Lions v Otago (spoilers)

zAbbo

Lions team to face Otago: G Murphy; D Hickie, W Greenwood, G D'Arcy, S Williams; C Hodgson, C Cusiter; G Rowntree, G Bulloch (capt), M Stevens, S Shaw, D O'Callaghan, L Moody, M Williams, R Jones.

Replacements: S Thompson, A Sheridan, D Grewcock, S Easterby, M Dawson, O Smith, R O'Gara.

Big game for the Irish players, Murphy,D'Arcy and O'Callaghan who are all in contention for a test spot, I Don't think Hickie will be but i suppose he can play his way into it.

Good to see Shane Williams start.

Hodgson @ 10 is interesting, and i'd expect o'gara to replace him at some stage.

Moody is back in after a knee injury.

Bullach is captaining the side after John Hayes opened him for 10 stitches in training

Should be a good one

damnyanks

Hrmmm where's horgan. He's been playing reasonably well and been on as a sub in the recent games. He's looked pretty solid so far. Hopefully D'arcy won't give away anymore retarded penalties.

CJhaughey

bazH wrote:

Lions team to face Otago: G Murphy; D Hickie, W Greenwood, G D'Arcy, S Williams; C Hodgson, C Cusiter; G Rowntree, G Bulloch (capt), M Stevens, S Shaw, D O'Callaghan, L Moody, M Williams, R Jones.

Replacements: S Thompson, A Sheridan, D Grewcock, S Easterby, M Dawson, O Smith, R O'Gara.

Big game for the Irish players, Murphy,D'Arcy and O'Callaghan who are all in contention for a test spot, I Don't think Hickie will be but i suppose he can play his way into it.

Good to see Shane Williams start.

Hodgson @ 10 is interesting, and i'd expect o'gara to replace him at some stage.

Moody is back in after a knee injury.

Bullach is captaining the side after John Hayes opened him for 10 stitches in training

Should be a good one

I reckon this is last chance saloon for a lot of the 50/50 players.
Shane Williams? are ye mad? He should be on the next plane home with that other buffoon Steve -I can't hit anything-Thompson.
Williams has no place on this side , Horgan would be far superior to Williams on wing.
Murphy has about a 20% chance of being the test FB.
Darcy after his reckless display against the Maori will be lucky to make the dirttrack team for Tuesday or against Manawatu.
O'Callaghan could offer something around the park but whether or not SCW will allow him too is another thing.
How in the hell is Greenwood being used again? beyond me.......he is nothing but a waste of space.

Souless

Looks like an ok team line up. Cant believe Bullock is captin :eek: What happened between him and Hayes? I just heard that there was a "scuffle" in training between them.
I would like to see O'Gara starting though. I am happy Cuisiter is getting another starting game he has been playing better than Peel I think. I mean Peels passing yesterday was pretty piss poor. As was Wilkinsons. He isnt as great as many people thinks and he proved that with piss poor taclking,not finding touch with his kicks and bad passing.
I hope Cuister is the test scrumhalf but I dunno if that will happen. Id also love to see murphy be the test fullback but dont see that happening with clives favourite Lewsey and Robinson being on tour(both of which havent played aswell as murphy in my opinion)

KnowItAll

It's looking bad for Horgan. He'll probally be in the midweek team which means he'll miss the first test. The same with Hill!

Hopefully D'arcy will get a chance to show what he can do. I'm looking forward to seeing the backs. S Williams, Murphy, hickie, d'arcy, it looks good.

zAbbo

Moodys out, as expected, don't even know why he was named.

Simon Easterby starts, and Michael Owen gets called up to the bench.

Game starts tomorrow morning

Chucky the tree

if easterby has a good game he has a good chance of making the lions squad. Same with murphy, hopefully he will a least make the wing spot. Been very good so far. D'arcy needs an amazing game to make the squad. So does DOc.

Hickie has no chance of making the squad. Hayes and ROg have been dropped to the lemon's team on wednesday, rightfully so.

zAbbo

Early start tomorrow, here's hoping the B team shines

uberwolf

the phrase a wins a win springs to mind, that wasn't fun to watch...

D'Arcy may as well get on flight home now. Rob Jones played well, I thought Murphy was very good. Shane Byrnes chances were improved by the performance on both hookers who did play. Horgan didn't get on.

Nukem

Ya it was good by seom and terrible by others.
Murphy looked like he could have scored any time but his final touch was poor. D'arcy looked very ordinary,Green wood too. Williams looked handy made 10ft everytime at least and seom smmoth hands. Jones was immense and Easterby was all over the pitch again.

In an interiew afterwards SCW was saying how happy he is with the team and how they performed.
Dowey and Morris are actually watching differnt games than us i reckon. They reckon its Wilko and Peel at half backs for the test :eek:,i dunno why - we'll just have to see.

Nukem

Davei141

I think its got to be hodgson, he couldnt of put in a better performance over the 2 games hes had.

damnyanks

Darcy still may be in with a chance. No one has really stuck at playing first center at all. Actually thought Wilkenson did alright when he played there the other day. Get the feeling byrne wont be starting. How come Bullach was never seen to be in contention ? He did reasonably well today.

Souless

damnyanks wrote:

Darcy still may be in with a chance. No one has really stuck at playing first center at all. Actually thought Wilkenson did alright when he played there the other day. Get the feeling byrne wont be starting. How come Bullach was never seen to be in contention ? He did reasonably well today.

D'arcy is gone from test team after he didnt pull something amazing out of his arse like scoring 3 tries today he is gone As for wilkinson in 12, Are you mad? He cant make a tackle to save his life which seems to be very common with our fly halfs on this tour, he cant pass properly and he cant find touch with his kicks. Bullach was never in contention cause he isnt that good. His line outs were average and they spilled the ball when he was guiding the rolling mall half the time.

All in all as for the game to day I didnt think it went terribly with the B-team that they put forward. I hope Murphy gets his place, he had a good day today. Hodgeson cant get a place. He couldnt find touch today and cant make tackles. His one moment of glory was the greenwood try, his set place kicking was good but thats all that was going for him.

Who ever said Byrne wont make the team is mad. He is by far the best hooker the lions have. His line out throwing is amazing compaired to both Bullock and Thompson and somehow I dont see Tirreral getting his place.