Lions team:
Stuart Hogg (Scotland), Alex Cuthbert (Wales), Jonathan Davies (Wales), Jamie Roberts (Wales), Sean Maitland (Scotland); Owen Farrell (England), Mike Phillips (Wales);
Mako Vunipola (England), Richard Hibbard (Wales), Adam Jones (Wales), Richie Gray (Scotland), Paul O'Connell (Ireland), Dan Lydiate (Wales), Justin Tipuric (Wales), Toby Faletau (Wales).
Replacements:
Tom Youngs (England), Cian Healy (Ireland), Matt Stevens (England), Alun Wyn Jones (Wales), Jamie Heaslip (Ireland), Conor Murray (Ireland), Jonathan Sexton (Ireland), George North (Wales).
Warburton, Sean O'Brien, Rob Kearney and Gethin Jenkins are unavailable
OK, its very early in the tour and highly questionablle as to what (if any) bearing it might have but ...
Phillips at 9 arghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! Now Gatland is a proven winner, whereas I talk rubbish on message boards but Phillips at 9 and Farrell at 10 (who apparently have been working a lot together) hardly strikes me as a dynamic side - maybe the plan is to bore then to death?
Lions squad Vs Barbarians
posted on 1/6/13
Some moves starting to come off now
posted on 1/6/13
Pretty sound in the end, I thought Roberts was realy impressive today
posted on 1/6/13
Considering the conditions. That was a very impressive performance.
posted on 2/6/13
The worst Baabaas side i have ever seen, plus the (keep the cameras on me) Steve Walsh giving the Lions everything. But could not hide the fact this is not a good Lions side , overloaded with welshmen they will be well found out when they meet some real sides in Oz . How in heavens name was Owen Farrell selected he is woefully weak.
posted on 2/6/13
Come too soon for Farrell, he doesn't have the handling skills to play at this level. I've not banged the Wilkinson drum before but even he would get the backline moving more than Owen. I'd also be tempted by hodgson, our back row is quick enough to cover him defensively and offensively he is still up there.
posted on 2/6/13
Joecos, on paper the BaaBaas side was very good, but ye in reality that was a poor performance by them. But can we blame the lions for a crap baabaas outfit? NO. You can only play whats infront of you.
THats the first game of the lions out of the way. They scored 59 points. 37 players coming together in the past 3 weeks, and a bulk of them only joining up last week then scoring 59 points in a game is impressive.
On criticisms of the lions. after such a short time together, and the team being comprised of guys who never played together before its natural that there will be some issues. My only criticism of Farrell was he was a little deep at times and with the class of the players around him there was no need to be so deep at all.
Phillips got man of the match by virtue of scoring 2 trys. But i would be fearful of that fact covering some of the cracks. Most notably that his passing was slow from base of rucks etc, or he would go on a little wander before passing the ball. Fair to say that his 2 scores were a direct result of his tendency to take the ball into contact but against teams with better defence or even a more structured organised outfit this could prove fatal. Conner Murray is no different. So this actually worries me. Lets hope Youngs can get his nose in the door for SH.
Sky sports laid out the Lions tactics in the preview show. They showed how Gatlands teams usually play. Simple enough rugby. Involving going down the short side over and over until you suck in enough defenders to spread the ball. And using big fellas like Cuthbert, Roberts, et al to run straight at the oppositions defence in order to make holes and off load. Sky sports were spot on, Thats exactly what we saw from the lions yesterday. And personally, i find that very disappointing. I find it very difficult to that kind of rugby to get me out of my seat with excitement.
On the note about too many welsh players. I don't see a problem with it as long at Gatland is open minded and indeed open to other guys competing for places. But ye i worry that he is a little bias in this area.
posted on 2/6/13
Dings basically summed up exactly how I feel about the Lions so far.
I'm worried that Phillips got MoTM yesterday because I was certain Youngs would be the test match scrum half, he's been lethal against Australia when he's played them. Phillips won;t get that time and space against Australia so we'll be back to the old Phillips that drives everyone nuts!
No problem with lots of Welsh players, they won the 6N and their coach is the Lions coach so he knows and trusts them.
I don't like the style of rugby they want to play, I actually think it might play into Australia's hands since they rely on classy backs and high workload / fetchers in the pack. An ideal combination against a big, bashing side. Maybe we'll blow them off the park, maybe not, let's hope so though.
I feel sorry for the mid week team though, they'll be against better opposition, won;t know each other's game (as it will be English and Irish lads mainly) and won't know Gatlands style so well.
Ohh and that Baa Baa team was excellent individually, just didn't stand a chance with 1 weeks practice time.
posted on 2/6/13
Yes sporty. im positive will guinea will shut Phillips down with little or no problem. No way phillips gets that kind of time and space to wander around the place against a hard charging defence like we will see from OZ. SO then if he can't go on his little journeys he is going to have to pass the ball. Something he is rubbish at. In fact i would say he is the worst passing SH in Europe. Conor Murray is a better passer and Youngs is streets ahead of both of them in this department. However i don't think gatland has the mindset for any other type of game. Can't argue with the man's record tho. so we have to wait and see. But certainly pigheaded is a word i would use easily to describe Gatland.
posted on 2/6/13
Gatland will obviously have bias towards his Welsh players, you can see that from the squad he named. I expect that any national coach would have the same. I also do not like Phillips, he is a poor SH. This is the side I think WG will start with.
Healy Hibbard Jones
POC Gray/Parling
Croft Warburton Falatau
Phillips Sexton
Roberts BOD
North Halfpenny Bowe/Cuthbert
Hopefully I am wrong. Tuilagi imo is the one guy Australia will really fear and I see him not in Gats team.
posted on 2/6/13
Lets see about WG. maybe he's got a few tricks up his sleeve. He must be aware that every bob and his dog knows his tactics. So maybe just maybe, he has got a curve ball for OZ. Wales and the Welsh players having been GS winners last year and this year championship winners, deserve their spots. Of that we can't argue can we? I would say there is room for argument from the point of view of individuals.
Wales have been great in the 6 nations but poor, to put it diplomatically, in all other internationals. So surly gatland will see that. My fear is that he does indeed see that, but is of the mind of this welsh team is my creation, and i need only augment it slightly to win. And his augments are a peppering of class from the other home nations with the other home nations providing the impact from the bench.
The question for us as fans who are not welsh, is this. Do we consider a team comprised of 80% wales a real lions team? And can we as non welsh fans really get behind them? And then the other question is this. Will the other players on the squad not get a pit peed off with the bias manager? This was a concern i raised last year when WG was put forward as the obvious choice to lead the Lions. I said it to SARS i believe. Sure he has a brilliant record. But hes a mouth piece and he has poopooed every other nation in the home nations at some point. He's not liked by people outside wales. Sure he's respected as a manager because he has earned it. But liked.... as a person... Not even a little bit.