Lions vs. Southland

Bri

Team picked :eek: :

15 Geordan Murphy (Leicester and Ireland),
14 Mark Cueto (Sale and England),
13 Ollie Smith (Leicester and England),
12 G Henson (Ospreys and Wales),
11 Denis Hickie (Leinster and Ireland),
10 Ronan O'Gara (Munster and Ireland),
9 Gareth Cooper (Dragons and Wales),
8 Michael Owen (Newport-Gwent Dragons and Wales, capt),
7 Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues and Wales),
6 Lewis Moody (Leicester and England),
5 Donnacha O'Callaghan (Munster and Ireland),
4 Simon Shaw (Wasps and England),
3 John Hayes (Munster and Ireland),
2 Andy Titterrell (Sale and England),
1 Matt Stevens (Bath and England).

Replacements: 16 Gordon Bulloch (Glasgow and Scotland), 17 Andy Sheridan (Sale and England), 18 Simon Easterby (Llanelli Scarlets and Ireland), 19 Chris Cusiter (Borders and Scotland), 20 Charlie Hodgson (Sale and England), 21 Tom Shanklin (Cardiff Blues and Wales), 22 Gordon D'Arcy (Leinster and Ireland).

Southland: 15 James Wilson, 14 Mana Harrison, 13 Bryan Milne, 12 Fa Muliaina, 11 Watisoni Lotawa, 10 Richard Apanui, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Paul Miller, 7 Hale T-Pole, 6 Hua Tamariki, 5 Daniel Quate, 4 Hoani Macdonald, 3 Aarron Dempsey, 2 Jason Rutledge, 1 Clarke Dermody (captain).
Replacements: 16 Jayden Murch, 17 David Hall, 18 Rees Logan/Ray Hemi, 19 Jeff Wright, 20 Adam Clarke, 21 Matt Petre, 22 Pwhi Te Whare.

zAbbo

Well thats that then,

possible 4 irish players to play in the 1st test, we can assume BOD, Shane Byrne and O'Connell

Who's gonna partner BOD in the centre, can't see it being Wilkinson, possibly Horgan on Greenwood, with Johnny starting at 10.

Imo Shanklin should have had an opportunity to play at centre, where he had a storming 6nations.

SCW is a strange beast

jank

No murphy either in the test team!

Nukem

bazH wrote:

Imo Shanklin should have had an opportunity to play at centre, where he had a storming 6nations.

On the money - second best centre over there IMO - funny selection i really am wondering what the hell is he doin??????
Does this mean its Peel at 9 with Dawson on the bench,with Wilko starting and Jones on the bench too? WTF

Bri

I cannot understand for the life of me how he'd overlook people like Cusiter for the squad...I mean Dawson! Come on! I didn't expect Murphy to make the team despite how well he played, but I hoped he could at least sub. Wonder what kind of message it send out to people like him?!

damnyanks

Think he is showing too much faith in the english. This just means the players won't be starting in the first test. Maybe he will change it around depending on how the game goes.

Davei141

I got a feeling he had his starting XV before it even started, maybe some slight changes due to injury or a player playing absolutely terrible but half them never stood a chance.

Chucky the tree

Whats he playing at? Dawson is brutal. His glory-attention loving play cost us a great chanc of nicking the win against the NZM at the end.


Whos going to be centre? Wilkinson? christ. Horgan hasnt played there at all on the tour so i cant him throwing him in there on saturday.

Muprhy not on the squad is another shocking selection. Robinson has been poor and will lose the match for them.

KnowItAll

So much for picking players on merit. Whats Robinson and Greenwood doing there? It's back to the English which is disappointing.

I think Horgan could be the suprise start in the center with bo'd.

RuggieBear

Here's something written by Richard, a regular contributor on irishrugby email discussion group (totally independent of the IRFU and set up by a good friend of mine). It sums up pretty much how i feel about things far more eloquently and heartfelt than i would be capable of....

It's hard to get worked up about any rugby team which goes out to negate
everything creative by their opponents and feed on scrap points through
drop kicks in the first 30 seconds. There is an argument for percentage
rugby but the Lions could also be about showcasing the incredible talent
available to them in this huge squad. Instead it's about control,
conservatism, 'power' and bottom-line results. The results will be
bottom-line because the coaches are all bottom-line conservative,
power-mongering, control freaks.
Wales won the 6N because they used their collective talents creatively
and TOOK RISKS which enabled them to beat teams which were better and
more powerful - on paper. Unfortunately for the teams they defeated
rugby isn't played on paper.
Now we have a squad of lame ducks and has beens topped up with a few
Irish and Welsh players despite the fact that SCW said only a few months
ago that if he were to pick a team to beat the ABs then there would have
been only three Englishmen in the team. By my count there are now 13 in
the team/squad for the Test. Have you (has anyone) seen evidence of such
dramatic improvement in the English players (or any others)? If he meant
3 in the 1st XV then he must have planned on at least 7 on the bench and
the only remaining question is which three non-English players have
fallen off so dramatically?

We have a 37 year-old Number 7, a winger/fullback who has been off-form
all year and has played one game on tour (poorly), a fly-half who has
been out all year with injury, returning to play moderately, a hooker
who cant throw and pops-up so often in scrums he should be called
Jack-in the-Box, two second-row forwards who wouldn't get on the Irish
team, a scrum-half who couldn't get on the English team, a prop who has
played badly except against Otago where he scrummaged illegally
throughout the game and got away with it and a centre who has only
played one reasonably good game on tour after a very poor season (no
caps) ALL in this squad because they won the RWC TWO YEARS AGO with
Woodworm.

This Lions tour is p!ssing me off with the negative Eddie O'Sullivan and
Andy Robinson @r$e-licking kowtowing, slavish devotion to his Lordship
Sir Climb Woodworm. I don't care if they win the series anymore but I
hope they change what they are doing to the game of rugby before
everyone else feels the same as I feel.
I have no emotional ties to the Lions, like I do to Ireland, but I'd
rather seem them play scintillating rugby in a losing cause than win
with the negative, game destroying crap they've produced thus far.
I know someone is bound to say the tour is about winning. FFS every game
is about winning, we all know that. However, who will want to watch
another Lions Tour if this is what they are about? The Lions are too
important to the development of the sport to become what they've become.

zAbbo

Pretty much the feeling everyone is having, so many opportunites have not been explored in this tour.

The team was picked 2 years ago by the looks of it, i have a small hope that the 2nd and 3rd test will produce a much more creative team.

Assuming the Lions get routed by the AB's this saturday.

Bri

Seriously the more I read the more I wonder if SCW will go back on his statement and bring in subs from tuesdays game (deliberatley unused) for Saturdays...Both games are on the south island and what would stop him bringing a player from 1 game to another?

Apart from the devistating affect of being relegated to Tuesday's team may have on certain players, and Clive's adoration of all things English, including Dawson.

Trojan

Henson wrote:

I had a proper chat with Clive and he told me he doesn't have a problem with the way I'm playing and he said he just wanted to go with experience for the Test.

More fool him.

zAbbo

Well well, apparently Henson is putting in a good performance, 15mins left, Lions up by 10points 20:10

Henson grabbing both lions tries, Rog picking up both conversions and hitting a peno

RuggieBear

henson just got man of the match.....he sisn't do anything special....should have gone to T-Pole, the Southland No7

zAbbo

Southland 16
Tries: Pole
Cons: Apanui
Pens: Apanui 3

Lions 26
Tries: Henson(2)
Cons: OGara(2)
Pens: OGara(4)

Has Henson given SCW something to think about?

Any notable displays Ruggie?

RuggieBear

ROG played ok for the first time....DOC was good but otherwise nobody really stood out for me. Shanklin and Cusiter looked good when they came on.....TBH the lions don't look like a team made up off internationals.....defo less than the sum of their parts :eek:

Trojan

Agreed with that call Ruggie, T-Pole was deserving, Henson was ok, in a team of average players.

Barnes left Murphy off his list of 5 players who he thought proved their test worthiness - I would have dropped Donnacha from the list (too many penos), and had Murphy, on today's performance.

Anyway, that's the end of that. Bring on Christchurch, and the slaughter.

Is anyone else still clinging to a thin thread of hope that it's all been a big smokescreen by SCW, that he'll go to all 45 players for his team? (If so, Henson has a career in acting)

RuggieBear

Trojan wrote:

Is anyone else still clinging to a thin thread of hope that it's all been a big smokescreen by SCW, that he'll go to all 45 players for his team? (If so, Henson has a career in acting)

I'm still clinging to the hope.... :eek: :eek:

Souless

Trojan wrote:

Is anyone else still clinging to a thin thread of hope that it's all been a big smokescreen by SCW, that he'll go to all 45 players for his team? (If so, Henson has a career in acting)

Lol lets all hope so

BolBill

Thought it was just another poor display from a "team" that isn't really a "team" at all. There is not much cohension there at all and an All Blacks whitewash is very much on the cards.