Lions 2013 players impressing at RWC

DM360

Would like to see Danny Care in with a shout for SH role, was hugely unlucky to miss out the WC because of the broken toe. He's everything you want in a SH, cheeky, annoying, quick-thinking, stocky and takes no s*** - not to mention I was impressed when he stopped the game for the injured Wales player.

I think the back-row and wings will be very tight competition-wise.

Back row: Warburton, Barclay, Ferris, SOB, Heaslip, Haskell, Faletau, Brown, Lydiate, Croft. A big selection of players who on form can be unstoppable.

Wings: Earls, Bowe, North, Halfpenny, Evans, Trimble, Brew, Ashton.

Fitzgerald could be back on form by then or we could see other playes shift to wing in a bid to make the team, maybe someone like Tuilagi or Foden.

Lots can happen in 2 years though, more than likely one of these will be injured, probably 4 or 5 even, and will miss out - making the selection process a bit easier I suppose

anonymous_joe

Starting for the Lions, on current form;

1. Healy
2. Hartley
3. Jones
4. Gray
5. AWJ
6. Fez
7. Warburton
8. Heaslip or SOB

9. Phillips (all of a sudden, where's he been the last two years?)
10. Sexton

11. Ashton/Bowe/North
12. Roberts
13. Davies
14. Bowe/North/Ashton
15. Kearney

16. Jenkins
17. Cole
18. Strauss
19. POC
20. SOB/Heaslip/Lydiate
21. Whichever Scottish scrum-half is on form
22. Flood
23. North/Bowe/Ashton

Podge_irl

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Starting for the Lions, on current form;

10. Sexton

Eh...Priestland?

I think Sexton will definitely be in the mix and it will come down to those two but at the moment I think the Welshman would be slightly ahead.

dtpc191991

CatFromHue wrote: »

Are they irrelevant to 6 Nations, World Cups, and Tri Nations? Yes.

Do they players want to play and win in them? Very much so yes.

Do the fans want the players to play in them and win? Yes.

As long as the bottom two questions are still yes then the Lions will continue.

And should continue.

roycon

EARLS you must be having a laugh. shouldn't even start on the irish team

thomond2006

Don't get all the calls for Hartley, Best is a far better player. He only turned 29 in August.

Fight_Night

thomond2006 wrote: »

Don't get all the calls for Hartley, Best is a far better player. He only turned 29 in August.

Does look like he's in his late 30's though

Podge_irl

Fight_Night wrote: »

Does look like he's in his late 30's though

He's looked like that since he was about 21 though. Still find it hard to believe he's the age he is.

Easily the stand out candidate for hooker at the moment.

CatFromHue

Having a brother who was in squads before him who also played front row makes people associate Best with the Ireland squad longer than he actually has been.

totallegend

Stuart Barnes Lions 2013 XV:
Halfpenny
North
Tuilagi
Roberts
Ashton
Sexton
Youngs
Faletau
warburton
O'Brien
Gray
Charteris
A Jones
Best
G Jenkins

Hard to argue with most of that

wixfjord

totallegend wrote: »

Stuart Barnes Lions 2013 XV:
Halfpenny
North
Tuilagi
Roberts
Ashton
Sexton
Youngs
Faletau
warburton
O'Brien
Gray
Charteris
A Jones
Best
G Jenkins

Hard to argue with most of that

Good team, but I don't think Charteris, Faletau, Tuilagi and Halfpenny are the required standard for Lions tbh. Give me Lawes, Heaslip, BOD/Davies and Kearney/Hook any day.
That's more of a "Best Lions team of the WC", than a 2013 Lions team.

Brendan97

roycon wrote: »

EARLS you must be having a laugh. shouldn't even start on the irish team

At the start i was in favour of Trimble starting ahead of him, but you can't deny Earls has had a fairly good world cup.

wixfjord

Brendan97 wrote: »

At the start i was in favour of Trimble starting ahead of him, but you can't deny Earls has had a fairly good world cup.

Oh yes you can!
Tries don't necessarily mean he's played well.

Fireball07

totallegend wrote: »

Stuart Barnes Lions 2013 XV:
Halfpenny
North
Tuilagi
Roberts
Ashton
Sexton
Youngs
Faletau
warburton
O'Brien
Gray
Charteris
A Jones
Best
G Jenkins

Hard to argue with most of that

Charteris?? Tbh I think both Davies and Jones are better than him, not to mention Lawes and I think O'Connell could still be going strong.

And I don't think Faletau will be ahead of Ferris/Heaslip, if they're still on form.

Cpt_Blackbeard

wixfjord wrote: »

Oh yes you can!
Tries don't necessarily mean he's played well.

If posters got their way and Trimble and Sexton started for Ireland, who would have scored for us?

durkadurka

We'll never know

totallegend

This is not an Ireland selection thread.

On Barnes' proposed selection, it's hard to argue based on RWC form alone; was Faletau better than Heaslip, Charteris better than Lawes? Yes. People forget that Halfpenny was a Lion two years ago, he's nailed on to be a tourist at least this time around and if he gets sustained game time for Wales at 15 (Lee Byrne looks like he's finished and Hook is not a FB), he could well be in line for a test jersey.

Realistically though, the Lions squad will be based on the 2012-13 HEC and the 2013 Six Nations, still a long way off, but Wales are positioning themselves nicely to have the Lions* share of the seats on the plan, both in terms of performances and age profile.

*pun intended, I'll get my coat.

razorblunt

totallegend wrote: »

This is not an Ireland selection thread.

On Barnes' proposed selection, it's hard to argue based on RWC form alone; was Faletau better than Heaslip, Charteris better than Lawes? Yes. People forget that Halfpenny was a Lion two years ago, he's nailed on to be a tourist at least this time around and if he gets sustained game time for Wales at 15 (Lee Byrne looks like he's finished and Hook is not a FB), he could well be in line for a test jersey.

Realistically though, the Lions squad will be based on the 2012-13 HEC and the 2013 Six Nations, still a long way off, but Wales are positioning themselves nicely to have the Lions* share of the seats on the plan, both in terms of performances and age profile.

*pun intended, I'll get my coat.

I hope you don't take any pride in that!

Cool_CM

It is still a long way away, but the dates for the Lions tour have come out, kicking off with a match in Hong Kong against the Barbarians:

Fixtures wrote:

Date - Match - Location:

Sat, June 1: Lions v Barbarians - Hong Kong
Wed, June 5: Lions v Western Force - Perth
Sat, June 8: Lions v QLD Reds - Brisbane
Wed, June 12: Lions v Combined NSW & Queensland Country - Newcastle
Sat, June 15: Lions v NSW Waratahs - Sydney
Tue, June 18: Lions v ACT Brumbies - Canberra
Sat, June 22: Lions v Australia - Brisbane
Tue, June 25: Lions v Melbourne Rebels - Melbourne
Sat, June 29: Lions v Australia - Melbourne
Sat, July 6: Lions v Australia - Sydney

http://breakingnews.ie/sport/dates-confirmed-for-lions-tour-530116.html

CatFromHue

That fixture list is so much stronger than the last time we were down there.

To jog your memory two of the teams we played games were Western Australia (116-10) and the Queensland Presidents XV (83-6).

This tour could also do a lot for rugby in OZ. Western Force and the Melbourne Rebels will have been in existence a few years then and will hopefully have built up a following. Having a touring B&I Lions team come to town should be a great occasion.

It'll be interesting to see the logistics of this. Look at the first week for example; Hong Kong to Perth is nearly 8 hours and then Perth to Brisbane is nearly 6 hours or so. The travelling quietens down then but games will be coming thick and fast.

thomond2006

What is really different in terms of the club games is the Super 15 sides will be in mid season rather than post season. The Super Rugby season doesn't finish till August IIRC, the mid-year tests are a break in the middle of S15. This year the season as shorter due to the World Cup.

My point is the club games will probably be more difficult now and hopefully the Wallaby squad members will be released for the Western Force and QLD Reds fixture.

Podge_irl

Much stronger opposition then in SA - that can only be of benefit to the squad in the lead up to the tests.

CatFromHue

I'd be surprised if they were released for the Force or Reds games the season has become very long down there now.

To an extent last season but it will be a necessity from next season on for Super rugby teams to actually rest/rotate their squads due to the expanded Super 15 comp, new 4 Nations, and the three test Summer tours. They've never had such a congested fixture list so this will be a first for them.

eigrod

McGeechan not being ruled out to coach the team AGAIN. I dunno, I think they should just bite the bullet and move on.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2011/1129/1224308280151.html

PAUL REES

THE LIONS will appoint a head coach for the 2013 tour to Australia a month after the end of the Six Nations, and they have not ruled out Ian McGeechan taking charge for a fifth time.


McGeechan said at the end of the 2009 trip to South Africa that he did not anticipate being involved in the game full time four years later. He has since become Bath’s director of rugby.

“Geech has not ruled himself out entirely,” said Lions manager Andy Irvine at the announcement of a 10-match 2013 tour that will start in Hong Kong on June 1st against the Barbarians. “I have spoken to him. He is an option.”

Irvine said the Lions coach would have to take a sabbatical of virtually a year if he were employed by a country or club.

“The head coach will have to be free of other commitments,” said Irvine. “He has to be totally unencumbered in the season leading up to the tour. I think the current head coaches of Ireland, Scotland and Wales [Declan Kidney, Andy Robinson and Warren Gatland] would all be available, but the person we choose will not necessarily come from the home unions.

“The 2009 tour was a success on and off the field. The series was lost narrowly and the Lions were unfortunate. Continuity is an important factor when it comes to the management team, especially with such a tight schedule, but there is also a view that it is good to spread the Lions’ experience. It is a dilemma.”

Irvine said the tour would start in Hong Kong to break up the journey, and did not rule out playing Argentina, who join the old Tri-Nations next year, in the future.

The Lions will play all five Australian Super 15 teams, Tests in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney and a fixture against a combined New South Wales and Queensland Country XV. Wallabies coach Robbie Deans will consider making his squad available for the warm-up games.

“You do not want to deny players a special experience like this and decisions will be made on an individual basis,” he said. “Some players never get the chance to face the Lions, because they only visit once every 12 years.”

The 2009 tour was blighted by poor attendances in the warm-up matches, with ticket prices set high and the provincial teams shorn of international players.

totallegend

eigrod wrote: »

McGeechan not being ruled out to coach the team AGAIN. I dunno, I think they should just bite the bullet and move on.

I agree, but then again they need someone who is not in full-time employment elsewhere, so it will have to be either someone who is out of a job or who is in a sort of consultant/director of rugby role.

Cue speculation re Jake White/Clive Woodward...

errlloyd

EOS

justsomebloke

Shaun Edwards?

SARZY

Just had a flick through and its amazing how Paul O'Connell has fallen out of favour with the 'selectors' on here.

Not only will he be on the plane but he will Captain the Lions for the second time.

Podge_irl

SARZY wrote: »

Not only will he be on the plane but he will Captain the Lions for the second time.

There is not even the smallest chance of that happening.

thomond2006

POC isn't even guaranteed a place in the team.

Warburton is surely the favourite to the captain.