Blair called up to Lions.

danthefan

On the BBC ticker.

Stealdo

Just saw it on sky as well - probably as expected, although I'd still have liked to see a Danny Care type there (discipline aside) just to offer something different. Blair on form is the best SH option we have I think so no complaints it gives him a chance to get a bit of form out there.

MG

Fine player and I think he could really shine. I know he had a poor six nations but would not be surprised if he forced his way on to the test side.

stephen_n

At least it gives a game changing option from the bench!

Absolute joke.He only going as a token scot because of them bitching.He is in crap form and has been for some time.

Danny Care has been in fine form and I dont know how they didnt pick him,he is far superior to Blair.

This lack of picking on form is also clearly a prerequisite to some clown like Tindall getting picked ahead of Darcy aswell.

danthefan

Bentlee Lively Quadrilateral wrote: »

Absolute joke.He only going as a token scot because of them bitching.He is in crap form and has been for some time.

Danny Care has been in fine form and I dont know how they didnt pick him,he is far superior to Blair.

This lack of picking on form is also clearly a prerequisite to some clown like Tindall getting picked ahead of Darcy aswell.

Blair has come into decent form, Care was totally outplayed by Hodgson the other day.

zAbbo

Form is only one of the attributes, I guess experience and leadership have helped Blair.

No real complaints, if he gets his head down and gets a chance to shine - it's not a far stretch that he'd make the test jersey.

danthefan

danthefan wrote: »

Blair has come into decent form, Care was totally outplayed by Hodgson the other day.

Yeah I agree Care was outplayed,shocking against LI but he has been in good form for a good amount of time,while Blair seems to have gone down at a shocking rate.I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt.

danthefan

Bentlee Lively Quadrilateral wrote: »

Yeah I agree Care was outplayed,shocking against LI but he has been in good form for a good amount of time,while Blair seems to have gone down at a shocking rate.I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt.

But Blair is a proven test rugby performer as opposed to Care, surely he deserves benefit of the doubt too? He has actually been very good for Embra in the last few weeks.

anonymous_joe

Bentlee Lively Quadrilateral wrote: »

Absolute joke.He only going as a token scot because of them bitching.He is in crap form and has been for some time.

Danny Care has been in fine form and I dont know how they didnt pick him,he is far superior to Blair.

This lack of picking on form is also clearly a prerequisite to some clown like Tindall getting picked ahead of Darcy aswell.

I couldn't disagree more.

I think the best two scrum-halves not being picked our Cusiter and Blair. Now Blair's in at least.

Crash

In the recent Leinster vs. Edinburgh match, the reason Edinburgh played so well was mostly thanks to Blair, he got the backline moving very quickly. Disappointing 6N but coming back into form at the moment IMO, and a proven Test performer in the past.

death1234567

Blair should have been in there ahead of O'leary anyway.

anonymous_joe

death1234567 wrote: »

Blair should have been in there ahead of O'leary anyway.

Were I McGeech I'd only have used ROG with O'Leary to protect him.

And he's a great shield to stop rampaging running back-row forwards, something South Africa specialise in.

anonymous_joe

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Were I McGeech I'd only have used ROG with O'Leary to protect him.

And he's a great shield to stop rampaging running back-row forwards, something South Africa specialise in.

Mike Philips?

anonymous_joe

Bentlee Lively Quadrilateral wrote: »

Mike Philips?

I hadn't forgotten him. I assumed originally those two would be rotated as needed.

Stealdo

Can anything be inferred from the fact that they haven't named a replacement for Shanklin while they're at it. I know it took a long time to decide on a replacement for TOL, but it seems they'd have had time to get together by now. Are they waiting for the GP final to have another look at Armitage or Vesty? Can hardly wait till after the HEC final.

Stealdo

Stealdo wrote: »

Can anything be inferred from the fact that they haven't named a replacement for Shanklin while they're at it. I know it took a long time to decide on a replacement for TOL, but it seems they'd have had time to get together by now. Are they waiting for the GP final to have another look at Armitage or Vesty? Can hardly wait till after the HEC final.

Apperantly Geech doesnt get along with Darcy,something to do with Darcy apperantly refusing to play the final match on the 2005 tour?

Armatage was ****e at 13 for LI,even thought they clearly put him there to increase his Lions chances.He cost his team a certain try because he was too greedy.His distribution skills are not good enough.

il gatto

It was going to be a Scot down to the fact they have two very good SHs and that they only had 2 tourists. Blair is a great player, and even though the Lions are up against it in the forwards, I still think he will be given some sort of platform to play off for a change, probably not from scrums, but maybe lineouts and hopefully rucks. I think Munsters exit from the HEC scuppered Stringers chances.

It's alot of matches and few to go even before it starts. Expect more casualties before the tour hits the business end.

Stealdo

Bentlee Lively Quadrilateral wrote: »

Apperantly Geech doesnt get along with Darcy,something to do with Darcy apperantly refusing to play the final match on the 2005 tour?

Hmm, the story goes that D'Arcy was pretty p'ed off with the way that Woodward had split the tour into two separate groups and that he only got a look in when the series was lost. Woodward effectively through a game to a few guys in the final test that he had no time for previously. D'Arcy apparently told him what he could do with it. I personally think he had a point, but a lot of people would say that regardless of the circumstances he turned down a chance to play a test for the lions and shouldn't get another one.
I don't think McGeechan was involved in that tour (could be wrong) so not sure how he would view it.

Bentlee Lively Quadrilateral wrote: »

Armatage was ****e at 13 for LI,even thought they clearly put him there to increase his Lions chances.He cost his team a certain try because he was too greedy.His distribution skills are not good enough.

Didn't see LI on Saturday unfortunately.

There's not a lot of other options out there that they will get another meaningful chance to look at before they'll have to announce someone.
Are there other serious contenders? Evans maybe, surely not Tindall.

Ciaran-Irl

Stealdo wrote: »

I don't think McGeechan was involved in that tour (could be wrong) so not sure how he would view it.

Yeah, Geech was an Assistant Coach. Think you might be right.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_British_and_Irish_Lions_tour_to_New_Zealand

Serenity Now!

Bentlee Lively Quadrilateral wrote: »

Absolute joke.He only going as a token scot because of them bitching.He is in crap form and has been for some time.

Danny Care has been in fine form and I dont know how they didnt pick him,he is far superior to Blair.

This lack of picking on form is also clearly a prerequisite to some clown like Tindall getting picked ahead of Darcy aswell.

Its also important to pick a player who will fit into the squad. They're on tour for seven weeks after all. Danny Care can barely fit into the England squad!

Depp

Hu R Dey Gonna Bring 4 Shanklin And Quinny(in case)

Serenity Now!

Depp wrote: »

Hu R Dey Gonna Bring 4 Shanklin And Quinny(in case)

Obvious choices are d'Arcy and Croft with the definte being the latter as Quinny is effed.

CatFromHue

i thought mcgeechan was coach of the mid week team on the last tour.
it was pretty obvious on that tour that woodward had his test team picked very earlier on, say december 2003!
did anyone watch the living with lions form 2005, i think woodward was featured on it maybe twice, and the second time was to say how hard it was to tour nz.
its fair to say mcgeechan learned alot from that tour, basically how not to do things.
less than 2 weeks before they leave now, so they'd want to name shanklins replacement soon, otherwise he wont have time to pack!

zAbbo

Stealdo wrote: »

Hmm, the story goes that D'Arcy was pretty p'ed off with the way that Woodward had split the tour into two separate groups and that he only got a look in when the series was lost. Woodward effectively through a game to a few guys in the final test that he had no time for previously. D'Arcy apparently told him what he could do with it. I personally think he had a point, but a lot of people would say that regardless of the circumstances he turned down a chance to play a test for the lions and shouldn't get another one.
I don't think McGeechan was involved in that tour (could be wrong) so not sure how he would view it.

D'Arcy played the last midweek game 4 days before the last test, in tradition of the tour - those selected to play that game, don't play the final test. I'd be very surprised if this was not communicated to the players.

As the story goes, D'Arcy was asked was he in or not during the breakfast on Wednesday without the option of getting a physio once over...

That whole tour was a complete mess from start to finish, surprised Woodward managed to out do Henry's 2001 effort.

leeroybrown

For me Blair is the right choice. His quality, experience and recent club form are enough to overlook a poor 6N by his standards. I don't think the fact that he's a Scot would come into it unless it was a 50:50 call.

I don't quite get the suggestion that Care should be in. I've seen a decent bit of him this year and while he's a dangerous all action player I don't think he necessarily has the experience, temperament or game management skills to be the first choice. I quite like him as a player but don't think he's the ideal choice for a Lions tour. He also hurt his chances with his England 'display' in the 6N.

Stealdo

zAbbo wrote: »

D'Arcy played the last midweek game 4 days before the last test, in tradition of the tour - those selected to play that game, don't play the final test. I'd be very surprised if this was not communicated to the players.

As the story goes, D'Arcy was asked was he in or not during the breakfast on Wednesday without the option of getting a physio once over...

That whole tour was a complete mess from start to finish, surprised Woodward managed to out do Henry's 2001 effort.

That sounds about right - agreed the whole thing was an absolute shambles.

I didn't remember McGeechan being one of the million or so assistant coaches at the time.

il gatto

I suppose it depends of what Shanklin's role was to be. If they were looking at him as a mid week outside center and/or back up to O'Driscoll for the tests, D'Arcy, although able to play either position, would not be ideal (on paper), being primarily an inside center. If they were considering playing Shanklin inside O'Driscoll, D'Arcy is perfect.
Shanklin has said he thinks D'Arcy or Tindall are the most likely. Lets hope it's D'Arcy. It should be. Better at 12 or 13 than Tindall ever was (imo).
Fingers crossed for Quinlan later today. Did a stupid thing, but what a way for a player nearing the end of his career to lose a shot at a Lions tour.

leeroybrown

leeroybrown wrote: »

I don't quite get the suggestion that Care should be in. I've seen a decent bit of him this year and while he's a dangerous all action player I don't think he necessarily has the experience, temperament or game management skills to be the first choice. I quite like him as a player but don't think he's the ideal choice for a Lions tour. He also hurt his chances with his England 'display' in the 6N.

Ellis played most of the 6 nations for England.Care didnt get much game time as I recall.

I just look at Blair and when you say experience and as others have said leadership,he didnt have either on the big stage in the 6 nations.

Special players/captains like Bod and Poc even when they play bad are still good,Mike Blair was shocking this year and as far as im concerned Care is a far more dangerous player and im just disapointed Blair has goten the call.

I will hold my hand up if Im wrong but I would have brought Care.
Doesnt really matter anyway,Mike Philips is the man for the job but Care would have been handy to bring off the bench.

Webbs

Everyone pretty much agreed that R Jones being left out of the tour was the correct decision as he was off form even though he would be a good leader even with the dirttrackers.
All along the mantra had been from the Lions management that they would pick on form and yet they go with Blair who has maybe played a handful of decent games since christmas. Not sure what the thinking is but does smack of upping the scots involvement.
I personally think that there is a few players, Blair, Care, Peel that all would have been in with a shout. Peel especially must be kicking himself for ever going to Sale as the 3rd Lions place would have been his I suspect if he had had any run of games

Stev_o

Webbs wrote: »

Everyone pretty much agreed that R Jones being left out of the tour was the correct decision as he was off form even though he would be a good leader even with the dirttrackers.
All along the mantra had been from the Lions management that they would pick on form and yet they go with Blair who has maybe played a handful of decent games since christmas. Not sure what the thinking is but does smack of upping the scots involvement.
I personally think that there is a few players, Blair, Care, Peel that all would have been in with a shout. Peel especially must be kicking himself for ever going to Sale as the 3rd Lions place would have been his I suspect if he had had any run of games

Peel forget that Peel was cack for Wales and Scarlets which led him to move to Sale.

il gatto

Stev_o wrote: »

Peel forget that Peel was cack for Wales and Scarlets which led him to move to Sale.

Yeah. He's had a few very good matches, but his repuatation is built on a few seasons back. He may come good again, but for now, he doesn't deserve a place on the Lions, even ahead of Blair. I think he saw the writing on the wall for Scarlets. Sale just underachieved as usual. Probably was still right to get away from a sinking ship like Scarlets though.

thomond2006

SSN Interview: http://www.skysports.com/video/clips/0,23791,13862_5248810,00.html