Fifty-four stone front row for Maori game

Trojan

BBC Sport wrote:

British and Irish Lions team to play NZ Maori:
J Lewsey (England); T Shanklin (Wales), B O'Driscoll (Ireland, capt), G D'Arcy (Ireland), S Williams (Wales); S Jones (Wales), M Dawson (England); A Sheridan (England), S Thompson (England), J White (England), S Shaw (England), P O'Connell (Ireland), R Hill (England), M Williams (Wales), S Taylor (Scotland).

Replacements: S Byrne (Ireland), G Jenkins (Wales), B Kay (England), M Owen (Wales), D Peel (Wales), R O'Gara (Ireland), S Horgan (Ireland).


The Lions have selected the biggest front row in their history for Saturday's heavyweight showdown with the New Zealand Maori in Hamilton.

Andrew Sheridan, Steve Thompson and Julian White weigh a combined 54st 10lb (348kg), with locks Simon Shaw and Paul O'Connell adding more bulk.

Fly-half Stephen Jones, scrum-half Matt Dawson, centre Gordon D'Arcy and number eight Simon Taylor also start.

But England's Jonny Wilkinson is still waiting to make his tour bow.

Prio to this tour the previous heaviest Lions front row was in 1955 in South Africa, when an all-Welsh trio of Billy Williams, Bryn Meredith and Courtney Meredith weighed in at a combined 278 kg (43st 10lb).

But the combinations of Graham Rowntree, Shane Byrne and John Hayes (331kg) against Argentina and Gethin Jenkins, Gordon Bulloch and Matt Stevens (334kg) against Bay of Plenty had already surpassed that.

I think Woodward is reading boards.ie

RuggieBear

he could do worse....


Actually when i was at school our front row was me (14.5st), hooker (15.5) and TightHead (16.5st)....something like that anyway if memory serves me right. Which means we were heavier than that welsh frontrow in the 50's

besty

ive been involved in a few massive front rows too. last year at under 20's there was our loosehead (16.5st)
me hooker (18.5st)
tighthead (18st)

zAbbo

Why's he holding back on Johnny ?

Or is he sure that he'll play him in the test games.

O'Gara has blown his chances, Hodgson was good, Jones i think will stake a claim on Saturday.

RuggieBear

yeah...i can't understand the wilko thing.....i reckon he'll be played in the first test....not sure he proved he was back to his best against the argies....

damnyanks

Might be just playing the others first so wilko can recover and train some more.

Nukem

Thats some front row alright.Thats goin squeeze the life out of the Maori scrum especially with that second row.Hope taylor performs.Nice to see two scots on a test team. Wilko tthing is some head scratcher. If he was just easing him in the last game about 65mins in would have been ideal,still i reckon down to Jones and Hodgson now.

Nice to see the centre partnership back too,lets hope the show their metal.

Nukem

Souless

Only faults i can find with that team is Cuister isnt scrum half and they are playing thompson as hooker I mean dont get me wrong dawson isnt to bad but cuister is a much better player. As for Thompson he had such a horrendous season with the Saints. He couldn't throw a ball into a line out with out totally screwing it up. I think Byrne should start as his line out is ace and with such a heavy pack the maul with play a huge part and he is much better at leading one that Thompson.

Anyway other than that I think the team is a pretty bang on choice.

Wilko isnt a great as Clive thinks. Sure he saved us against the Pumas but he had such a medeocre season with Newcastle I dont see him getting the place for any other reason than him being English. I mean Jones deserves it the most by far. Admitadly Hodgeson did play a good midweek game but I still dont see him getting th 10 jersey in a test match.

youcancallmeal

Looks like Michael Owen is in for the injured Simon Taylor which puts Simon Easterby on the subs bench.

RuggieBear

ryan jones has been called up as Taylor has failed a fitness test.

BogOak

Souless wrote:

Only faults i can find with that team is Cuister isnt scrum half ... I mean dont get me wrong dawson isnt to bad but cuister is a much better player ... Wilko isnt a great as Clive thinks. Sure he saved us against the Pumas but he had such a medeocre season with Newcastle I dont see him getting the place for any other reason than him being English. I mean Jones deserves it the most by far. Admitadly Hodgeson did play a good midweek game but I still dont see him getting th 10 jersey in a test match.

surely peel is number one scrum half? cusiter number two? as for outhalf, i don't think it makes the slightest bit of difference who "deserves" it more. we want to win so all that matters is who's better. and that, if fully match fit, is wilkinson.

CJhaughey

Wilkinson is Farooked I would say, too fishy, he hasn't played any part in any game in NZ yet.
He didn't play well agin Argentina and most would say that he needs match practice.
Draw your own conclusions ladeez and gentz