v Blues

[Timbo]

Pack - 7.5/10
Backline - 2/10

Has there been one line break from a single Lions back in 2 games? Kicking game mediocre too.

Fear not, Davies will be at 13 on Saturday......

Jon Davies outside Te'o I reckon. You can't accuse Gatland of not committing to his game plan.

[skidger]

Three consecutive pieces of magic for West's try.

Is not magic. There are 2 or 3 of those every Super Rugby match featuring a NZ franchise. That one was just a bit of support running and accurate offloading.


The problem is that we scored only 16 points and scored only one try. Why? Because Gats thinks he can bludgeon his way to the line and that mere attrition is enough to win it. Listening now to his post match interview he seems surprised there were a few moments of excellence leading to tries. And now he's saying it won't be that big a step up to the ABs. FFS!

I'll stick to magic. Other than Itoje jumping out out of the line it wasn't errors from the Lions just superb play from the Blues players involved. It was superb decision making, superb offloads, superb timing and superb lines. Magic.

Yep, the backs are blunt and clueless.

Black magic actually. Offloads,great timing and quick thinking.........i have heard of it before now. Time to send for Mike Brown.

[Mellsblue]

Pack - 7.5/10
Backline - 2/10

Has there been one line break from a single Lions back in 2 games? Kicking game mediocre too.

Fear not, Davies will be at 13 on Saturday......

Jon Davies outside Te'o I reckon. You can't accuse Gatland of not committing to his game plan.

Haha. Yep.

[Banquo]

Yep, the backs are blunt and clueless.

Apt names for a centre pairing fielded by Gats............especially if spoonerised!

[Lizard]

Imagine what would have happened if the Blues had a competent 10 for the first 50 minutes and a functioning set piece?

[zer0]

We'll find out on Saturday.

[Timbo]

Imagine what would have happened if the Blues had a competent 10 for the first 50 minutes and a functioning set piece?

So if the Blues had a better pack and a better 10..? Ok, now imagine if the Lions had competent coaches and a functioning backline. Two can play this game boyo.

[Eugene Wrayburn]

Is not magic. There are 2 or 3 of those every Super Rugby match featuring a NZ franchise. That one was just a bit of support running and accurate offloading.


The problem is that we scored only 16 points and scored only one try. Why? Because Gats thinks he can bludgeon his way to the line and that mere attrition is enough to win it. Listening now to his post match interview he seems surprised there were a few moments of excellence leading to tries. And now he's saying it won't be that big a step up to the ABs. FFS!

I'll stick to magic. Other than Itoje jumping out out of the line it wasn't errors from the Lions just superb play from the Blues players involved. It was superb decision making, superb offloads, superb timing and superb lines. Magic.

Yep, the backs are blunt and clueless.

First time you can say that about the Blues all year so make of that what you will.

If its simply "magic" from NZ's last placed super rugby side then good luck with the rest.

The Blues seem to score at least 1 try like that a game but do also tend to drop a couple and get punished by their NZ cousins.

[Numbers]

Pack - 7.5/10
Backline - 2/10

Has there been one line break from a single Lions back in 2 games? Kicking game mediocre too.

They made 15 clean line breaks against the NZ Barbarians according to the stats.

[Numbers]

As there was torrential rain for a large part of that match I'm not to critical of the style of play, what would concern me is when we play against better teams in better conditions.

[Adder]

S. HOGG is actually very good at creating space for other players.

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[Mikey Brown]

S. HOGG is actually very good at creating space for other players.

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He should be creating a space in the squad for another player. Did you see that duff pass he did? Awful. Really killed our chances on this tour.

[OptimisticJock]

[bruce]

Fear not, Davies will be at 13 on Saturday......

Jon Davies outside Te'o I reckon. You can't accuse Gatland of not committing to his game plan.

Haha. Yep.

Foxy has been in sparkling form for Scarlets, we'll see if he can transfer that under Gats/Howler.

[WaspInWales]

Lions by 1. 23-22.

Just a converted try away from the correct score and result.

Small margins.

Perhaps this tour isn't such a waste afterall?

[Stom]

Jon Davies outside Te'o I reckon. You can't accuse Gatland of not committing to his game plan.

Haha. Yep.

Foxy has been in sparkling form for Scarlets, we'll see if he can transfer that under Gats/Howler.

He's also a player who lives up to the NZ assertation NH players lack basic handling skills...

[Mellsblue]

Jon Davies outside Te'o I reckon. You can't accuse Gatland of not committing to his game plan.

Haha. Yep.

Foxy has been in sparkling form for Scarlets, we'll see if he can transfer that under Gats/Howler.

Nowell's been superb for Exeter.....

[Mikey Brown]

Haha. Yep.

Foxy has been in sparkling form for Scarlets, we'll see if he can transfer that under Gats/Howler.

Nowell's been superb for Exeter.....

Still gets absolutely humiliated in defence at least once a game. Even on his good days. Nowell gets done through lack of pace and technique, Ashton often gets done because he's a massive whimp, but the end result is basically the same.

[morepork]

Poor old Halfpenny is just busted isn't he. Absolutely nothing. Ditto Haskell.

[Mellsblue]

Foxy has been in sparkling form for Scarlets, we'll see if he can transfer that under Gats/Howler.

Nowell's been superb for Exeter.....

Still gets absolutely humiliated in defence at least once a game. Even on his good days. Nowell gets done through lack of pace and technique, Ashton often gets done because he's a massive whimp, but the end result is basically the same.

Yep. Being a quality club player is no guarantee of international quality.

[Len]

Just seen the highlights. Was that Halfpenny Ihaia embarrassed on the way to the line? Can't imagine Sexton or Biggar finishing that try. Lovely that was.

[Puja]

I was having this thought about selections earlier and wanted to see what the brain trust thought. Gatland's been picking some very well shuffled sides for his first games, which I'm sure is lovely in terms of team bonding, but surely isn't particularly good for cohesion and momentum.

Wouldn't it have made more sense to pick a Saracens-heavy XV for one game, an Ireland-heavy XV for another, a Welsh-heavy side to lose the third, etc. You'd get less blending, but you'd also have Murray and Sexton playing together or Mako, George, Itoje and Kruis hunting as a pack, rather than people looking slightly lost at what the others are doing.

Given Gatland, it might still have been a disaster, but I can't help but feel it might've been resulted in a more auspicious start to the series.

Puja

[morepork]

It will make eff all difference if the coach is hell bent on sticking to a negative, spoiling game plan.

[Renniks]

So, based on what we've seen, without the option of calling up replacements (or a new coach, sadly)
Who would be people's 23 for the next match if we weren't doing this strange “everyone starts” thing?

I think I'd be going for something like:

McGrath, George, Furlong
Lawes, Itoje,
Stander, Tipuric, Faletau
Murray, Farrell,
Williams, Te'o, Joseph, Watson, Hogg

Owens, Mako, Sinckler, Kruis, Moriarty, Webb, Sexton, Daly


But a lot of those choices don't fill me with happiness right now!

[I R Geech]

The only vaguely reassuring thing I can think of right now is that the person who is performing the absolute worst in what is so far a shower of shite is a Kiwi, so they aren't all brilliant.
Although they did have the sense to hand him a passport and let him go and coach elsewhere, so really the buggers got that right too.

Fucksocks.