Lions Tour Thread

[Lee Grant]

Not very impressive from the Lions dirt-trackers but they had too much experience.

Well done by the Kings - if we get a 5th team in Melbourne they will do OK to play as well as the Kings.

Great new stadium too.

 

[Spook]

Wow, lot of overseas-based Saffas in the Kings. What's the story there?

I thought Nigel Owens royally dicked the Kings - no pun intended.

 

[Blue]

Wow, lot of overseas-based Saffas in the Kings. What's the story there?

I thought Nigel Owens royally dicked the Kings - no pun intended.

Yep Owens had a mare. The Lions continue to cheat at every breakdown by sealing off the ball or falling on top of the opposition ball carrier. I hope Bryce Lawrence nails them quickly.

Spook the Kings makeup was baffling. All this talk about giving black players a chance etc etc. When quizzed about the o'seas players he blamed all the other franchises for not developing black players for him to steal (I am referring to Puke Watson Super Rugby).

I reckon the best thing for SA could be for the Golden Lions franchise to get a holiday and the Kings compete in their place. They will get good crowds and lure a few good players back who wonlt mind spending a season or three in Port Elizabeth and surrounds. Although PE is a bit sleepy there are good beaches and some nice towns in the region.

Lee: Agreed re Brussow. He will have to watch the penalties but the net gain is still worth the penalties.

 

[PaarlBok]

Bliksem for some reason I thought it would be a evening match and end up watching cricket.

Anyway look like there are only 20 odd decend rugby players up north by the look of it. I mean WP & OFS werent even at full strength and the Kings more the extra player stock not playing for the other teams.

Bliksem another reffing debacle according to you lot, Barnes to only one thus far look like neutral and reffing the match situation. ???

 

[Blue]

On a side note. What song is played for the Lions during Anthems or is it only the host anthem?

 

[RugbyReg]

Wonderwall by Oasis

 

[Pfitzy]

On a side note. What song is played for the Lions during Anthems or is it only the host anthem?

Gwlad! Save Ireland's Flower 8)

 

[cyclopath]

Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen!!

 

[Thomond78]

Wonderwall by Oasis

You're dead to me. Dead.

Lord Bald did get some wank written up for the last one. I think it's been dumped - thank Christ.

 

[cyclopath]

What would you prefer, Oirish, The Pogues, Elvis Costello...? ;D

 

[Hugonaut]

I thought Nigel Owens royally dicked the Kings - no pun intended.

How so? The penalty try? They're always debatable. The Lions were absolutely murdering the SCK scrum, plus the latter were down to 7 men. It was the third scrum [colapse + reset | penalty | penalty try] so you could argue that he should have given another penalty rather than a penalty try, as a second penalty – absolutely odds-on in my opinion – would have probably done him more favours with his assessors than going to the sticks immediately.

The Lions still aren't up to pace at the breakdown, but that was another woefully unbalanced backrow. Powell is a waist-bending non-entity at ruck-time, Worsely is a blindside playing openside and Nathan Hines is a second-row at blindside. The SCK openside was very lively and impressive, had a number of good steals and well-deserved his try.

A good bit of niggle in the game as well, including some big late hits and off-the-ball nonsense. It's not really a level playing field in those stakes: it seems like it's expected of the provincial teams [owing somewhat to the dubious degrees of infamy regarding various dirty games in Lions tours over the years in SA, NZ and Aus], and there's f*ck-all for them to worry about in terms of sanctioning. If you get banned, the Super 14 is already over, and the players [by their inclusion in the provincial set-ups] aren't Springboks, so they won't miss international games.

In contrast, if the Lions get binned, it can have a bad effect on the game and, going on from that, the momentum of the tour. Furthermore, if one of them were to get cited, it'd leave the tour short-handed, and the tours always end up short-handed in any case because of injury. Getting suspended from a Lions tour [potentially missing out on the tests] would be a nightmare for any player: you essentially are f*cking your own team-mates every day for three or four weeks.

Lions tours are bloody hard to get selected for in the first place, and they only come along once every four years. There are a huge amount of variables even to get on the plane, so it's not something you can count on, even if you're a young player. You want to make the most of your opportunity, stay fit and play as many matches as you can. When it comes to fighting fire with fire out on the pitch, they have their hands tied these days.

Thought that they held their discipline well, to be honest. Rugby is a tough enough game inside the laws without resorting to cheap-shots off the ball. Not as dirty a match as some of the English papers would have you believe, but not without incident. Owens and the touch judges didn't do either the Lions or themselves any favours on that count.

 

[Spook]

I thought Nigel Owens royally dicked the Kings - no pun intended.

How so?

First half when the Kings were doing all the attacking. Some incredibly cynical play by the Lions to kill the ball 5metres from their own try line ..Owens just let it go..more than once. The Moyne try was a knock on.

 

[Blue]

Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen!!

Good idea but I doubt the Irish give much of a fuck about the Queen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLyBpqaXGBc

 

[Hugonaut]

Jesus. Clive Woodward has so much to answer for. That's still unbelievably embarrassing.

 

[cyclopath]

Good idea but I doubt the Irish give much of a fuck about the Queen

I know. I may have put that in to get a wee rise out of Thomo!

 

[PaarlBok]

Still dont go down well why D'Arcy boy dont wanted to shake De Wets hand after the game. Hell it was his oppertunity to shake a real Paarl Gym Ceres Farmers hand. :nta:

Think our lot are way to in this Lions thing in the head, way to much respect and all that. Hope the test side will go and show nothing of it when they hit the grass of the Tenk. They'll need to tackle that lumbering forwards standing in the way of the defense when the Lions have the pill. Refs seems to just let them play.

 

[Thomond78]

Still dont go down well why D'Arcy boy dont wanted to shake De Wets hand after the game. Hell it was his oppertunity to shake a real Paarl Gym Ceres Farmers hand. :nta:

Think our lot are way to in this Lions thing in the head, way to much respect and all that. Hope the test side will go and show nothing of it when they hit the grass of the Tenk. They'll need to tackle that lumbering forwards standing in the way of the defense when the Lions have the pill. Refs seems to just let them play.

Damp Bazza was head-hunting, Oom. He was putting in cheap, late shots on people, especially D'Arcy, the whole time. Now, hard and fair is one thing - but he was out to maim. That's not on.

 

[cyclopath]

Still dont go down well why D'Arcy boy dont wanted to shake De Wets hand after the game. Hell it was his oppertunity to shake a real Paarl Gym Ceres Farmers hand. :nta:

Think our lot are way to in this Lions thing in the head, way to much respect and all that. Hope the test side will go and show nothing of it when they hit the grass of the Tenk. They'll need to tackle that lumbering forwards standing in the way of the defense when the Lions have the pill. Refs seems to just let them play.

Damp Bazza was head-hunting, Oom. He was putting in cheap, late shots on people, especially D'Arcy, the whole time. Now, hard and fair is one thing - but he was out to maim. That's not on.

Back to his old ways? I remember he got a bit carried away with that stuff some years back. I always thought he was a hard player that let some crap spoil his game. He was a good tackler when he wanted to be, but let himself down at times with cheap rubbish.

 

[Thomond78]

Still dont go down well why D'Arcy boy dont wanted to shake De Wets hand after the game. Hell it was his oppertunity to shake a real Paarl Gym Ceres Farmers hand. :nta:

Think our lot are way to in this Lions thing in the head, way to much respect and all that. Hope the test side will go and show nothing of it when they hit the grass of the Tenk. They'll need to tackle that lumbering forwards standing in the way of the defense when the Lions have the pill. Refs seems to just let them play.

Damp Bazza was head-hunting, Oom. He was putting in cheap, late shots on people, especially D'Arcy, the whole time. Now, hard and fair is one thing - but he was out to maim. That's not on.

Back to his old ways? I remember he got a bit carried away with that stuff some years back. I always thought he was a hard player that let some crap spoil his game. He was a good tackler when he wanted to be, but let himself down at times with cheap rubbish.

That was more or less my take on it, too, Cyclo, I'd have to say.

 

[Hugonaut]

Lions (vs South Africa, first Test, Saturday June 20)

15. Lee Byrne (Ospreys/Wales)
14. Tommy Bowe (Ospreys/Ireland)
13. Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster/Ireland)
12. Jamie Roberts (Cardiff Blues/Wales)
11. Ugo Monye (Harlequins/England)
10. Stephen Jones (Scarlets/Wales)
9. Mike Phillips (Ospreys/Wales)

8. Jamie Heaslip (Leinster/Ireland)
7. David Wallace (Munster/Ireland)
6. Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers/England)
5. Paul O'Connell (Munster/Ireland) Captain
4. Alun-Wyn Jones (Ospreys/Wales)
3. Phil Vickery (London Wasps/England)
2. Lee Mears (Bath/England)
1. Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues/Wales)

Replacements

16. Matthew Rees (Scarlets/Wales)
17. Adam Jones (Ospreys/Wales)
18. Donncha O'Callaghan (Munster/Ireland)
19. Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues/Wales)
20. Harry Ellis (Leicester Tigers/England)
21. Ronan O'Gara (Munster/Ireland)
22. Rob Kearney (Leinster/Ireland)