, then apart from the superior performance in the scrums it would also have saved atleast 3 points form penalties that he gave away. Had we been just three points closer we would not have needed a scrum at the end and could have kicked for goal.

Lions fitness levels were awesome to be fair and could be telling next week.
Apart from the addition of Adam J I cant believe the improvemnt when Ress came on. That was a revelation. Selection for the second test will be interesting. Does Adam start or do we leave him on the bench to have an impact and start with Sheridan, same with Rees and Nugget. I hope to god Ickle ahs a stormer on wednesday because an in form SW would have waltzed in for a hat full today. Hope Byrne isnt too badly injured although Carnage was a very able replacement and if both fit I'd go for Carnage on the wing.

Really frustrating game: if only Jones had kicked the penalties early; if only we'd started with the Welsh front row; if only Monye had finished one of three chances...

Totally agree that the coaches got the front row BADLY wrong, and should have changed. Vickery was destroyed and it knocked our first half totally off. Back row were fine, and Croft took his two tries well. Monye should have finished better but some great defending.

Roberts and O'Driscoll were out of this world, making ground and space every time. And fitness was fantastic.

We've got our work cut out now, but it's not impossible.

And I was right about needing an in form Shane Williams! Really hope he finds it soon...

 

[slaar]

what did you make of the springboks rolling maul?

personally, i need to see the replays but something just wasnt right about it
a little bit too truck and trailer?

Agreed. And I should have added, the ref had a shocker (not least because he couldn't understand the video ref so got the first Monye decision wrong).

 

[Red Faction]

in fairness, yes the language barrier cost us a scrum
but vickery would probably have got pinged in it, and we'd be on the wrong side of a penalty, instead of just a 22 drop out

 

[slaar]

From the Guardian:

The full-back Lee Byrne was a late fitness concern after pulling out of the pre-match warm-up and he did not last until half-time, with Rob Kearney introduced at full-back two minutes before the interval.

So that explains it. Recurrence of foot injury. Hope to goodness Hook is back for the second test if Byrne isn't fit.

 

[Juice Terry]

Vickery got seriously pwned. Monye should have scored at least one, very poor finishing. Mears very disappointing as well.

Us poms only get 4 players in the test team and its all our fault again

Start with A Jones and Kearney next game.

Don't think De Villiers will make the mistake of taking off his best six players with 20 to ago again.

 

[DaRealSpoon]

I'll say right now that Roberts is the best centre in the world at the moment.. bar none! Nuff said really, we owned SA in the centre.

Now, yes Vickery didn't have a great game. In fairness, alot of it was the ref not spotting that 'the beast' wasn't going in straight every time. Can't believe that wasn't flagged.

Where was the yellow card that someone on the SA side so thoroughly deserved in the last 20 mins or so??

POC, still no real leadership. At the moment AWJ is more of a captain, after O' driscoll, than he is. Open your fuckin mouth O' Connell!!

We could have won it, but then we could have easily lost by more. Shame.

M Williams in as a starter for the next test please..

 

[Karac]

Vickery got seriously pwned.:.

Just watching the re-run on a stream-Vickerys getting pwned by the beast-but is it legal?

 

[Juice Terry]

Just watching the re-run on a stream-Vickerys getting pwned by the beast-but is it legal?

You could probably argue that Mtawarira wasn't driving straight but no way a player of Vickery's standing should be popped out of every scrum like that awesome performance by the saffa loosehead.

 

[Karac]

You could probably argue that Mtawarira wasn't driving straight but no way a player of Vickery's standing should be popped out of every scrum like that awesome performance by the saffa loosehead.

Yeah and when Adam Jones came on it never happened again.
Still not a bad performance-maybe we should have won it-it wa very close

 

[Mr Retro]

I'll say right now that Roberts is the best centre in the world at the moment.. bar none! Nuff said really, we owned SA in the centre.

Him and O'Driscoll have really clicked - brillaint pairing and great to watch

Now, yes Vickery didn't have a great game. In fairness, alot of it was the ref not spotting that 'the beast' wasn't going in straight every time. Can't believe that wasn't flagged..

And he was also just standing up and making no effort to actually scrumage. Though when the Welsh ads came on we were on top so they will start next time.

Jones, the 4th best 10 in the world c bendeus is incapable of kicking the ball out of hand. Worst was when, at the death, we had a penalty and went for the corner and a lineout, he gained us about 10 yards and rather than a lineout from 5 yards we were throwing in on the 22. His kicking from the ground was shit too. O'Gara has to start the next match.

 

[1927]

I think its a sad endictment of the quality of this Lions squad that if we had all named our team for today there would have been very little disagreement and we would probably have had 14 or 15 correct, in previosu years 12 would have been a good guess.

The second test team is going to be harder to pick and depends on injuries as much as anything else. Go on the rugby message boards and read enough posts and you will find somebody putting a case to drop every single player in the team!!

 

[DaRealSpoon]

And he was also just standing up and making no effort to actually scrumage. Though when the Welsh ads came on we were on top so they will start next time.

Jones, the 4th best 10 in the world c bendeus is incapable of kicking the ball out of hand. Worst was when, at the death, we had a penalty and went for the corner and a lineout, he gained us about 10 yards and rather than a lineout from 5 yards we were throwing in on the 22. His kicking from the ground was shit too. O'Gara has to start the next match.

Who, the Beast was standing up or Vickery. I've had another look and I really reckon Vicks was was a tad unlucky with alot of those calls, still should have played better but whatever.

I think the the resurgence in the pack had fuck all to do with it being 'all welsh' and more to do with the general feeling around the pitch that they were coming back into the game aaand that SA started to lose the plot, Smits departure etc.

I think its a sad endictment of the quality of this Lions squad that if we had all named our team for today there would have been very little disagreement and we would probably have had 14 or 15 correct, in previosu years 12 would have been a good guess.

The second test team is going to be harder to pick and depends on injuries as much as anything else. Go on the rugby message boards and read enough posts and you will find somebody putting a case to drop every single player in the team!!

Thats an interesting point, it was noted early on that outside of the first 15 we looked a little light... Dunno, I have a feeling there won't be drastic changes for the next test.

The that kick from Jones at the end was truly awful

 

[remedial_gash]

Vickery was prison-shamed by a wily oppo, some calls went against him, but he was shithouse.

Croft had all the fancy dan shit down to a tee, but was found wanting in his primary role as a six... absolutely shithouse.

Wellies was pretty poor by his standards, but those calling for ROG should look at the stats for his starts. If you want the ball to get beyond the 10 shirt then ROG is fucking pointless, he would have nullified our centre pairing.

Gash
x

 

[1927]

Vickery was prison-shamed by a wily oppo, some calls went against him, but he was shithouse.

Croft had all the fancy dan shit down to a tee, but was found wanting in his primary role as a six... absolutely shithouse.

Wellies was pretty poor by his standards, but those calling for ROG should look at the stats for his starts. If you want the ball to get beyond the 10 shirt then ROG is fucking pointless, he would have nullified our centre pairing.

Gash
x

Absolutely, pick ROG and you might as well put Vickery in the centre!!!