Australia v British & Irish Lions, 3rd Test (Sydney)

[Lindommer]

I think Smith is a trump card we have to play....I think it's hard to drop Gill out of the team.....

Agree. Smith and Gill are very similar in their fetching abilities and both better than Hooper while Hooper's miles better with ball in hand. It's gotta be one of Smith or Gill (in my opinion to start) with Hooper to come on with, say, 25 minutes to go. For mine, Smith's outstanding ball-stealing abilities would negate the overwhelming possession the BILs had in the first half of the Melbourne Test.

After this series Gill should be the starting 7 until Pocock reports fit for duty.

 

[Scotty]

Indeed. The Lions back row made a combined total of 21 meters compared to 78 meters for the Aus back row, with Hooper and Palu making over 30 meters each. The Lions made a total of 140 running meters. And we want to drop these guys. Insanity.

Hard for the Lions to make metres when they kicked it every time they got possession.

 

[gold heart]

I like most have a man crush on smith and do not doubt the guy's ability, he has proven it again and again and again....however if we bought him in gill would be the obvious casualty and given that the guy has not played for a long time and is coming back from an injury, i would just be gutted if he went down early and we are left with no genuine pilferer.

One of our strengths over the years has been having great opensides that pilfer the ball, hooper is playing good rugby butI would start gill over hooper, as we need procession and turn overs to allow the golden boys in the back line to run the ball. Most of our better runs from our backline has been from counter attack not from structured set pieces due to JOC (James O'Connor) being too deep. Bring Hooper on at the 50 minute mark when the slabs of red meat are a bit weary and then hooper can do his running magic. I would prefer that mmm is given a shot or probably kimlin instead of simmons If horwill is out. Regardless actually if horwill is out i would given one of these guys a chance from the bench over simmons.

I agree with some comments here that the lions will probably run a very defensive game plan - makes it more vital that we have a seven that is stealing that ball.

 

[Sully]

Why do we need to steal it when they kick to us for free?

 

[Quick Hands]

Why do we need to steal it when they kick to us for free?

Too true, on the evidence of last Saturday, we need to stop them stealing our ball by being a pace quicker to the breakdown.

 

[Braveheart81]

The discussion of the need for a pilferer because we were beaten at the breakdown in the second test really seems to skip the reason why we lost the breakdown.

All our turnover ball was from not effectively clearing out a defender or loose carries in contact (or not in contact as the case may be).

Given that the Lions spent so much of the game kicking the ball straight to us, a genuine pilferer would have arguably had less impact on the game than a 7 whose strengths lie in other areas.

Surely the more rucks the opposition take the ball into, the more chance your pilferer has of stealing the ball. When the Lions only had 49 of their own rucks which was less than half of our total, a pilferer looks far less essential.

 

[Richo]

True, BH, but pilferers are usually good at protecting possession too.

And I doubt the Lions will kick it quite as much this week.

 

[Scotty]

Why do we need to steal it when they kick to us for free?

They kick it to us but we don't seem to catch it much.

Their tactic seemed to be brought about to target Beale, and it worked (although he only dropped 2 of the 5).

 

[Nathan's]

In my honest opinion, as stated before, I would move from this:
6. Mowen
7. Hooper
8. Palu

to something like this:
6. Smith
7. Hooper
8. Mowen

Palu to the bench with Gill to bring on late in the second half.
The latter back row will put more pressure on the lions at breakdown time. It's obviously a long shot as Dean's basically won't do it, but you HAVE to have George Smith there. Two pilferers at the breakdown, combined with Mowen's ability to virtually shut down the halfback is hard to pass up. Smith has done everything this season in super rugby and was virtually in the squad prior to his injury. We have missed Pocock this series, and Smith is the closest thing to him. Pocock is a spitting image of an early Smith. With Palu and Gill to come on late in the match, i think it's a perfect lineup for the third test.

On a side note, it will be interesting to see who Dean's keeps (if he's still the coach) when Pocock comes back. Hooper or Gill or both?

In reply to other posts, Genia will definitely be Captain. When Horwill was injured, Genia got the job, and then when he himself was injured it went to Pocock.

 

[gold heart]

In my honest opinion, as stated before, I would move from this:
6. Mowen
7. Hooper
8. Palu

to something like this:
6. Smith
7. Hooper
8. Mowen

Palu to the bench with Gill to bring on late in the second half.
The latter back row will put more pressure on the lions at breakdown time. It's obviously a long shot as Dean's basically won't do it, but you HAVE to have George Smith there. Two pilferers at the breakdown, combined with Mowen's ability to virtually shut down the halfback is hard to pass up. Smith has done everything this season in super rugby and was virtually in the squad prior to his injury. We have missed Pocock this series, and Smith is the closest thing to him. Pocock is a spitting image of an early Smith. With Palu and Gill to come on late in the match, i think it's a perfect lineup for the third test.

On a side note, it will be interesting to see who Dean's keeps (if he's still the coach) when Pocock comes back. Hooper or Gill or both?

In reply to other posts, Genia will definitely be Captain. When Horwill was injured, Genia got the job, and then when he himself was injured it went to Pocock.

Not sure if that would work having palu and gill on the bench as you do not have room for a back up lock unless you went for a 6 - 2 split with forwards which would not work either as we would be holding on for minimal replacements in the backs then.

 

[Braveheart81]

I think the way the Lions played in game 2 will reinforce the thought that our current forward pack selection is right and we just need to improve our accuracy in the cleanout.

Certainly nothing happened in game 2 to suggest that starting with two 7s is a good idea.

I think Smith is more likely to get a look in if Horwill is suspended but if he isn't, I think our forward pack will be exactly the same.

Palu to the bench with Gill to bring on late in the second half.
The latter back row will put more pressure on the lions at breakdown time. It's obviously a long shot as Dean's basically won't do it, but you HAVE to have George Smith there. Two pilferers at the breakdown, combined with Mowen's ability to virtually shut down the halfback is hard to pass up. Smith has done everything this season in super rugby and was virtually in the squad prior to his injury. We have missed Pocock this series, and Smith is the closest thing to him. Pocock is a spitting image of an early Smith. With Palu and Gill to come on late in the match, i think it's a perfect lineup for the third test.

I find this sort of emphasis strange. As if what you're calling for is so obviously the correct way to proceed and the only reason it won't happen is because Deans is foolishly against it.

 

[Quick Hands]

I think the way the Lions played in game 2 will reinforce the thought that our current forward pack selection is right and we just need to improve our accuracy in the cleanout.

Certainly nothing happened in game 2 to suggest that starting with two 7s is a good idea.

I think Smith is more likely to get a look in if Horwill is suspended but if he isn't, I think our forward pack will be exactly the same.

I think that you are right. This is Deans' team and I don't believe he will make any changes unless Horwill is suspended (which would be a disgrace) or someone is injured this week.

And I must say that his team is pretty close to the right one - and I've been a harsh critic of some of his selections in the last couple of years. I'm a big fan of picking and sticking and allowing combinations to develop and giving players confidence in who is beside them. This is where Deans has got it wrong in the past.

Cutting out the soft tunrovers and protecting our ball at the tackle is what we need to work on. The players that we have can do it and if they do it on Saturday, we should win by 10-15.

 

[Brumby Runner]

How can you say Lydiate and warbs out were you looking at warbs and lydiates contribution, BOD and Davies doesn't work, but Roberts not Tuilagi, Heaslip needs to be looked at too, contribution is mostly coming from the midfield Corbisero will/should be fit, Parling should be gone with either Evans or Gray coming in with the other on the bench Hibbard to replace youngs in the front row.
I thought Warbs had an exceptionally good game BOD was mediocre and showed his age the last 10min Phillips will be back next test, murry on the bench.

If Gray comes in, I hope Kimlin gets a guernsey for the Wallabies. He dominated Gray at the lineout for the Brumbies.

 

[Dan54]

I not sure that Wallabies need a pilferer as much as they need to be stronger over ball, so they don't get blown off it!!

 

[Brumby Runner]

Why do we need to steal it when they kick to us for free?

But invariably, they (the Lions) won the contest for the ball on each of their (shorter) kicks. Another area we need to improve.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I not sure that Wallabies need a pilferer as much as they need to be stronger over ball, so they don't get blown off it!!

Agreed. Clean out will be key. That means guys like Douglas, Mowen and Palu will need to be right on the spot to make sure the pill is protected.

 

[Starch]

Yes!!. Double jeopardy common sense......except that would have meant no second citing.

 

[Joe Blow]

BIG KEV! YES!!

I would still have Kimlin on the bench in place of Simmons to finish with a bang.

 

[Mr Doug]

I just watched the Big Kev and Robbie Deans 'presser' on ABC News 24. If I read the "Robbie speak" correctly, G. Smith will be in the playing squad on Saturday!

 

[JSRF10]

Advantage Wallabies now that Horwill is available. Very worried about Saturday, the longer this test series goes on the more negative the Lions play is getting, if Australia cut out the unforced errors and Lilo brings his Melbourne form they could rack up a big score at the weekend