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Saw the Baby Blacks struggle for 30mins against Fiji last Wednesday evening. It was 18-06 NZ when Fiji had a man red carded for a dump tackle. They had another man red carded in the second half as well as 3 more yellow card - they played a good share of the second half with just 12 men. On the evidence of the first 30 mins NZ are not that special - the Aussie's will give them a right test.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
And now Healy is out of the tour with an ankle injury.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/22814956
Four tries in the first half doesn't really seem like struggling to me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
i'm sorry - good that he was cleared for all the irish players and shame injury now has finish his tour .......Quote:
Originally Posted by Macy
2 Tries in the first 32 mins and then it was easy against 14 , 13 and 12 men. Did you see it ? Maybe its just me but between minutes 5 and 35 they didn't look anything like the superpower they normally are at this level.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
I only saw the highlights, but I think your definition of struggling and mine are different. Struggling would indicate the result was ever in doubt, whereas it seems they were just a bit laboured.
Ah, we breed them in fairness. Clohessy, Popplewell etc... :) Hayes was an exception...Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr A
The under 20 world cup game with New Zeland was a good watch yesterday evening. They looked in for a hammering after 10 minutes of the second half but staged a great recovery and maybe should have won in the closing stages with the All Blacks down to 14 men but they were a bit over anxious and made costly errors in good positions. The attacking play from both teams was pretty spectacular at times and it was a very open and fast moving game. Plenty of horrible errors from both teams too but it made for an entertaining spectacle.
Christian Wade and - seriously - Brad Barritt called up with doubts persisting over North and Roberts. It truly is silly season. Ian Madigan must be wondering what he's done to offend Gatland.
Has anyone else witnessed friends hurling themselves straight off the Lions bandwagon today? Several people on my FB feed claiming they won't even watch the last test now, having been big "fans" all along.
My problem with the Lions was that I couldn't get over a lack of identity with the idea, so I was never that into the tour. It appears to be now that a lot of others have that issue, and were only watching to see how the handful of Irish players got on.
I think it's more loyalty to BOD than anything. I find Gatland's selections bizarre. They will lose heavily I think.
I have no identity with the Lions or the Ryder cup team for that matter, but I don't mind watching both these sport's events, top quality competition.
I've heard the Anglo Irish tapes have caused less uproar at home.
I can take or leave the Lions. If they win I'll be happy for a bit and if they lose I'll get over it after about 5 minutes. That said, I think both tests have been utterly gripping and compelling, although the quality of the second test was poor.
Gatland seems to have packed the team with players from the one country in UK and IRL that can't beat Australia!
I'm looking forward to Saturday. Shame about BOD but we have 4 others starting and no player is bigger than the team. I'd like to have seen him and Roberts play together again, but all good things come to an end.
Malachy Clerkin drawing some ire in the comments section for this article in the Irish Times.
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugb...1453007?page=1
I have to say I largely agree, which is not to say I'm not gripped by this Lions series. I think Sky have covered it well though, and in general their rugby commentary and analysis is better than their football, bar Gary Neville.
"The Lions don't have supporters, they have an audience". It's a good observation although I'm not sure it matters whether they're fans as such, or event tourists with rugby at the centre of it. The folklore does give it context and it really does matter to the players and other insiders.
But for me, the result only matters for a very short time, not enough to make or ruin my lunch, let alone my day. Drawing with Austria still hurts, let alone Heysel, the 92 euros campaign, Macedonia....aaahh, they STILL hurt!
Btw, deliberate error above, of course we only have 3 starting.
Is Gatland going all Trapattoni on this one? To me, the evidence from Brisbane was that actually playing ball was the way forward, but immediately he reverted to the rugby equivalent of playing without the ball and trying the stifle a game and it looks like he has gone further in that direction now.
Gatland vindicated.
I proved my agreement with Malachy Clerkin. I was happy they won but after about ten minutes I couldn't give a fig. Probably closer to 5 actually. In fact I was glad Australia made a game of it because I wanted it to stay exciting. That'd never happen to me watching Ireland playing in any sport.
A bit of me is turned off the whole Lions thing in that it's the ultimate lads' rugby tour - great for the players for a lifelong bond, but it's a giant-sized version of the insider / outsider divisions that rugby created in my school and I'm pretty sure exists in most schools and colleges.
Great result for Cymru yesterday...
I couldn't help but log on to Twitter just as the game was drawing to a close yesterday. The sheer amount of people who spent that time, as their team won their first test series in yonks, bemoaning Gatland, insisting that BOD's inclusion would have made no difference to proceedings and a hair breath away from saying the better team lost was really eye-raising. I know there is an event junkie element to this, but its clear to me a big part of the Lions fanbase is super casual, and turned on the team the second "one of our own" was, in their eyes, wronged.
The ultimate 'event junkies' ??
Well obviously. The team exists for two months every four years, people's big rugby interest is hardly going to be in the Lions. It's ultimately a bit of fun at the end of the season for most people, no more. It's no surprise to me that most people are more invested in Brian O'Driscoll than the Lions.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
Joe Schmidt's first extended squad ahead of the Autumn Internationals:
Ireland Squad
Backs (18): Rob Kearney (Leinster), Robbie Henshaw (Connacht), Tommy Bowe (Ulster), Simon Zebo (Munster), Niall Morris (Leicester), Dave Kearney (Leinster), Fergus McFadden (Leinster), Luke Fitzgerald (Leinster), Brian O’Driscoll (Leinster), Keith Earls (Munster), Luke Marshall (Ulster), Gordon D’Arcy (Leinster), Jonathan Sexton (Racing Metro 92), Paddy Jackson (Ulster), Ian Madigan (Leinster), Conor Murray (Munster), Eoin Reddan (Leinster), Isaac Boss (Leinster).
Forwards (24): Cian Healy (Leinster), David Kilcoyne (Munster), Jack McGrath (Leinster), Stephen Archer (Munster), Declan Fitzpatrick (Ulster), Mike Ross (Leinster), Rory Best (Ulster), Seán Cronin (Leinster), Richardt Strauss (Leinster), Mike Sherry (Munster), Donncha O’Callaghan (Munster), Paul O’Connell (Munster), Donnacha Ryan (Munster), Mike McCarthy (Leinster), Devin Toner (Leinster), Dan Tuohy (Ulster), Iain Henderson (Ulster), Peter O’Mahony (Munster), Kevin McLaughlin (Leinster), James Coughlan (Munster), Shane Jennings (Leinster), Seán O’Brien (Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Leinster), Chris Henry (Ulster).