Six Nations 2009\*British and Irish Lions*

I'd say the 'boks will win it, but I reckon we'll win one of the matches this time!

Big match in Croke Park today in the Heineken Cup between Munster and Leinster, Leinster shocking Munster to get to the Final. Being from Limerick I should be gutted, but as a closet Leinster fan, I'm actually delighted

Looks like Ryan Jones could well get that Lions spot yet, as Alan Quinlan looks likely to receive a ban for gouging Leo Cullen in the Heinken Cup semi-final.

Pretty poor display in the first match, they are showing all the signs of a team that have never played together. Tommy Bowe is continuing his fantastic season though. O'Driscoll captain for next match - first one since the spear-tackle match.

Watched the match on Weds, despite the Golden Lions between amazingly poor (Yet they still manager to score a try), I was mightily impressed with the performance.

Bowe, Roberts, BoD and Croft were fantastic. Special mention to Monye, he did get two tries after all.

I was just about to say there'll be plenty of changes and lo and behold, I goto SkySports and I read..."All change for the Lions". nine changes and nine first starts. Debutants are Donncha O'Callaghan, Leigh Halfpenny and Luke Fitzgerald while Andy Powell, Stephen Ferris, Euan Murray, Ross Ford, Harry Ellis and James Hook all start their first matches.

The Cheetahs look to have picked a strong team, with four players who just missed the cut for the 'Boks final squad.

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Leigh Halfpenny will miss the rest of the Lions Tour due to a recurrence of the thigh injury which saw him miss the first two matches. I'm annoyed with this as he shouldn't have played against the Cheetahs. The coaching staff shouldn't have let him play, I know its difficult for someone as young as him to say "no" when he gets the nod to play, but they should have given him more time.

But, Ryan Jones has been called up, rightfully I feel. Ferris did his knee ligaments (I think) in training on Tuesday and will miss the rest of the tour. Hook takes Halfpenny's "place" and Jones replaces Ferris.

I'm still umm'ing and ah'ing about whether or not to go watch the match later.

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The amount of injuries in the run up to and during this tour has been pretty high. It looks like all the players who we thought should have gotten a chance and didn't, now they will!

They've blown hot and cold so far, two pretty poor displays and two fairly impressive ones. They CAN beat the Boks, no question, but whether they'll gel or not is another question.

There's still far too many mistakes and someone needs to tell RoG to stop kicking the ball ahead instead of passing! He did stop in the end yesterday, but took him long enough.

It was an impressive performance yesterday I thought, if they'd played like that against the Cheetahs, I don't think they'd have gotten three tries. The defence looked far more solid, although the Sharks didn't attack too much.

Looks like the squad is pretty much finalised now. I'd imagine Ryan Jones will get a run out on Saturday, I'd also leave out Roberts and O'Driscoll, in case of injuries.

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There's still far too many mistakes and someone needs to tell RoG to stop kicking the ball ahead instead of passing! He did stop in the end yesterday, but took him long enough.

And now you know what it's been like to watch Ireland for the last, ooh, 10 years. Fair enough O'Gara is probably the best open-play kicker around, but he kicks far, far too much, considering some of the talents he has had outside him at his disposal. Always been a David Humphreys man myself.

I'd not actually noticed it before, maybe it was more obvious against the Sharks as none of the kicks actually found its man.

Squad's been announced, quite a few changes yet again. Vickery has been handed the captaincy, which I think is odd considering his disciplinary problems. Flutey, Monye, Joe Worsley, Andrew Sheridan and Harry Ellis all start. Martyn Williams is back from injury and starts. Stephen Jones comes in for RoG, McGeechan has said he wants to see everyone play at least two full matches before deciding on his final lineup to face the 'Boks on June 20th.

Western Province are without their frontline Springboks and Shalk Burger and Jean de Villiers aren't risked. Other than that its a fairly strong team, should provide a stern test for the Lions.

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More brilliance from Tommy Bowe, the man is having an absolutely incredible year. The pass to Monye was sublime. Stephen Jones looked a bit ordinary, I'd say O'Gara will start for the Tests and Lee Byrne will start ahead of Kearney at full-back.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/2009 10:08AM by The Lopper.

The squad for the match tomorrow has been announced and you can pretty much guess the majority of the starting XV for Saturday from who's not playing.

Brian O'Driscoll, Paul O'Connell, Jamie Roberts and Jamie Heaslip are all rested, along with Alun Wyn-Jones, Lee Mears, Mike Phillips, Gethin Jenkins, Tommy Bowe, Stephen Jones, Phil Vickery, Lee Byrne. That leaves three places up for grabs.

I still think its fairly even between RoG and Jones, RoG probably just edging it. I suppose it comes down to this game, if Jones plays well he could give McGeechan a bit of a headache.

As expected Shane Williams will probably not be in the starting XV for Saturday. With Bowe and Monye impressing, Williams has looked distinctly average, which is a shame. At 32 this is definitely his last Lions tour and possibly the beginning of the end for his international career, with Halfpenny waiting in the wings.

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Team for the first test. No surprises really on current form, feel a bit sorry for Shane Williams and Luke Fitzgerald, but Bowe and Monye have most certainly earned their jerseys. I guess I'm a bit surprised that they went for Jones ahead of O'Gara, but if anything that surprise is a pleasant one.

15.Byrne
14.Bowe
13.O'Driscoll
12.Roberts
11.Monye
10.Jones
9.Phillips
8.Heaslip
7.Wallace
6.Croft
5.O'Connell
4.A W Jones
3.Vickery
2.Mears
1.Jenkins

Replacements.
16.Rees
17.A Jones
18.O'Callaghan
19.M Williamns
20.H Ellis
21.O'Gara
22.R Kearney

Well, this isn't going very well is it? Absolutely dire performances all over the pitch.

S.Jones seems to have let the occasion get to him. Vickery is being hammered by The Beast. There doesn't seem to be much of a game plan, Byrne gets the ball in difficult areas and just hoofs it down Steyn's throat.

Bring on RoG and A.Jones, start giving the ball to BoD and Roberts try to get them to run at the 'Boks a bit more.

The game is all but over, but we can still try and gain some respect with an improved performance.

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They DID come back into it, how I dunno, but I'd say they'll get hammered in the next two matches. Looked intimidated, occasion got to them. The forwards in particular struggled and the front-row was a nightmare. Quite a few changes to be made. I'd be inclined to give Jones another chance, just on his style of play alone, but Alun Wyn Jones, Ugo Monye and Phil Vickery would be gone.

I'd agree with the changes above, I'd be tempted to drop Mears as well and stick Rees in. The lineout looked far better when he came on, his all round play seemed better.

It was a bit of a surprise that Vickery started ahead of A.Jones really, but obviously McGeechan knew what he was doing...

It was a good match in the end, shame S.Jones missed those two penalties in the first half, along with the ref being far too lenient on SA.

I can see them winning the next match, they've shown they can take them on if they try, they just need to cut out the infringements and not give the ref a reason to give a penalty.

Be interesting to see who he plays tomorrow.

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Team named for tomorrow:

Keith Earls,
Shane Williams,
Riki Flutey,
Gordon D'Arcy,
Luke Fitzgerald,
Ronan O'Gara (Captain),
Harry Ellis,
Andy Powell,
Martyn Williams,
Joe Worsley,
Nathan Hines,
Donncha O'Callaghan,
John Hayes,
Ross Ford,
Tim Payne.


Replacements: Lee Mears, Phil Vickery, Simon Shaw, David Wallace, Mike Blair, James Hook, Ugo Monye.


Chance for Williams, Fitzgerald, O'Gara and Donncha O'Callaghan to make their bid for a test start. Great to see John Hayes, a local man, thrown straight into the action the minute he arrives in SA!

Tell you who needs replacing - the Saffa commentary team. Biggest bunch of one-eyed, unintelligent, unprofessional clowns I've had the mispleasure of listening to. Example -"And that's another perfect line-out win by the Spring boks to Bakkies Botha"... the Lions didn't contest that particular ****ing line-out you muppets. I switched off and went to bed about ten minutes into the second half as I couldn't handle my intelligence being assaulted by those idiots (coming from a Wallabies fan this is a big call, there's not too much intelligence to insult!!)

Fingers crossed the Lions come back strongly as there's nothing better than a Springboks loss!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2009 03:42PM by gareth.

Lol, I feel your pain. I live in "Glory glory Munster" heartland and the commentary in Munster games can be truly atrocious as everything Munster do is built up to the max, and their opponents belittled, even laughed at. As a closet Leinster fan, it can be really grating at times.

Only listening on the radio, but this match is brilliant. 22-18 to the Lions with 10 mins left!

Jaysus. Level. Last minute penalty to the 'Boks from 50 metres to win the game...

BUGGAR! Great comeback from the 'Boks though. Last try was a bit dodgy, foot in touch methinks...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2009 04:54PM by The Lopper.