3rd Test

Emotive stuff this rugby, anyway, enjoy the moment of a great series victory spearheaded by Wales finest talent - it would be either 1971 or 74 when the last time such an event occurred, so enjoy it whilst you can!

Well I have to say im perfectly happy that the lions won but it does sting a bit that Gatland also wins. Thats said i think the forward effort won the game. They were immense. The center partnership was a little anonymous and its fair to say there is no way to know what way it would have panned out if the selection had gone another way.

Cobnob I appreciate you calling me out but your not going to get what you want from me. The fact is if you had one of your boys dropped in the fashion O'Driscoll was dropped you yourself might have been up in arms. But its all over not bar the shouting and in the end the lions took the wallabies to the cleaners. I'm happy for the players. They deserve it.

P.S.
Cobnob. What makes the board great is we are all entitled to out opinion and sometimes our opinions are very strong. But the great thing is we don't peepee on each other for having different opinions. This time you were right. Fair dues, ill doff my cap to you. Now how about you stick around the board like you used to in the past, and don't just drop in when there is a big game on. We could use all the members we can as the regulars here are a little thin on the ground.

Im not 'calling you out' I'm just saying that you have no need to call anyone an idiot.

I am actually always on the board, football one too, just tend to comment less now due to the reactions of people that just want to insult people. Suggesting that the other coaches had no input and the 'truth' would come out is just plain stupidity.

For the record in 2005 when most of the grand slam winning wels team were left behind I still got behind the team, thats the thing it is often controversial and that what makes it great. Most people manage to get behind the team though.

Enough said, don't get to see as much club rugby as I used to as don't live in Wales anymore, but will try to be on here as much as I can.

Cobnob
ye 2005 was a bit strange but i remember that GS being a bit of a fluke. Anyway I still don't agree dropping O'Driscoll made any difference. But it's all done and dusted now. Hell they are already talking about the next Lions and suggesting Gatland again as the manager. I seriously doubt he will be around at that point. He's stated publicly he wants the NZ job. Don't know what his chances are, but he's probably got the best CV going around at the moment.

One thing I can be sure of, it won't be Robbie Deans!

We won, which was very much needed and it all turned out well. The tour was not as good as it should have been though. I think we need a future policy of not selecting national managers.
As for the match, I think the scrum was the difference until Phillips got taken off and the backs actually got some ball. Corbs and Jones tore the Aussie scrum apart and but for that I think we would have been losing at half-time rather than winning by 9.
When Murray and most of the bench came on in the last 20min we actually started playing and finished off the convicts with a bit of style. Halfpenny and North were great but nobody was "calling out" Gatland for picking those two.
In summary, I don't think Hibbard did anything that justified dropping Youngs although he did a decent job. The lineout worked well with Parling calling the shots and so Croft wasn't needed, Lydiate was a good call as was Faletau. Phillips was a very bad decision, and the centre partnership didn't barely do anything or cause problems. Davies played better than he had but still didn't offer much. Roberts was quiet all game despite scoring a try. Would BOD and Manu offered more? Certainly imo. Just because we won doesn't mean it was the best Lions XV or that 10 Welshmen were not there due to a special relationship with the boss. I don't want Lions tours like this though and had we lost the $hitstorm would have been huge.

Aristo - I think Hibbard had a huge influence in the scrum and open play. You only needed to see the Lions reaction when we won the penalties from the scrums. Nearly every time he was congratulated first.

The main reason Gatland picked him is because Hibbard and Jones play together at Club and International level.

The one thing I will say for Hibbard is he has the best nickname - two of them in fact ....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/23197555

Corbs and Jones were wrecking that scrum, make no mistake about that. If Youngs had been playing it would have gone the exact same way.
The reason it worked was because we had a NH ref and because the two props are brilliant in the scrum. Fat Prince Charming might have had his hair ruffled a few times but who would turn down that opportunity!

I don't know about the argument for Hooker. Sporty was saying that he thought Youngs was better and to be fair as he's a prop (Sporty) i would have to defer to his knowledge in that area. Im not too sure the hooker position would have made much of a difference considering the way Jones and Corbs were going through the opposition. I mean they outright throttled them. Also i very much agree that Romain Poite had a massive impact on the game from the lions point of view. But lets be fair here. The Ozzies had SH refs for the first 2 tests and had things going their own way far far far too much! So the Lions deserved to get something back in that area.

On Robbie Deans. He gets my utmost respect for dropping that waste of space Cooper. Deans went down fighting and he was a gentleman about it. Frankly he should never have taken the position in the first place. A Kiwi managing the Wallabies... It was doomed to fail. But personally I rate Deans quite highly.