**Official** 2005 Lions tour of New Zealand

[superkingdave]

he is a d*ck, everyone knows it

 

[steds]

As a Saints fan

Except you aren't a Saints fan. You're a fan of Northampton, a team which calls itself the Saints because they think it sounds good. The real Saints, with a reason to call themselves the Saints, play proper rugby about 3 minutes away from where I live.

 

[steds]

he is a d*ck, everyone knows it

as much of one as Roebuck?

 

[superkingdave]

close

 

[Craig]

Lions side for the midweek match, strong side especially in the backs.

Team: Josh Lewsey, Jason Robinson, Brian O'Driscoll (captain), Gavin Henson, Gareth Thomas, Jonny Wilkinson, Dwyane Peel, Martin Corry, Neil Back, Simon Easterby, Ben Kay, Danny Grewcock, Julian White, Shayne Byrne, Gethin Jenkins. Reserves: Gordon Bulloch, Matt Stevens, Paul O'Connell, Lewis Moody, Chris Cusiter, Stephen Jones, Shane Horgan.

BTW Voltman, i know you have a intense love for Stephen Jones, i thought you might like a read of his latest article

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2768-1650754,00.html

Give or take a change or two, any chance that will be similar to the Test team against the AB's?

 

[Tim]

Neil Back surely won't be in the starting lineup come the 1st test or else thats clearly stating that the Lions are having problems with their flankers.

I'll be interested to see how Back goes against the highly-rated Ben Herring on Wednesday night. If he can't win the battle against Herring, then he's got zero chance against McCaw.

I feel sorry for whoever is marking Nonu on Wednesday. He's in brilliant form, and he'll be looking to impress ahead of the 1st test.

 

[Tim]

Lol, 3 Lions coaches were told to stop filming the All Blacks v Fiji on Friday night at Albany Stadium because Sky Sports had the broadcasting rights.

I don't see the point of filming the match anyway. NZ didn't need to use any sophisticated backline moves against Fiji. All they had to do was run at them and spread it wide.

 

[Smudge]

Neil Back surely won't be in the starting lineup come the 1st test or else thats clearly stating that the Lions are having problems with their flankers.

I'll be interested to see how Back goes against the highly-rated Ben Herring on Wednesday night. If he can't win the battle against Herring, then he's got zero chance against McCaw.

I feel sorry for whoever is marking Nonu on Wednesday. He's in brilliant form, and he'll be looking to impress ahead of the 1st test.

If Clive Woodwhinge thinks Back is the answer, he's even more deluded than I thought. He got totally outclassed in a match last month to the extent that English posters on the rugby forum I visit didn't want him to tour.

 

[BoyBrumby]

If Clive Woodwhinge thinks Back is the answer, he's even more deluded than I thought. He got totally outclassed in a match last month to the extent that English posters on the rugby forum I visit didn't want him to tour.

I presume you mean The Premiership final v Wasps? Back got himself banned (hence his non-appearance thus far) for getting a cheap shot in with Worsley on the floor. Actually Worsley, who I'm not a huge fan of, made Back look like a 36 year old midget.

Kinda ironic....

 

[Blaze]

I can't help but think that my side (Wellington Lions) are going to be in for a bit of a hidding unfortunetly with the british Lions fielding quite a strong side for Wednesday night. I wish our All Blacks were allowed to play. Only Ma'a has been released

Lions v.s. the Lions. Haha

 

[BoyBrumby]

I can't help but think that my side (Wellington Lions) are going to be in for a bit of a hidding unfortunetly with the british Lions fielding quite a strong side for Wednesday night. I wish our All Blacks were allowed to play. Only Ma'a has been released

Lions v.s. the Lions. Haha

It's not exactly a typical dirt-trackers team, is it? I think SCW is determined to get a win at all costs.

What I keep finding irksome is people in the Lions camp talking about "learning the lessons" of Saturday's defeat. I thought this was the best-prepared Lions team ever?!?

 

[Craig]

I think he has has side in mind give or take a few selections and wants them all to have a solid hit out together, and maybe get them to gel in a tour match?

Perfect logic to me.

 

[Smudge]

I think he has has side in mind give or take a few selections and wants them all to have a solid hit out together, and maybe get them to gel in a tour match?

Perfect logic to me.

In fact, I think this is pretty close to the test team, and he's giving them a hit-out a good ten days before the first test, meaning they have plenty of time to recover...














.... before the bashing they take at the hands of the ABs...

 

[Tim]

The Wellington side looks quite decent if you ask me. The majority of them played Super 12 this year & Fa'autau played against Australia last week as well as Weepu & Filipo playing the Lions so I think they'll be match-hardened.

Im looking forward to the Otago match as well because it'll be good to see how Nick Evans plays against the Lions.

 

[Smudge]

The Wellington side looks quite decent if you ask me. The majority of them played Super 12 this year & Fa'autau played against Australia last week as well as Weepu & Filipo playing the Lions so I think they'll be match-hardened.

Im looking forward to the Otago match as well because it'll be good to see how Nick Evans plays against the Lions.

I'm looking forward to it too - I'll be sitting in the Rose Stand freezing my testes off, but loving the atmosphere...

And then doing it all over again at Rugby Park Southland next Tuesday.

 

[James]

I've just put $20 on at the TAB for the Lions to the win the series, would return $75.

I'm confident.

 

[social]

I've just put $20 on at the TAB for the Lions to the win the series, would return $75.

I'm confident.

Confident that you'll do your $20?

Seriously, the Lions arent as bad as some made out pre-tour (particularly after the Argie match), but if the ABs are in any way competitive up front, they'll have far too much fire-power out wide IMO.

 

[Tim]

Im confident we can win the series..maybe not 3-0, but 2-1 is realistic.

Man for man in the backline, I think the AB's are all better than the Lions (except O'Driscoll & maybe Wilkinson). It's probably the front-row where we are behind the Lions and if the AB's forward pack stands up I don't think we'll have any problems winning.

 

[Tim]

The fact is, this week the Lions believe they are rolling out their heavy artillery. So if this side fails to beat Wellington convincingly then I think alarm bells should be starting to ring.
The Wellington side is a fairly good side, make no mistake about that..but even still the Lions should be looking to put at least 20 or 30 points on them.

The Lions appear to be playing like England did in the World Cup 2003 & I don't think that type of plan is going to work for them. Of course, they may unleash some attacking plays in the tests but if they are modelling themselves on England's winning formula then they will lose. The game has changed & I think NZ will be able to adapt to negative/defensive rugby and still score points.
If the Lions are prepared to use Jonny as their sole source of points & camp themselves in their own half for the majority of the match then I think they are setting themselves up to lose.

Apart from O'Driscoll, I just can't see enough creativity in the Lions backline so I do think that we'll a lot of long shots at goal by Jonny or perhaps Gavin Henson if he plays.

 

[JASON]

Im confident we can win the series..maybe not 3-0, but 2-1 is realistic.

Man for man in the backline, I think the AB's are all better than the Lions (except O'Driscoll & maybe Wilkinson). It's probably the front-row where we are behind the Lions and if the AB's forward pack stands up I don't think we'll have any problems winning.

Before the Maori game. I thought the ABs will whitewash 3-0 and Lions would win the Maori game. But since the Maoris beat the Lions, I predict Lions to win one of the 3 tests.
ABs to win 2-1 .

Lot depends on the referees and how the rules are going to interpreted as well - Northern Hemisphere rules or Super 12 refs . Lions bringing along an Irish ex Ref as adviser is to put pressure on Refs as well !!

BTW Alistair Campbell ,Ex- Tony Blair crony - coming as spin doctor for Lions is to put the spin for the English Media, when they lose rather than NZ media IMO.