of course this is pure speculation
but who would deliberately pick a dirt tracker?
Do you really, really reckon that the likes of Shaw, Worsley and Matthew Rees were picked to do anything other than play midweek?
TOL is a grandslam winning, HC winner and had every chance of starting as he is part of an extremely sucessful half back pairing for club and country- exactly the sort of success the lions are looking for
TOL had very little chance of starting a test for the Lions. Phillips was always nailed on for that role. He's young and his chance will come, but I wouldn't say he set the world alight during the 6N this year, tbh.
Quinlan is also a HC winner, and specialises in being a gritty bastard who always plays on the fringes of the law
Quinlan is a dirty bastard who is perfect to soak up the pain that the midweek games were going to dole out, allowing the first choice in that position to rest and stay injury free. Do you genuinely reckon a man who is a fringe player for his country was likely to start for the Lions? As I say, Croft is a far, far better player.
personally, i reckon its players like that you'd want in the face of the baby eating, midweek side, high-veldt beef gorgers who want to break British and Irish bones so they can boast about it in flyblown bars in windswept farming communities in their dotage
Fixed for you
earls is a good player who shouldnt be judged on this one game
of course when you get these players together it takes a while for them to gel and start performing
Sorry RF, but yer green sunnies are sitting a bit too high on the bridge of your nose. What else can he be judged on
on this tour? Earls was utterly, irridemably shithouse on Saturday. Garbage. He will have lost the confidence not only of his fellow players and coaches, but also his good self. Like TOL he's one for the future, but the Bokke test side will eat him alive, and for that reason, barring injury he is very unlikely to get near a test XXII
lies damned lies and statistics:
up against the wall, well behind with the prospect of losing the inaugural match these players put 14 points on the clock in 12 minutes, despite being a rusty mis-firing outfit
Against a third tier side - that's equivalent to the tier below the ML - made up of journeymen and kids, most of whom have never played representative rugby. Don't forget that the Royal XV were also a scratch side, but one that was lightyears shitter than the Lions.
thats their class showing through
No, that's Byrne's class showing through. He won that game singlehandedly.
a bit more acclimatisation, practice and time and we'll have an exceptional team fully capable of humbling the springboks
have faith
Good god! What are you on, and how do I get hold of it? Just pm me the details if you'd be so kind
