British and Irish Lions vs Western Force, Wed 5 June 11am; Sky Sports 1

melekalikimaka

melekalikimaka wrote: »

i didnt see it but 11/11 and some tough ones by the sound of it.

understatement.

Incredible display of kicking prowess. Split the posts every time

Buer

Is there any video footage to back up the alleged bite? Didn't get to see the first half. If there's no video footage then there should be a bite mark. If there's no bite mark, I'd be very dubious of the claim. This is the fella who was saying before the game he wanted to hurt the Lions and was planning tricks to get under their skin. He was a bit of a d*ck throughout the game and certainly lived up to the impression his comments gave.

With all that said, if there's footage of Healy biting, he shouldn't see a rugby pitch again this summer.

SlickRic

Cole and Best may well have played themselves out of any chance of a test place.

Ian Evans too. AWJ still has a chance, as though he was unspectacular, he was generally fine.

Heaslip is just about the form backrower in Europe right now, but dislodging Faleteau from Gatland's team will still be some feat.

will he just go Faleteau at 6, with Heaslip at 8? is there room for O'Brien with Tipuric there? and what about Lydiate, seen as Gatland is obviously a huge fan. so many fúcking combinations he can go with!

Murray was fine, but he's not dislodging Phillips. he's proving himself an able understudy though.

Sexton and Halfpenny are nailed on.

you'd say on most tours, that performance would almost nail Tuilagi and BOD on as the Test centres, but Roberts is a beast, and Davies is no slouch, though i think BOD will take the jersey. IMO, it'll be Roberts/BOD, with Tuilagi as the impact player, with Davies biting at BOD's heels.

North will start the Tests IMO. I also think Bowe did fine with the ball he got, so he v Cuthbert will still be interesting. in fact, none of the starting backline did themselves any harm. it's half the forwards who have a lot to think about.

Neil3030

I like Ian McGeechan on the Sky panel. Hope he's around for the whole tour.

Buer

Deleted User wrote: »

I thought Tuilagi worked really well with BOD.

BOD's second try with the reverse to Tuilagi from Sexton from deep before feeding BOD was a thing of great beauty and wonder. Jamie Roberts just had the gauntlet thrown down to him.

Principal Skinner

thomond2006 wrote: »

Saying he kicked well doesn't justify it at all.

Eleven out of eleven, some of which were touchline kicks. Astounding.

Yeah it was great kicking but what else did he do. Like giving MOTM to a hooker for mailin every throw in

Swiwi

Principal Skinner wrote: »

No way was he MOTM. He kicked well but that's it. SOB or heaslip for me

Bet that's what the Welsh forum is saying too. I would have given it to Heaslip - but there's no convincing some people about HP. Now if only he played for Leinster and Kearney was Welsh...

Ruck Inspector

every centre looks good next to BOD, its no coincedence

Principal Skinner

Swiwi wrote: »

Bet that's what the Welsh forum is saying too. I would have given it to Heaslip - but there's no convincing some people about HP. Now if only he played for Leinster and Kearney was Welsh...

Well the sky team didn't even mention 1/2 penny as a contender so I'm not alone in this. It's nothing to do with the country they're from. I just don think a player should get MOTM purely on place kicking which is what happened

Chabals Beard

Just back from English Paper 1 ! Can someone give me the low down? How did Murray play?

Ruck Inspector

Ruck Inspector wrote: »

every centre looks good next to BOD, its no coincedence

While there may be some truth in this, BOD can only make himself available for a pass. The Inside Centre still has to make the right decision, and through the pass.

Tuilagi seems a lot more focussed on getting others over the gainline at 12 than he does at 13.

He's also fairly dangerous in open space. I'd like to see the pair again in a Test.

FrannoFan

Halfpenny was excellent today,he was too sharp for the referee when he called the mark on their chip through.
Heaslip showed his quality

Warburton captain call is reminiscent of POC captain call four years ago. People in same positions playing really well. Tipuric and sob would both be in test team based on opening two games. Warburton will have to be special against a strong reds.

irishbucsfan

Ian Evans didn't play badly. He just did what he does brilliantly, at his usual standard.

It's just a question of if that is something we are looking from. I think it's something Wales need and he's vital for them, but this is SH rugby now. If we have trouble from their back row in the first test I think Evans could start the 2nd, but I can't see him starting the 1st.

I think 10 and 15 are the only real positions that are nailed on. Possibly 13. I think Heaslip is in pole position as well.

Really want to see Sexton/Roberts/BOD. Tuilagi looks a great option there though.

Where are the guys who were saying BOD had no chance of starting for the Lions now?

SlickRic

Gatland:

"It was a good workout, particularly for those having their first starts. The guys are still tired by the flight but are getting up to speed quickly with their preparation. But it was good and overall I'm very pleased.

"We talked about keeping our patience and at half time we talked about being ruthless and finishing them off. We kept composure and played for 80 minutes. There were a couple of defensive errors but we will work on that and tidy it up."

Hagz

Chabals Beard wrote: »

Just back from English Paper 1 ! Can someone give me the low down? How did Murray play?

He was decent in the first half, though a few of his passes were at head height. I thought he steadied himself in the second half. Though in saying that, Ben Youngs looked great when he came off the bench.

Webbs

No chance of seeing the O'Brien Heaslip Croft backrow come Test time, none of them were exactly attacking the breakdown, against better opposition the Lions would really have struggled in that area. Thought Cole was really poor as well in this area, AWJ, Evans and Best seemed to be only ones interested in doing hard graft

seanm92

Principal Skinner wrote: »

Yeah it was great kicking but what else did he do. Like giving MOTM to a hooker for mailin every throw in

Not really the same IMO. He saved a try too by reading a good grubber from the force flyhalf, he scored 24? points, I think he probably deserves it, the kicking performance was awesome, as good as any I've seen, although whether he'd be as good in a test game is debatable

Buer

Front five didn't do themselves any huge favours today. Best is probably out of contention now already barring him putting in a huge performance if he's given another opportunity which he might now be.

Murray did well enough but not enough to put pressure on Phillips. If Gatland is looking for two different scrum halves to offer different options, Murray is going to miss out on the test 23.

SOB and Heaslip are in pole position after today's showing although, with Warburton as captain, he could just be playing for runner up. I was a little concerned with his calf cramping up again there near the end.

BOD did well. Outperformed Davies who didn't pay badly himself. I'd expect Gatland to perhaps get a look at Roberts and Tuilagi together once though and wouldn't rule that out yet either. Bowe was good; I think himself and Cuthbert will have a straight shoot out. North is too much of a weapon and central to the attack to be left out.

There's only 4 games now before the test series. The last one will be the test team getting a run together. The QLD/NSW game will be for the dirt trackers. I think we'll see a relatively strong team on Saturday, a dirt track team on the following game, the next one a play off for any close spots and the last one will be the test team getting a run together.

Clemenza

Hope Healy is ok

andrewdcs

Any online highlights yet ? the lions official site has v little. Esp Healy injury / biting etc.

19543261

Neil3030 wrote: »

I like Ian McGeechan on the Sky panel. Hope he's around for the whole tour.

He's on another level to the other commentators, no doubt.

Buer

Chabals Beard wrote: »

Just back from English Paper 1 ! Can someone give me the low down? How did Murray play?

Decent. Got more ponderous the closer he got to the opposition line but overall did well. Not enough to put pressure on Phillips though. Will be interesting to see how Youngs gets on at the weekend.

Tox56

Webbs wrote: »

No chance of seeing the O'Brien Heaslip Croft backrow come Test time, none of them were exactly attacking the breakdown, against better opposition the Lions would really have struggled in that area. Thought Cole was really poor as well in this area, AWJ, Evans and Best seemed to be only ones interested in doing hard graft

Because generally they didn't need to. Neither SOB or Heaslip would be Pocock at the breakdown but at 6 or 8 they would be better than most in those positions. If a Tipuric or Warburton was there too I'd say it would be a very strong backrow at the breakdown

irishbucsfan

Webbs wrote: »

No chance of seeing the O'Brien Heaslip Croft backrow come Test time, none of them were exactly attacking the breakdown, against better opposition the Lions would really have struggled in that area. Thought Cole was really poor as well in this area, AWJ, Evans and Best seemed to be only ones interested in doing hard graft

If there is a battle to be had at the breakdown, SOB will stand a very good chance of winning it. There wasn't today. But look at what SOB did against NZ last summer.

Chabals Beard

Anyone know how long it takes that YouTube channel to put you games?

seanm92

andrewdcs wrote: »

Any online highlights yet ? the lions official site has v little. Esp Healy injury / biting etc.

Haven't found any so far, I'd say you won't find any unless you're watching Sky Sports News, until the evening at least. Re: the biting, they've looked over it but TBH you can't tell anything from the replays

Ruck Inspector

Jamie Heaslip top tackler (12) and, by some distance, made most metres (118) with his 16 carries, five of which were clean breaks.

FrannoFan

Stats on heaslip are unreal.top carrier,top meters run,top tackler,top clean breaks,top defenders beaten.

Buer

irishbucsfan wrote: »

If there is a battle to be had at the breakdown, SOB will stand a very good chance of winning it. There wasn't today. But look at what SOB did against NZ last summer.

Exactly. Why would they attack the breakdown when they had the bulk of possession and WF were committing numbers? They let them have it and the mistakes nearly always came. It was a tactic and not exactly an unusual one for Gatland, either.

Houdini wha?