Fighting Rugby Withdrawal: Observations from watching old matches

thomond2006 · 19-04-2020 8:21pm

That second test was the best game I've ever watched. It had anything and everything you could expect from a top level test match: The good, bad and ugly.

AbusesToilets · 19-04-2020 10:55pm

Clegg wrote: »

You're dead right about BOD. I've no idea how he wasn't named Lions player of the series. Roberts was excellent, but he was so good because BOD was attracting so many SA defenders and then releasing the ball to him at the right time. It wasn't just to Roberts either. Tom Croft's try in the first test wouldn't be scored without BOD. He got the ball 5m from the try line and the South Africans shat themselves. He attracted three defenders to him and calmly passed the ball to Croft who ran under the posts unopposed.

I'm sure we're all biased towards him given that we're Irish, or at least posting on an Irish forum. But that's the way I see it.

He was amazing, but he probably contributed hugely to them losing the 2nd test. He sparks himself with the "tackle" on Roussow, which leads to him messing up the defensive line that allows Habana to score. Then ROG comes on and it all ends in tears.

Shame, they should've won that series 3-0. Crazy that BOD only won 2 test matches with the Lions.

BonnieSituation · 02-05-2020 6:10pm

RugbyLover123 wrote: »

Just finished watching the first 2 tests from 2009 Lions tour.

Fascinating to see how much the game has changed in just under 11 years when you compare it to say football.

Few observations:

No idea how Stephen Jones wasn’t replaced in the 1st test. He missed 2 very basic penalties at the start which Farrell, Bigger, Sexton would kick in their sleep. There was no attacking structure and he brought it into contact himself numerous times unnecessarily. Then the kick to touch at the end of the 1st test where he only gains about 10m when he should’ve got it very close to 5m out. He also misses a crucial kick to touch deep in the second half of the 2nd test when all the pressure had been relived and led to a Boks penalty to put them 1 point behind. Just goes to show the lack of trust they had in ROG. Maybe giving him some game time in 1st test leads to a different result in 2nd test?

Ugo Monye had a stinker in the 1st test. Had two try chances but carried in one hand both times and lost the ball. The second chance especially he should definitely finish. He also then blows a 2 on 1 overlap straight after his second chance when the game is in the balance by taking it into contact himself.

The lack of discipline. Phil Vickery flew into a ruck so far in from the side he was more on the Boks side.

The amount of aimless up and unders with no chase bar the kicker.

The lack of box kicks off 9. Phillips passing to Jones under huge pressure is a common theme.

The communication between the ref, captain and TMO is pretty much non-existent. I think the TMO was only used for tries but POC never went near the ref throughout the games to get him to look at certain things (at least on the video I saw).

The amount of high shots/contact with the head that would be yellows/penalties even reds nowadays, yet provoked pretty much no reaction from the crowd, let alone the players. Was actually quite nice to see.

The Burger eye gouge is still baffling to this day how he only received a yellow despite the linesman seeing it and saying contact with the eye.

With the amount of numbers being committed to rucks its surprising that that wasn’t taken advantage of out-wide.

Shaun Edwards, the defensive genius, wasn’t exactly starring in this tour with 2 Boks tries coming off first phase ball which is very rarely seen these days at top level.

Rob Kearney was excellent in the 2nd test. Potentially opening a can of worms, did he light up a game like that for Ireland or Leinster?

BOD was class in first two tests, as was Jamie Roberts, but I felt BOD had more of a more all round contribution.