British and Irish Lions Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

astonaidan

thomond2006 wrote: »

The captain can only be one man....















you know who I'm talking about....

I agree ROG deserves his chance to atone for SA

Swiwi

thomond2006 wrote: »

The captain can only be one man....















you know who I'm talking about....

What is it with you and Marcus Horan?

CIARAN_BOYLE

Chabals Beard wrote: »

I would love if POM went , probably wouldn't get near the test side, able to to play anywhere in the backrow and wing would help his chances.

If there is a few more injuries in the backrow he would be a good call. As you say the ability to play across the backrow would make him valuable to the midweek side.

Podge_irl

I doubt POM will travel initially but I could definitely see him flying out.

Kiwi_knock

thomond2006 wrote: »

The captain can only be one man....















you know who I'm talking about....

Delon Armitage.

With Ashton as vice captain, and Hartley as the mid-week test captain. Now that is a trio that Boards can get behind.

trouttrout

Cooper is going to be a loss to this tour.

Kiwi_knock

I think it would be a mistake by Deans not to play Cooper, he is really coming into form. His main challengers O'Connor and Lealiifano can be played elsewhere.

schools rugby

Bowe and Best looked good last night , it was only Connaucht in the Rabo though, still wont do their chances any harm anyways .

As for Cooper , he was very good against the Brumbies in attack , made a few tackles too in fairness.He is the best 10 in Australia , Lealiifano isnt ready to play 10 in a Lions Test match . Id rather see JOC out wider in the backline.

Kiwi_knock

I think Deans believed Beale would be his 10 for the Lions tour, so he thought he could do without Cooper. But with Beale's off the field trouble he is now scrambling to replace him with Lealiifano or O'Connor. Lealiifano is a better 12 and should be playing there. O'Connor has only played 10 twice this season, and was hardly outstanding. Not playing the inform 10 would be a massive mistake by Deans, it could cost him the tour.

schools rugby

Kiwi_knock wrote: »

I think Deans believed Beale would be his 10 for the Lions tour, so he thought he could do without Cooper. But with Beale's off the field trouble he is now scrambling to replace him with Lealiifano or O'Connor. Lealiifano is a better 12 and should be playing there. O'Connor has only played 10 twice this season, and was hardly outstanding. Not playing the inform 10 would be a massive mistake by Deans, it could cost him the tour.

JOC has looked out of place at 10 when he has played there. The Cooper/Genia partnership could win the series for Australia alone. Cant see Lealiifano starting 12 for the first test, id like to see him play there and he deserves it but Deans will go with McCabe i reckon

yimrsg

JOC has looked very good in a rubbish Rebels side, he's done brilliant considering he's only played outhalf 2 or 3 times there so far this season and how the side has imploded at times.

He's far more solid defensively than Cooper but still attacks the gain line. Both Cooper and JOC aren't top level kickers so Lealiifano or Barnes has a chance at making 12 just in case. I think it'll take JOC to get injured before Deans looks at Cooper at 10.

Kiwi_knock

I would tend to agree about McCabe starting at 12, however there are question marks about his fitness. It will be interesting to see what Jake White does with McCabe back in the squad. Will he go to 12 and Lealiifano to 10, or will Lealiifano stay at 12 and McCabe stay on the bench.

If McCabe can prove his fitness, I do see Deans putting him at 12 to counter the power of Roberts and Tuilagi. I feel Deans will put O'Connor on the wing to go up against North.

lologram

Ben Youngs just scored an ~80 metre solo try from a quick tap in the Leicester Bath match. He's really brilliant and should be the Test SH imo.

trouttrout

lologram wrote: »

Ben Youngs just scored an ~80 metre solo try from a quick tap in the Leicester Bath match. He's really brilliant and should be the Test SH imo.

He's brilliant on form. But he's a liability when off form, which seems to be one in every two or three games

ScissorPaperRock

schools rugby wrote: »

Bowe and Best looked good last night , it was only Connaucht in the Rabo though, still wont do their chances any harm anyways .

I don't know about Bowe last night. He scored a try but I thought Trimble was the better winger of the two. Bowe seemed fairly anonymous, while Trimble seemed to be looking for more work.

lologram

trouttrout wrote: »

He's brilliant on form. But he's a liability when off form, which seems to be one in every two or three games

You're right, his performances can be variable. I think that, on average, he's who I would want for the Lions though. Moreso than Phillips, Murray, Laidlaw, Care and so on.

CIARAN_BOYLE

ScissorPaperRoc wrote: »

I don't know about Bowe last night. He scored a try but I thought Trimble was the better winger of the two. Bowe seemed fairly anonymous, while Trimble seemed to be looking for more work.

Bowe did well to score a try but I would agree that in general he was uncomfortable on the 'wrong wing'. Ulster have three international class wingers, problem is that they are all best on the right wing.

lologram wrote: »

You're right, his performances can be variable. I think that, on average, he's who I would want for the Lions though. Moreso than Phillips, Murray, Laidlaw, Care and so on.

I'm not sure but I kind of think that the worse of his variable performances happen in higher pressure games.

the baby bull elephant

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Bowe did well to score a try but I would agree that in general he was uncomfortable on the 'wrong wing'. Ulster have three international class wingers, problem is that they are all best on the right wing.

Disagree Gilroy is noticeably better at 11.

schools rugby

Murray will have to put in a big performance against Clermont to secure a place on the plane .

jacothelad

schools rugby wrote: »

Murray will have to put in a big performance against Clermont to secure a place on the plane .

I didn't realise he moonlighted as a flight attendant.

FellasFellas

jacothelad wrote: »

I didn't realise he moonlighted as a flight attendant.

Even as a flight attendant, his service would be painfully slow.

Swiwi

Few Australian selection headaches as well

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/deans-spoilt-for-choice-but-strategy-will-dictate-picks-20130421-2i8il.html

awec

Not sure if already posted cause im on my phone but the uk indo is saying its Warburton to be named captain.

eyeball kid

awec wrote: »

Not sure if already posted cause im on my phone but the uk indo is saying its Warburton to be named captain.

Link here...

They are saying that Ladbrokes have suspended betting on the captaincy after a flood of money went on Warburton in the last 2 days.

Rightwing

eyeball kid wrote: »

Link here...

They are saying that Ladbrokes have suspended betting on the captaincy after a flood of money went on Warburton in the last 2 days.

That's just what I was trying to explain to people on here a few days back.

Only thing I'm surprised about it is that the betting wasn't suspended on Friday.

schools rugby

Christian Wade scores again today. Has a very good chance of making the squad

FellasFellas

Just had an absolute brainwave there earlier today, when Gatty said 2 tens and a utility kinda thing, people were thinking Laidlaw or Madigan. What about James Hook? Gatland consistently picked him on the bench for 2/3 years and he's not going to be involved in Top 14 playoffs most likely, plus he's playing pretty well. Can cover outhalf, centre and full back. Just a thought !

thomond2006

FellasFellas wrote: »

Just had an absolute brainwave there earlier today, when Gatty said 2 tens and a utility kinda thing, people were thinking Laidlaw or Madigan. What about James Hook? Gatland consistently picked him on the bench for 2/3 years and he's not going to be involved in Top 14 playoffs most likely, plus he's playing pretty well. Can cover outhalf, centre and full back. Just a thought !

no most likely about it, Perpignan were eliminated yesterday.

I haven't watched him this season so I can't really comment on his merits for a place.

Careful Now

Would think decent chance Hook will go. If Murray or Care do well enough to convince gatland to bring 3 specialist scrumhalfs then laidlaw wouldnt be worth bringing as Hook would be a better 3rd choice outhalf then laidlaw and he can cover most of rest of backline. Although any close calls may go way of laidlaw if gatland feels he needs a few token scots.

Grimebox

Careful Now wrote: »

Would think decent chance Hook will go. If Murray or Care do well enough to convince gatland to bring 3 specialist scrumhalfs then laidlaw wouldnt be worth bringing as Hook would be a better 3rd choice outhalf then laidlaw and he can cover most of rest of backline. Although any close calls may go way of laidlaw if gatland feels he needs a few token scots.

I would be shocked if this came into his thought process