Yeah, the chances of four is pretty slim. I would say Furlong>Conan>Beirne>Henderson in terms of likelihood. I think Conan has a fairly strong shot though, he's simply playing better than Faletau.
Delighted for him, he's had some season. Given it's a specialist position there's a strong chance he'll at least make a 23 if not a starting 15 at some point if they have a repeat with any positive tests.
I suspect that it was likely a sublocation and not a dislocation!!
Don't think Murray can be blamed there at all to be honest (or any other player for that matter). They came out after the break and did the exact same thing which is reason enough to believe that it was either endorsed or directed by the coaching ticket.
Don't think I've seen it mentioned here but apologies if it has. Ronan Kelleher has been officially added to the squad according to Leinster twitter
https://twitter.com/leinsterrugby/status/1415587715593211907?s=19
I think Warbutton was right to highlight the questionable decision by Conor not to go for the scrum just before the interlude when they were facing 13 people. It would have tied more defenders in and made more space for the Loins to attack. It's the kind of decision you'd see from the Irish in a rugby union World Cup quarter-final, or from Munster in a European semi.
We'll see, obviously Gatland has his biases towards Welsh players. Have to see if spots are taken up by token Scots too, suspect Hogg or VdM will be thrown in.
Conan has looked sharper than Faletau for me, but he has money in the bank too. The choice at lock will have a cascade elsewhere. If he decides to have AWJ start, I suspect it will be him and Itoje. Then the question is what he'll want out of a sub. Beard did a good job stopping the mail when he came on, so Henderson might lose out. Beirne would be a solid shout for 6, or the bench. I don't think Lawes has pushed for a spot.
The odds of 4 Irish starters in the pack are very slim. Of these I wouldn't be surprised if only Furlong starts. Conan has a chance but i suspect Faletau will be picked even though he has not been firing on all cylinders. Not sure about Beirne ... fine player maybe a bench option.
Gatland has made a number of gaffes but its no surpise. Warburton's autobiography was fairly revealing about the bad blood which ensued after the Welsh contingent were called up on the last tour.
Whatever about recalling Jones, I think its a mistake to take the captaincy from Murray. I'm not just saying that as a Munster fan. If it were any other player I'd feel the same way. If Jones goes down injured then the captaincy has to be changed again. It's poor management.
I also think Gatland has gotten some of the selections a bit arseways. No. 8 is one of the best examples. He's picked an underperforming Faletau as well as Simmonds who's not exactly a coalface kind of player. That'd be fine if he was picking big abrasive lumps at blindside but it looks like Beirne could get the test spot (I'm a massive fan of Beirne but if you're selecting him to tackle hard and truck up shite ball then he's wasted) . When you pair him with Watson or Curry at openside then the backrow is suddenly looking a bit weak.
I think the Irish lads are in a strong position for the test team. I could see a pack with Furlong, Herserson, Beirne and Conan featuring. Question whether Gatland will want Henshaw at 12 or 13. Good chance he'd put Aki at 12 if Henshaw is at 13 imo.
My innocence destroyed, I thought they were just hardy lads. What does it do for morale when they are jetting in an injured past his prime captain to play. Like there is no better option from four nations? His magical leadership skills are that important, these lads would be lost without him?
Is the general consensus that Gatland is going to go for a 6/2 split?
I think it's a big risk personally given the intensity and physicality of Lions matches against SA. I appreciate that's probably the exact reason he'd do it, but it's very easy for 2 backs to get injured and you could be left with a scrum half on the wing for 40 minutes against a team who are known for their pressure kicking game.
He's probably been pumping himself full of that actovegin stuff.
Murray was in the media saying he'd cover 10
Plenty and plenty of "penicillin" I'd imagine.
I'd assume that Hogg and possibly Elliot Daly would be the cover here in the event of Smith being injured , but they are certainly very thin at 10 in terms of Test standard alternatives.
The secret is drugs
It's surely not possible to recover from a dislocated shoulder(I've done it myself) in a few weeks, I mean the pain can go but the stability can take a long time to rebuild.
To be fair, it's not that everyone had written him off, he was officially ruled out by the head coach for the entire tour after dislocating his shoulder 19 days ago.
There's a difference between being written off and being ruled out.
British and Irish Lions (v Stormers): Stuart Hogg (captain); Josh Adams, Elliot Daly, Robbie Henshaw, Duhan van der Merwe; Marcus Smith, Ali Price; Rory Sutherland, Luke Cowan-Dickie,Tadhg Furlong; Adam Beard, Jonny Hill; Tadhg Beirne, Hamish Watson, Jack Conan
Replacements: Jamie George, Mako Vunipola, Zander Fagerson, Alun Wyn Jones, Sam Simmonds, Gareth Davies, Chris Harris, Louis Rees-Zammit
No outhalf cover again and Smith straight in to start. AWJ on the bench is mental considering everyone had him written off for the entire tour less than three weeks ago
Sexton and Ringrose probably shaking their heads.
Watson was good but he was on the wing. Full back was Liam Williams and then Elliot Daly.
I actually thought murray did quite well,he was quick enough with the ball,decent passing and he got multiple returns from his box kicks, even caught one himself. The 5m penalties have to be a management decision because they continued after half time. I think it was a case of not giving anything away from set piece plays(or perhaps the team hasn't had time to practice anything with scrum or lineout? hopefully not) Farrell was bad, quite slow, with farrell and Aki together the ball had to go super deep to make two passes. Henderson Itoje fought well, disrupted a lot. Curry was very destructive, not a great ball carrier though but one of the best lions. Watson was also decent at full back.
See how you like your notifications going off 😂
I'd agree with some of your points...I mean the decision not to scrum when near the line against 13 men was insane.
The static and leadfooted defence was appalling at times, I actually thought Murray did well enough, was quick to rucks, but the 9/10 axis didn't gel overall.
The ref's decisions weren't the reason that the Lion's lost, of course not...but the Saffer commentary team did mention that he was leaning towards the home side, it was their observation is all
(So help me god I'm going to try and quote another post, so apologies if this blinds everyone...)
Very much this for me. Lions put up a decent showing in the pack, but really struggled to show much invention elsewhere. Halfbacks and midfield fairly anonymous. Only scored their try when it was 15 v 13.
You have to imagine SA will only get fitter and more cohesive going forward too.
I've just seen that the Saffers 7's squad leaving for the Olympics has had to go directly into quarantine as a passenger on-board their plane has tested positive for covid.
Didn't think it had a whole lot to do with the ref, the Lions were really poor. Played some absolutely brainless rugby. Just stuff like playing 15 v 13 with a succession of 5m penalties and nobody seemed to think to take a scrum. Thought the halfbacks were very poor, just wanted to slow the game down at every opportunity. Overall fairly worrying.
Mad that Sexton isnt there given the options at 10..
Good game last night against probably 10 Saffer starters... I think I've given up on this Lions tour now tbh... it's as well organised as the boards migration...and yes, I was watching on Saffer TV and even they admitted there were quite a few hometown decisions
Only heard it on the radio. Sounded like Peypar was blowing them off the park ( or were they really just that bad at the end)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://w6.vanillicon.com/v2/650078b8feee4419a4d37e52edd90a96.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://wd.vanillicon.com/v2/dd23f423fe14831a2a84d9f17c825ecc.svg)
