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

[Joe Blow]

Ben Mowen vs Wycliff Palu (stats from thescore.com.au)

Mowen 80 mins
6 runs (28m)
8 tackles
6 rucks
1 turnover
4 missed tackles

Palu 80 mins
7 runs (29m)
8 tackles
7 rucks
0 turnovers
3 missed tackles

Won't change warped perspectives.

After watching the game a second time and watching both of these blokes closely I feel that they both contributed a lot but are very different players. Mowen is steady and always where he supposed to be but lacks power for his size. Palu put in some big hits and shifted some rucks when they were in danger of losing the ball and kept possession. They both went the full 80 pretty well. Our lineout went pretty well and this was a big part of Mowens job.
We could really use MMM or Kimlin on the bench to impact late in the next test.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Re boots/studs & kickers slipping.

The teams have unfettered access to 1/2 the pitch for 45 minutes before kick off.

The kickers and others can test the surface then to confirm if they have made the correct decision regarding which boot/stud combination is optimal.

 

[Brumby Jack]

Re boots/studs & kickers slipping.

The teams have unfettered access to 1/2 the pitch for 45 minutes before kick off.

The kickers and others can test the surface then to confirm if they have made the correct decision regarding which boot/stud combination is optimal.

Wear 21mms or go home

 

[Brumby Jack]

And to make matters worse, James Horwill has been cited for stamping/trampling Alun Wyn Jones in the 3rd minute.

The Hearing is tonight.

 

[footy1>31]

kyle goodwin should have a crack

 

[TSR]

Horwill incident doesn't look good to me.

 

[Dan54]

Yep HJ ,couldn't agree more, said to Mrs I couldn't believe he was wearing moulded if that was right, Suncorp at the best of times is a very unstable surface.
On game itself, as a reasonably neutral fan, my thoughts were it was a bloody good test.
Think the Wallabies played bloody well, it hard to allow for that many injuries, and I not a Deans fan, but after last night I saw not too much to get stuck into him about. I agree Diggers not really that good at moment, but have said it all year, and been shouted down, but the lats not play Folau brigade would be a little quiet this morning I think. I also thought Mowen had a very good first up test.
Lions played very much like I thought, they are very physical, not sure they would be very happy with Davies at 12, but generally none of them were to bad.
Who is ref next week? I can tell you after watching ABs/France NH refs certainly have a slightly different interpertation at breakdown, so think the Lions would enjoy that a bit and Wallabies need to be aware of it.
Also thought Pollock Reffed real well!

 

[terry j]

some times things can just backfire on you.

I wanted to get on and say how damned much I enjoyed the game, seriously you could not have wanted a more exciting and riveting game that went down to the wire.

Sure we lost, and really should have won it but (strangely?) I was just happy after it all that it WAS worth watching. Last time I was in town I dragged my girls and their boyfriends along to the pub to watch the tahs v lions game, they LOVED it (had to go to the pub natch, not on commercial tv)

The BF (who is an AFL player) kept commenting about how much faster and how much more interesting the game is compared to that other game his mates at work rabbit on about.

So I know they made special efforts to follow up and watch the first test, whilst my wife watched with me at home, and she too is a completely new recruit after watching her first live rugby game recently, converted.

So then we had this absolutely fantastic game-seriously, what more drama could you wish for?-and in the back of my mind I was ALSO so damned pleased that my girls and BF were watching a fantastic spectacle and surely having their new found 'faith' in the game confirmed. I was also thinking that if after watching this game you STILL think RL has more entertainment value then fine, fuck off and watch it and stay there, never darken my door again.

Surely, surely, the TEN commercial coverage would have been worthwhile because the game itself was so worthwhile?

Be thankful for that I say

But all I read here were complaint after complaint, and I feel kinda miserable after wading thru it.

I feel more dismay NOW than I did after the game!

Sure, it is to be expected that a forensic dissection occurs, necessary even, but there seems to be just a tad bit of parochial nastiness and sheer miserableness about it at times.

Seems we'd rather gloat and put the boot in to 'someone' and revel in the spite than laud the fantastic game and effort that went in, man we came >< close! And to do so in spite of what happened injury wise.

as I said, sometimes things just backfire.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Yep HJ ,couldn't agree more, said to Mrs I couldn't believe he was wearing moulded if that was right, Suncorp at the best of times is a very unstable surface.

I dont really get the desire of these blokes to wear moulded soles - the extra speed supposedly given by the lower resistance is marginal and all the boots are pretty comfortable these days with little or no stud pressure - certainly compared to the olden days.

 

[USARugger]

Wear 21mms or go home

Or just have two pairs of boots

On a dry day or on turf I wouldn't trade in my Adidas F50s for anything.

 

[GaffaCHinO]

kyle goodwin should have a crack

He didnt think he had a shot so he has had shoulder surgery about 2 weeks ago still has 10 weeks in rehab.

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Tapatalk 2

 

[redstragic]

It was a difficult night for James," Deans said. "Obviously the disruption didn't help. But I guess he was at the heart of working our way into a positon to win the game, so you have probably got to give him credit for that, in the circumstance

Read more: http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/w...er/story-e6frf55l-1226668205734#ixzz2WzIgy0o4

All this talk about Quade may be academic. Based in this quote i am not sure Deans actually comprehended what happened on the field.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Or just have two pairs of boots

On a dry day or on turf I wouldn't trade in my Adidas F50s for anything.

But f50's come in a screw in as well - how much more would they weigh?
All one needs to do is look at lovell rugby or equivlanet sites: the asics lethal testimonials he was wearing are on the firm ground page: http://www.lovell-rugby.co.uk/Rugby-Boots#tag=Firm Ground,page=1,brand=Asics

Albeit he was wearing the indigenous model: http://www.soccerbible.com/news/foo...imonial-indigenous-limited-edition-boots.aspx

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Horwill incident doesn't look good to me.

at 03:02 on the game clock. Didn't seem to be too much in it, but it was nowhere near the ball and at the head. It will be pretty hard to argue that it was an accident and that Big Kev was doing it to maintain his balance, or to get into a better position to shove.

Edit: Anyone able to do a frame by frame at about 17:11 when Cuthbert knocks on and Squeaky comes in and appears to trip up. His size 9 appears to be extremely close to Cuthbert's melon on the ground. I can't seem to get super slo-mo on the foxtel IQ.

 

[JSRF10]

First experience of Suncorp and it was awesome, still not sure how the Lions won that game if Lilo didn't get injured think it would have been a different story.

Hooper was my MOTM, but delighted to see Izzy have a good run. Lots of changes needed for the Lions for the second test, outclassed at the breakdown and looked pretty one dimensional in attack, apart from North.

 

[fatprop]

It was a difficult night for James," Deans said. "Obviously the disruption didn't help. But I guess he was at the heart of working our way into a positon to win the game, so you have probably got to give him credit for that, in the circumstance

Read more: http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/w...er/story-e6frf55l-1226668205734#ixzz2WzIgy0o4

All this talk about Quade may be academic. Based in this quote i am not sure Deans actually comprehended what happened on the field.

I see that as understandable, when is the last time you have seen so many backs injuries in one test?

How the f*ck could he plan for that?

I still think it was an exceptional effort from the team to be that close

Did JOC (James O'Connor) have the best game? Nup, but there were a few things happening around him that made his life a tad more "difficult".

Like losing Lilo in a minute, like losing his replacement McCabe and having Hooper put outside him, like losing the third playmaker in Barnes. Like having Digby hiding a shoulder for 30 minutes, like having our most experienced back, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), hiding a shoulder and then going off.

Deans's isn't going to change JOC (James O'Connor), as well as all the injuries/changes that look to be on the cards.

If Lilo is fit, I expect JOC (James O'Connor) to stay at 10, I would bring Tevita Kuridrani straight in at 13 for AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), I believe Horne is a 12, his work there has been exceptional, his work at 13 - average (the Lilo & Kuridrani centre pairing makes sense, they have lots of game time together and he has been the best behind AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) all season) Beale to 15 for Barnes

Wing? dunno, depends on who is fit (Tomane or Cummins)

 

[fatprop]

Hasn't it been confirmed that Deans made Lilo the kicker and then JOC (James O'Connor) was number 2 option.

That was in the commentary on Fox as "confirmed"

 

[gold heart]

What a match - the forwards were all massive, particularly the back three and front three, oh and also I thought douglass was solid. I am a huge fan of horwill but did anyone else feel that he seemed slow and ponderous with the ball?

 

[Richo]

This "left 14 points on the park" is a good talking point, but is obviously flawed logically. If JOC (James O'Connor) makes the first PK, he probably doesn't get a shot at the second, since the Lions would have restarted from halfway instead of the 22. And so on for the other missed penalties.

Right up until the last one, that is.

Reading that the preferred kickers were Lilo and then JOC (James O'Connor) strikes me as odd. Barnes is a) the most experienced kicker, and b) at least as good as the others, particularly from long range. And if Barnes wasn't there to kick goals, why not just start Beale at 15?

 

[p.Tah]

Just watched the Horwell stomping incident on Jones (3min mark). Looks nasty, got him in the face but it didn't appear to be deliberate. Will be a nervous few days.