Australia vs British and Irish Lions - 1st Test (Brisbane)

[GunsGermsRugbyandSteel]

That's precisely my point. You (and plenty of others) are basing their opinion of Quade on his RWC11 form, 2 years ago!!! Yet you don't (and not should you) do this for any other player. It's another double standard when it comes to Quade.
You have to rely to some degree on S15 form. You simply have to. Otherwise anyone dropped from a test side would never be picked again because their prior test form was not good. Horne should rightfully be picked in the Wallabies. If you based the selection on his previous wallabies form he'd never play test footy again. His selection is based purely on S15 form. Yet for some reason you can't do this with Quade.

I'm sorry I dont get your point re Priestland and Flood. Hangover to blame probably. I wouldnt have picked them for the Lions, not by a long shot.

No I can do this for Cooper as the last time he was really outstanding in Super rugby Australia won the tri nations championship but its a little more complicated this time because he hasnt played much test rugby in the last two years whereas before he had and there is clearly tension between himself and the coach now.

I also think he was a bit of an unknown quantity before whereas he now everyone knows what to expect from him in attack.

It will certainly be one of the most interesting sub plots of this Lions series if he is selected and if so I would be very keen to see how he does v Sexton.

 

[sootyanddave]

They have always been conservative under Deans haven't they?

 

[qwerty51]

Not in 2010.

 

[something]

Not in 2010.

& that year they produced the best rugby highlights video youtube has seen. Love watching this always gets me psyched!

 

[qwerty51]

The defence was abysmal in 2010 so you can't say we were playing 'better' rugby. Great for highlights reel.

 

[swingpass]

geez you forget just how good KB (Kurtley Beale) can be when he is on song. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) is without doubt our best OC and JOC (James O'Connor) belongs on a wing

ps thank you very much something for reminding us just how good test rugby can be

 

[Scotty]

The defence was abysmal in 2010 so you can't say we were playing 'better' rugby. Great for highlights reel.

No, you can't say that, but also can't say we are playing better or more successful rugby now either.

I'd prefer to lose playing exciting rugby than lose playing boring rugby.

 

[qwerty51]

Can't say what? Scoring a heap of tries and conceding a heap is not exciting to me. I get sick of this 'boring rugby' tag, it seems to only apply to Australians. The rugby we played last year was not boring, it was just less adventurous. I think we're playing better rugby now than we were in 2010. We're able to win the close ones. Think England at home in 2010 where we lost a close one, we won those ones in 2012. The pack was a mess in 2010. The ABs are not putting 30+ points on us any more and we don't concede 40+ to SA away.

 

[Penguin]

I do understand what the positives are re Cooper. I just think the negatives have been more prominent lately particularly at test level.



Thats the point though he has hardly played test rugby at all in the last couple of years. Beale has played more games at 10 than anyone for the Aussies lately.

In the last year. A couple of years ago was the World Cup year, he killed it before the WC. Didn't go so well during it. Got injured, came back latish last year & played a couple of tests before rogering his knee again. Hasn't been any tests yet this year. So your statement should be he has played minimal tests in the past year..... due to injury. It's an irrelevant statement in the whole saga..... Which I am heartily sick of!

 

[Dumbledore]

& that year they produced the best rugby highlights video youtube has seen. Love watching this always gets me psyched!

And that is why Beale makes the squad. Him at fullback with Folau and Digby on the wings. How do you stop that? If we can bring the attacking play of 2010 with the defence we showed last year, the Lions are fucked.

 

[lewisr]

Can't say what? Scoring a heap of tries and conceding a heap is not exciting to me. I get sick of this 'boring rugby' tag, it seems to only apply to Australians.

You still don't get it qwerty... this is the close minded attitude that will leave union in the dust behind NRL and AFL. There is a reason it only applies to Australians - we are the only country with such heavy competition for football codes and yet all our national coach wants to do is play 'less adventurous' rugby. We are not playing better rugby than 2010, we are playing boring, unenterprising, win at all costs rugby. Deans said it all in his interview "this is the team we think will win and do nothing more and nothing less". Frankly, he comes from New Zealand where they have the depth and commitment to union to have this kind of approach. We need to do more than win, we need to be entertaining because thats one of the reasons people spend 300 dollars on a bloody ticket.

The funny thing is that we justify Deans' approach by saying it has been fairly successful. I.e. "we beat Wales', didn't we?". Yes, we only just beat them. The Kiwi's went over to millennium stadium and beat the same team with consummate ease. They were exciting, enterprising, and guess what, still managed to win the game by a significant margin.

I don't buy this concept that we don't have the cattle either. We have a plethora of rugby talents that any other team, including the BILs, would kill to have and yet we don't use them to their full potential.

I for one loved the 2010 season. To bring this back OT, I hope we play exciting footy in Brisbane but I don't think it will happen. The crowd have come to love the entertaining factor that the reds and S15 have unveiled and to say this cannot be achieved at test level is simply negative and close minded.

And by the way, a heap of tries in one match makes it entertaining, regardless of the teams scoring them. Some of the best test matches between Australia and NZ (i.e. one of those old Bledisloes that is hailed as the greatest match ever made) was pure attacking rugby and god was it exciting to watch.

 

[Brumby Runner]

I also think he was a bit of an unknown quantity before whereas he now everyone knows what to expect from him in attack.

This is true, but it doesn't mean that he cannot still make very good rugby players look like novices with his step or other deception skills. Just ask Aaron Cruden.

 

[gel]

Although we won tight games last year, we looked really unstructured in doing so. It appeared to be little more than scrambling defence mixed with a shit load of "never say die" attitude. Highly commendable by the boys, without a doubt, but pretty terrible to watch. To be honest I felt a bit unclean with some of the wins knowing we won but were not the best team on the day. If deans' coaching is walking in the room and saying " tackle the man in front of you and do it for YOUR country" and nothing more then this is the result we get...

I hope this series is different and we give it a really good go at playing some smart rugby.

 

[Kaz]

So no QC (Quade Cooper)?
Have to think there is still relief in the Lion's camp if true.

 

[Scotty]

Can't say what? Scoring a heap of tries and conceding a heap is not exciting to me. I get sick of this 'boring rugby' tag, it seems to only apply to Australians. The rugby we played last year was not boring, it was just less adventurous. I think we're playing better rugby now than we were in 2010. We're able to win the close ones. Think England at home in 2010 where we lost a close one, we won those ones in 2012. The pack was a mess in 2010. The ABs are not putting 30+ points on us any more and we don't concede 40+ to SA away.

I was agreeing that we cant say we were playing better rugby in 2010.

 

[fatprop]

I was agreeing that we cant say we were playing better rugby in 2010.

Qwerty has a point to an extent, Deans isn't the first coach to pull in and tighten up play in an attempt to get particular fundamentals right before building up again.

It is what Link did at both the Reds and the Tahs (different fundamentals each time) , and what Cheks is currently doing

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Scotty]

Qwerty has a point to an extent, Deans isn't the first coach to pull in and tighten up play in an attempt to get particular fundamentals right before building up again.

It is what Link did at both the Reds and the Tahs (different fundamentals each time) , and what Cheks is currently doing

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Yes, but he pulled it in more than 2 years after coming into the job and we are yet to see the 'building up again'!

I have no argument with Qwerty's point except to say that the current style isn't really achieving better results than the old one. Neither style has had us looking like we could challenge the no. 1 team consistently.

 

[Braveheart81]

I think the jury should still be out on the 'current style' until we see what happens in this series.

Our available backline players are far more attacking minded and experienced than what we trotted out on the park for most of last year.

Of course it could still be very average, but it also could be much better.

 

[JSRF10]

If the Wallabies can get their set piece in order they'll win the series 3-0. The Lions probable test back line still look uninspired with ball in hand, and given they'll be carrying St Sam and Lydiate for this one the Wallabies have to be favourites. The Lions main chances of scoring will be from set pieces so take that away and they look blunt.

The Australian back line is far more talented but I think their under rated forward pack (by the Lions) will win them the series. The invention of the backs will just decide if it will be embarrassing or not. Right now I can see the Wallabies winning the first test comfortably, then the Lions making 4 or 5 changes to their forward pack and losing the next 2 by a score.

 

[Scotty]

I think the jury should still be out on the 'current style' until we see what happens in this series.

Our available backline players are far more attacking minded and experienced than what we trotted out on the park for most of last year.

Of course it could still be very average, but it also could be much better.

If we pick the more attacking minded players then we are guaranteed to be more attacking, but the other blokes are still in the squad as well!