Waratahs v. B&I Lions - Saturday 15 June 2013

[JSRF10]

POC isn't a great scrummager, it has been acknowledged in Irish circles for a long time. There are few better locks than him but scrummaging is by far his weakest suit, he has always scrummaged on the loose head side with his partner packing down behind the tight head.

Vunipola is electric around the field but he hasn't yet shown he can fulfill his positions most basic task yet. Right now he is the Tom Croft of loose heads, provides great youtube moments but can't do the necessities of a loose head prop. Cian Healy suffered something similar early in his career but he worked hard at the basics, added them to his all round game and is now one of the premier loose heads in the world. If Vunipola puts in the work he'll follow a similar path, but right now Vunipola and Croft are luxuries that the Lions can't afford in a test match but if they have big games tomorrow they'll be in the box seat for a test place.

 

[Hell West & Crooked]

Looking forward to seeing Skelton on Saturday up against POC and possibly Grey. I've been preaching to all who will listen back in Ireland that big Will could be the next big thing in the tight head lock world, hopefully he doesn't let me down!

Not sure I could agree with you here... from the little bit I have seen of him so far - (and I thought he played well against the Force) - Watching him 'wade' throu that Maul was truly impressive, but I have not seen the athleticism and all-around mobility that one would need to be successful in the top-flight. Added to that is his young age, and the likely need for him to last several seasons of Super Rugby before being given his chance, all points to a 'wait and see' diagnosis...

I will however concede that better judges than I, are praising the work he has done in the last couple of years on conditioning, and see a big future for him.

I worry that physiologically, he may struggle - he does not seem to move fluidly around the field. It really is not easy for a human body to operate at his size, free of injury and wear and tear...

Still I wish him ever success - he seems to have a heart to match his major frame.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Anyone game enough to pick the score ?

Weather forecast is looking good.

Tahs 18 B&I Lions 15

 

[JSRF10]

Tahs to beat to the spread (+23.5). Lions stronger bench will enable them to pull away in the last 20. I'm going Tahs 17 B&I Lions 32

 

[Blue]

POC isn't a great scrummager, it has been acknowledged in Irish circles for a long time. There are few better locks than him but scrummaging is by far his weakest suit, he has always scrummaged on the loose head side with his partner packing down behind the tight head.

I'll take your word for it but I always read the Irish fush 'n chups wrappers before and after test matches and I honestly cannot remember this ever being mentioned whilst they were brutal on Healy early in his career.

 

[Blue]

I reckon Rowntree will be living in Vunipola's guest room for he next three years and make him live eat and breath scrummaging.

 

[Pfitzy]

Jones will eat Tilse alive, but I think Ryan can hold Mako as long as Skelton concentrates.

Tahs' lineout will probably get picked clean, so expect a lot of tap and go off penalties


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I hate autocorrect ...

 

[JSRF10]

I'll take your word for it but I always read the Irish fush 'n chups wrappers before and after test matches and I honestly cannot remember this ever being mentioned whilst they were brutal on Healy early in his career.

Criticising POC isn't allowed in print media in Ireland its against the constitution

 

[Intruder]

Jones will eat Tilse alive, but I think Ryan can hold Mako as long as Skelton concentrates.
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I hate autocorrect .

The battle between the hookers could be very telling. John Ulugia would be looking to exploit Tom Youngs. Not sure on this fact although heard Youngs was an Inside Center before turning into a Hooker.

 

[Ash]

The battle between the hookers could be very telling. John Ulugia would be looking to exploit Tom Youngs. Not sure on this fact although heard Youngs was an Inside Center before turning into a Hooker.

Puzzling.

Yes, Youngs was an inside centre.

But how do you expect Ulugia to exploit him? Ulugia is freaking good for a third string Super Rugby hooker, but Ulugia is simply not in the same class as Youngs.

 

[fatprop]

We will struggle to get within 20 of this lot

I just hope we keep at it and function as a team for the 80

 

[Ash]

The Tahs are very unlikely to exploit the Lions at the set piece.

If they do exploit the Lions, it will come from their up tempo ball in hand tactics. I don't really find that much difference as to the Reds objective as to how the Tahs will tackle it. The Tahs patterns will be a little different from the Reds, but they will be trying to achieve the same result - high tempo ball in hand rugby, make the Lions work in defence with quick ruck ball.

The main difference is that the Tahs won't have the same width from the 10 channel, but Foley will offer more of a running threat.

If the Lions dominate the lineouts, I expect the Tahs to do the same tactics that the Reds were criticised for (by some) - running from deep, quick taps. I don't see much other option, playing a field position game with the Lions is unlikely to be very successful.

 

[Ash]

By the way, really looking forward to this game. Both the Tahs and Reds offer to give potentially more exciting running games against the Lions than the other teams (including Wallabies) do. That's not necessarily due to the players, but rather game plans.

Both the Reds and Tahs games could be the games of the series.

 

[Ruggo]

Tahs are going to give it one hell of a crack. They have that mindset these days and some of the fringe players will step right up into their opportunity as they did for the Force game last weekend. The problem is they are getting close to the tests now and will be more set.

Suncorp went off last weekend and it would be great if the SFS had the same vibe.

Go the Tahs.

 

[Pfitzy]

Suncorp went off last weekend and it would be great if the SFS had the same vibe.

Capacity crowd, plus I'm there so it's a guarantee.


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I hate autocorrect ...

 

[Paradox]

Cheika looks damned determined on Rugby HQ.

Go the Tahs.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Time to put the Interstate stuff behind us, and collectively barrack for whoever is the Australian side against the common enemy.

 

[Lee Grant]

Don't be fooled by the Lions performance in the scrums so far. Adam Jones aside it is a front 5 that has 4 weak scrummagers, they've just been up against either disinterested (BaaBaas) or not very good (Reds, Force, Country). Vunipola has struggled against every decent scrum he has faced this year both for Saracens and England, the Lions haven't been tested yet in this department. I don't think the Tahs will be strong enough to either, however they should get parity there, but I think its an area Australia could potentially target.

Correct - Adam Jones is a world class THP, maybe the best there is, but the others are not that scarey if the Tahs guys are accurate. LHP Vunipola and THP Stevens (not playing tomorrow) were like spaghetti for Sarries against Toulon in the Heineken Cup semi-final.

Vunipola moves his arse out a lot on the hit as he did when he came on the park for England against the Wallabies (and the Poms got the penalty).

He's good around the park though, like brother Billy, who is a no. 8. You've got to stop him before he gets up to speed.

The Tahs had better get their lineout going better especially when Parling comes on. He's one of the best lineout quarterbacks in Europe and I think he will start against the Wobs on the LH side of the 2nd row.

It will be great to watch winger Zebo play at the ground because he plays for Munster, the team I follow, and can have some magic moments - though I hope not too many of them.

Jamie Roberts had better pull his finger out because he has no form to speak of.

Heaslip has surprised me. I didn't think he was in great form in 2012/13 but he's playing his best rugby now and could even start in the test match ahead of Faletau - something I would not have thought about a few months ago.

The Lions will be too good for the Tahs especially when the benches come on, and they will be a lot fitter throughout the game than those Tahs who have not played a lot of Super Rugby this year - which is quite a few of them.
.

 

[Zander]

This will be the last opportunity for guys like Tilse, Ulugia, Atkins, Holloway, Carter to push for contracts next year.

 

[JSRF10]

Heaslip has surprised me. I didn't think he was in great form in 2012/13 but he's playing his best rugby now and could even start in the test match ahead of Faletau - something I would not have thought about a few months ago.

Heaslips Ireland form wasn't great viewing in the latter 4 games of the 6 nations thats for sure. However he was really playing the role of a 7 alongside being asked to truck up shite ball due to Irelands archaic attacking strategies. His Leinster form was superb where he played more of a traditional no 8 role, so much that he was rated the top back row in the Heineken Cup and was nominated for European player of the year. There is no doubt he is rising to Faletaus challenge and I'd have him as the test 8 right now, he isn't as good a carrier as Faletau but is ahead in all other aspects for me (line out, control at the base of the scrum, breakdown).

Jamie Roberts had better pull his finger out because he has no form to speak of.

There seems to be a line of thought in the UK press that Roberts is a big game player and a feeling "he'll come good on the day". He has been terrible for over a year now and if the head coach and backs coach weren't his Wales coaches I doubt there'd be so much faith in him shown by the management. Like St Sam he needs a big big game today to silence the critics/doubters. Could be a difficult night for him as he is up against Carter/Horne who will be very solid defensively so he'll need more subtlety to his game tonight to make an impression.